Warship Gunlaying and Rate of Fire

Desert Fox · Nov 27th 2009, 11:53am

Battleship "Gun Laying" is that you fire a round and wait for the splashes. You then use that to target the next set of rounds. A ladder of rounds is made to bracket the target. It is a bit more complex than that but that is kind of a nut shell of how it is done. It sounds like the heavier eight inch batteries are used similarly.

Reading Friedman's US Cruisers, it sounds like the 6 inch guns were used rather different. It sounds like a steady stream of rounds is fired and it is more like the target is flooded in rounds. Is that correct? Do they make ranging shots or is almost like walking a machine gun into a target?

An Ancient · Nov 27th 2009, 2:30pm

Half-way, due to the high fire rate of 6-inch guns it was possible to get 2-3 salvos off, a 'middle', 'short' and 'long' aimed at where you thought the enemy was. When they landed, unless you were way off, you could usually guarantee your next three would land close to the target.

CJvR · Nov 27th 2009, 5:18pm

IIRC the German High Seas fleet fired only half their main guns in a salvo. That should mean they had to fire the other half while the first rounds were still in the air. It would have given them a smaller number of shots (4-5) to spot from but twice the number of samples (one every 15 second vs every 30 second if you used all guns) to compensate. Given the results from properly trained guncrews in the war there were not much difference in preformance from the two methods.

Desert Fox · Nov 27th 2009, 9:11pm

I am thinking of maybe just a short piece describing a battle between a Des Moines class cruiser and a Kongo class battlecruiser maybe a later war situation where the war gets extended just a bit.

JC, Interrupted · Nov 28th 2009, 7:29pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Desert Fox

I am thinking of maybe just a short piece describing a battle between a Des Moines class cruiser and a Kongo class battlecruiser maybe a later war situation where the war gets extended just a bit.

The 8"/55 RF guns on the Des Moines are rather special; they're as fast-shooting as most 6" guns, so they should be able to do a 6" style short/medium/long bracket.

Nov 27th 2009, 11:53am	#1
Desert Fox Vulpine Tank Commander Commodore Join Date: 30 Nov 2003 Location: Riding in my Tank Posts: 13,707	Warship Gunlaying and Rate of Fire Battleship "Gun Laying" is that you fire a round and wait for the splashes. You then use that to target the next set of rounds. A ladder of rounds is made to bracket the target. It is a bit more complex than that but that is kind of a nut shell of how it is done. It sounds like the heavier eight inch batteries are used similarly. Reading Friedman's US Cruisers, it sounds like the 6 inch guns were used rather different. It sounds like a steady stream of rounds is fired and it is more like the target is flooded in rounds. Is that correct? Do they make ranging shots or is almost like walking a machine gun into a target? __________________ If people are good only because they fear punishment and hope of reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed - Albert Einstein, German-born American Physicist

Nov 27th 2009, 2:30pm	#2
An Ancient God of Zeppelins Commodore Engineer Join Date: 12 Mar 2004 Location: I have always been here. Posts: 16,702	Half-way, due to the high fire rate of 6-inch guns it was possible to get 2-3 salvos off, a 'middle', 'short' and 'long' aimed at where you thought the enemy was. When they landed, unless you were way off, you could usually guarantee your next three would land close to the target. __________________ -Nemesis, Member of the Omega appreciation society. No Surrender, No Retreat- When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. Those of you who think you know everything are exceedingly annoying to those of us ... who do. Currently best-travelled sb'er (34 countries) Forget magic, any technology distiguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced. When the time comes our voice will join with yours, and our crescendo will burn the darkness clean

Nov 27th 2009, 5:18pm	#3
CJvR Registered Join Date: 20 May 2002 Location: Scandinavia Posts: 585	IIRC the German High Seas fleet fired only half their main guns in a salvo. That should mean they had to fire the other half while the first rounds were still in the air. It would have given them a smaller number of shots (4-5) to spot from but twice the number of samples (one every 15 second vs every 30 second if you used all guns) to compensate. Given the results from properly trained guncrews in the war there were not much difference in preformance from the two methods. __________________ CJvR

Nov 27th 2009, 9:11pm	#4
Desert Fox Vulpine Tank Commander Commodore Join Date: 30 Nov 2003 Location: Riding in my Tank Posts: 13,707	I am thinking of maybe just a short piece describing a battle between a Des Moines class cruiser and a Kongo class battlecruiser maybe a later war situation where the war gets extended just a bit. __________________ If people are good only because they fear punishment and hope of reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed - Albert Einstein, German-born American Physicist

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