This gun is the Navy's last line of defense against missiles, but it only gets a few seconds to do its job
Harold C. Hutchison , We Are The Mighty
US Navy ships' last line of defense against incoming missiles is the Mk 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapon System.
The Phalanx is build around an M61 Gatling gun, which can fire a hail of up to 75 bullets a second.
But the Phalanx's effective range is only about a mile, giving it a few seconds to hit those missiles.
Anti-ship missiles exploded on the scene on October 21, 1967, when three out of four SS-N-2 Styx anti-ship missiles fired by Egyptian missile boats hit the destroyer INS Eliat.
The Israeli vessel, a British Z-class destroyer commissioned during World War II, sank, taking 49 of her crew with her.
After that, an intense arms race erupted to counter this devastating threat to ships.
https://www.businessinsider.com/phalanx-close-in-weapon-system-navy-ships-last-missiles-defense-2021-12
