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From: kiravuo@kampi.hut.fi (Timo Kiravuo)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Ship armor (and old guns)
Message-ID: <6190@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 3 May 89 03:12:37 GMT
References: <5929@cbnews.ATT.COM> <6095@cbnews.ATT.COM>
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Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, Computing Center
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From: kiravuo@kampi.hut.fi (Timo Kiravuo)
In article <6095@cbnews.ATT.COM> wbralick@BLACKBIRD.AFIT.AF.MIL (Will Bralick) writes:

>                                                    ... Thus it is the 
> _side_ of the vessel which (a) presents a broad, open, flat expanse 
> of metal for weapons to smack into ...

That depends on the shooting range.  When I served at the Finnish
Coastal Artillery, we were taught that it is easier to hit a ship
that is facing the guns.  This is becouse of the elliptical
pattern of the hits.  When the range is something like 5 - 20 km,
the shells are falling almost vertical, so there is not very much
sweep, like what you would get with a flatter trajectory, and for
a sea target you still have to get a direct hit. If you miss it
by a meter, you could as well miss it by a mile (unless it is a
very small target, which can capsize).

If the range is very short, then a ship being sideways is a
better target, becouse the shell sweeps the area of the target.
(This is elementary ballistics, I suppouse)

As to the age of guns, there are still some old Russian barrels
in service. They have the old crowned seals at the breech end
with Russian writing and all. The guns itself have been
modernized, but since there is nothing wrong with the barrels,
why not use them? Finland is a small country, and we can't really
afford to spend money like some big countries do (like those old
British colonies in west, what were they now called ;-)

Please forgive me that I don't know all the correct English
military terms, I am a Finn, you know.

--
Timo  Kiravuo                           tel.  90-451 4328
Helsinki  University  of  Technology,    Computing Center
kiravuo@hut.fi   kiravuo@fingate.bitnet   opmvax::kiravuo