USS Salem Rapid Fire Guns Video

in the United States Navy's arsenal of modern weapons this new 3 inch 50 caliber rapid-fire anti-aircraft rifle in single or twin mount and these new 8-inch 55 caliber rapid-fire dual purpose rifles in turret mount are standout additions to the firepower of today's fleet the 3-inch 50 caliber rifle was refined from private designs by the Navy's own view art and naval gun factory the story of this amazing gun really began in the last war the fast firing 40 millimeter guns for our mainstay for the invited kamikaze attack xl did all right but it soon became too evidence but the 40 just didn't packed our Sunday punch there are two pound shells could freeze a dead hand on the stick of an enemy plane but too often that plane still continued on its deadly force something huskier dan the forty was obviously needed so when you see the husky new 3-inch shell alongside the little two pounder of the old forty millimeter gun you can readily understand why the new three-inch 50 caliber is the answer between its twin barrels is the mount captain stationed his finger is always on the firing key while the gun is in action in action under local control the gun is trained and pointed from either of two one-man control stations located at the usual trainer and pointer station and under remote or director control the operation of the gun becomes completely automatic this mount is one of the first of its size designed to be trained through a continuous turn of 720 degrees and of course it's interlocked to keep it from firing on any part of the shift in firing the gun ammunition can be passed either from ready lockers or from deck scuttles the ammunition is then placed in stowage magazines on the mount itself these magazines are ingeniously designed to keep a fresh round in the same ready position at all times so the first loaders can work fast a quick two handed pull puts them into the loading position where they're slid firmly into the loader with thumbs carefully in the clear considering the firepower of this mount the crew is relatively small but topping busy when the gun is in rapid fire as you see the loading mechanism feeds at any elevation and that coupled with its smooth operation is one of the main secrets that this guns high rate of fire in slow motion you can see how the loader works the young addition is fed by hand ultimately into the set of star wheels on the gun then it travels across underneath as the wheels revolved until it reaches the ramming position where the pivoted transfers tray swings it swiftly down and into the breech below of course the loader is completely interlocked to prevent double loading or other mechanical errors smooth isn't it but to really appreciate it you've got to see the gun at full speed with a trained crew pour on the men like this between targets it takes a couple of men just to clear the hot cases from the front of the mount in twin mount these new 3-inch 50 caliber rifles get them off almost as fast as your watch ticks with enough power not only to take away an enemy's breath but to blow em right out of the sky now if you think this two-fisted puncher is tough just take a look at the 8 inch automatic there probably are naval engineers elsewhere in the world who'd say like the little boy said about the elephant there ain't no such animal but there is and this is it the only gun of its kind in the world surface targets are duck soup as you'd expect of an 8 inch rifle but believe it or not it's also deadly against high flying enemy fighters or bombers and long before they can even see their target as soon as you get inside the turret you begin to see the clean design dreamed into this gun by Navy men who conceived planned fabricated forged and successfully tested this Cruiser cruncher in only one short year and a half here at the gun captain station each function of loading and firing is under automatic control as long as this main switch is held by hand in the on position and not only that lights indicate step-by-step every phase of the loading operation there are two conventional periscopes for spotting and observation and the conventional pointer and trainer station but this is the Navy's first big gun that cannot be manually operated electricity does the work and in fact electricity does a lot of the thinking for this 8-inch fifty-five caliber can also be put under the fully automatic control of the director the complex mechanism of this gun is really a marvel of simplicity loading begins sixty people o decks where the ammunition starts up the voice when it reaches the cradle cleverly pivoted on the gun zone trunnion the fuse can be set by remote control get that the fuses are set by remote control right from the plotting room when ready and here from above you see it in slow and stopped motion the cradle swings up latches to the slide and the shell is kicked from the cradle into the transfer tray then swung over into the ramming position simultaneously on the other side another cradle swings the powder case into transfer position yes that's right powdered case for this is the first case gun of its size that means speed and safety with case and shell in position the rammer creeps until the case is in contact with the shell then case and shell are rammed home over the top of the sliding breech adroitly designed to guide the ammunition into the on chamber the rammer withdraws and the transfer trays get out of the way into the firing position after the gun is fired the breech block slides open and the hot case is ejected into the empty case tray linked to the transferor trays now here it is again a little faster it's amazing when you stop to think about it but in dummy test runs all this intricate mechanism stands up a hundred percent through fifteen thousand cycles at rapid-fire speed you can feel the smoothness that has enabled one of these guns to fire to one hundred round rapid-fire bursts without a single stopping these bursts that can pinpoint in the Far Away heart of an enemy a steel a jacketed 335 pound earthquake not once a minute or even twice a minute but faster than any gun of its size in any Navy more than eight times a minute this is firepower you you

Channel: usssalemca139

Views: 682,643

Rating: 4.8727207 out of 5

Keywords: uss salem, guns

Id: ICifnf63lCs

Length: 10min 23sec (623 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 07 2011

Reddit Comments

[u/Zer_]

Neat. Yeah I mean it was only a matter of time before auto-loader mechanisms started making their way into naval guns. I'm sure if big artillery was still a mainstay in naval fleets we'd be seeing massive auto-loader mechanisms being used for 16-18 inch guns too.

[u/twister55]

even more OP in real life :P

[u/Moskau50]

In the rapid-fire demonstration of the dual 76mms, they start off firing in unison, then desync. Conversely, the 203mms seem to fire at will on an individual gun basis, with no regard to synchronicity. Is it desirable to fire them synchronously or offset, or does it not matter?