Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!ukma!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!osu-cis!att!cbnews!military
From: military@cbnews.ATT.COM (William B. Thacker)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Uss Iowa (propellant charge)
Message-ID: <5858@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 24 Apr 89 02:57:43 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 12
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: sun!portal!cup.portal.com!mmm
My friend who told me the guns on warships are real old says his dad
was on the USS Massachusetts, and he said the gun barrels had dates on
them, dates from 1916 to 1922.

Compare this with the V-2 rocket.  According to Willy Ley, the standard
rule was to launch a V-2 with 72 hours of final assembly.  (I know this is
comparing apples and oranges, but be reasonable.  Do you want to fire a
massive amount of chemical explosives which were put together before you
were born?)