The Army's Mind-Bending 1,000-Mile Cannon Is Coming. Could It Bring Back Battleships?

[rangerrebew]

The Army's Mind-Bending 1,000-Mile Cannon Is Coming. Could It Bring Back Battleships?

Big guns made battleships obsolete decades ago. But what if the very same weapon that killed them ultimately ushers in their return?
By Kyle Mizokami   
Oct 16, 2020
 

    The U.S. Army is working on a new cannon it claims will have a range of more than 1,000 miles.

    The ground service intends to move it around with heavy trucks.

    The gun’s range, however, could make a warship—some might call it a battleship—a much better platform.

The U.S. Army is working on a new, long-range cannon it claims can reach out and strike targets at up to 1,150 miles. If the technology works, the Strategic Long Range Cannon (SLRC) promises the ability to fire 50 times farther than existing guns. But the new gun also has the potential to bring back a dormant class of big-gun warships once thought gone for good: the mighty battleship.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a34384322/army-strategic-long-range-cannon-bring-back-battleship/

[PeteS in CA]

Big guns made battleships obsolete decades ago.

Say what?! The main guns of the 1930s and 1940s fast battleships were 16", ~406 mm, as were the slower 1920s Colorado class. As best I can tell the largest bore diameter artillery piece the USA currently uses is 155 mm, ~6". This statement is, putting it nicely, incorrect. What obsoleted battleships were aircraft carriers, whose range were much greater that the ~20.5 miles of USS Iowa's 16"/50 main guns.

That said, it might be possible to mount one or more of these new super long range "cannon" on a ship considerably smaller than an Iowa class BB.

[Joe Wooten]

Say what?! The main guns of the 1930s and 1940s fast battleships were 16", ~406 mm, as were the slower 1920s Colorado class. As best I can tell the largest bore diameter artillery piece the USA currently uses is 155 mm, ~6". This statement is, putting it nicely, incorrect. What obsoleted battleships were aircraft carriers, whose range were much greater that the ~20.5 miles of USS Iowa's 16"/50 main guns.

That said, it might be possible to mount one or more of these new super long range "cannon" on a ship considerably smaller than an Iowa class BB.

The Iowas were also quite expensive to operate, mostly due to the large number of sailors needed to run the ship and the fuel to move it.

BTW... part of the secret to the new 1000 mile gun is rocket assist to the projectile, which the US and Royal navies were experimenting with as the war ended. I think both built an 8" Rocket Assisted Projectile (RAP) gun and a project for a 16" version was underway when it was all cancelled in the late 1940's. At that time the 8" (or was it a 6"?) RAP had a range of about 100 miles.