Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!uxc!iuvax!rutgers!att!cbnews!anderer@vax1.acs.udel.edu
From: anderer@vax1.acs.udel.edu (David G Anderer)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Uss Iowa (propellant charge)
Message-ID: <5940@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 26 Apr 89 04:10:21 GMT
References: <5858@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
Organization: University of Delaware
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Approved: military@att.att.com



From: David G Anderer <anderer@vax1.acs.udel.edu>

In article <5858@cbnews.ATT.COM> military@cbnews.ATT.COM (William B. Thacker) writes:
>
>
>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.
>

When I first saw this I assumed the South Dakotas used the 16" guns built
for the cancelled battleships and battlecruisers in the early '20s.
However, those were 16"/50 guns and BB57 et. al. used a 16"/45 gun.

[ mod.note: And before anyone asks, I'll point out that those early
16"/50's were *not* used on the Iowas; they only saw service in
shore batteries.  The Iowas used a new "light" 16"/50, which, in
addition to saving weight, had a smaller breech diameter, allowing
them to be more closely spaced in the turret, decreasing turret size,
which was a critical factor.  - Bill ]

So, I'm skeptical of those gun barrel dates.
-- 
Dave Anderer
Academic Computing and Instructional Technology
University of Delaware