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From: wbt@cbema.att.com (William B Thacker)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: 16" Battleship gun info wanted
Message-ID: <1991Apr11.033427.4185@amd.com>
Date: 8 Apr 91 03:16:11 GMT
References: <1991Apr4.041931.11567@amd.com> <1991Apr5.092149.8384@amd.com>
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From: wbt@cbema.att.com (William B Thacker)


In article <1991Apr5.092149.8384@amd.com> jmc@DEC-Lite.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy) writes:
>Assuming a vacuum, the longest range is obtained when a gun is fired
>at an elevation angle of 45 degrees.  [...]
>If one takes air resistance into account, the
>maximum range would be obtained at a somewhat higher elevation angle,
>because that would make the shell spend more of its trajectory where
>the air is less dense.

Correct; I think about 48 degrees is optimal for large guns.  The turrets
of the Iowas, however, only allow elevation to 45 degrees, so it's a moot
point.

A bit of data for the 16"/50:

Projectile ->	AP Mk 8		HC Mk 14

shell wt. (lb)	2700		1900
muz.vel(ft/sec)	2500		2690
range@45deg	42345yds	41622yds
		38720m		38049m

-- 
Bill Thacker	AT&T Network Systems - Columbus		wbt@cbnews.att.com