Battleship Texas, Firing The Guns Step-By-Step

This is the introductory video for a series that takes a detailed in depth look at the design and fabrication of the components that were part of the 14" guns used on Battleship Texas.

[@chriscampbell2327]

It is interesting that these were designed with pencil, paper and a slide rule, no computers. Also no high tech computers to aim or fire the guns either. I am so amazed by the ingenious mechanical designs back then.

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

What fascinates me the most were systems found on later ships where the turrets were directly controlled by the fire control computers using servo systems. While sensors, like search and fire control radars, were electronic, the computers and servos were purely electro-mechanical. They largely eliminated human error and could aim and hold on target faster and better. It was unfortunate that it wasn't feasible to adapt Texas to utilize them, but I'm glad they didn't try. It would have required heavy modifications that would have eliminated these early systems and the history that we can still see.

[@MrChickennugget360]

@@stevesmith9151 Guns as a main ships weapon are obsolete. There is a reason why they don't build them like that anymore. large Anti-ship missiles would still sink a Des Moines. Traditional naval guns maxed out at ranges of 21 miles modern Cruise missiles have ranges of a 1,000 miles. The primary role of Modern Warships is to defend Airspace and to hunt submarines. You cannot defend hundreds of miles of Airspace with Naval Artillery. With modern SM-6 missiles you can. As for LCS they were a shit show caused by corrupt politicians and flawed "threat" perceptions. However the Modern Burk and Tico ships have been doing their job for nearly 40 years without complaint.

[@MrChickennugget360]

@@tomscotttheolderone364 I think it really made sense to not upgrade Texas since she was not intended for surface actions but was being used as a shore bombardment platform. Along with New York and Arkansas and Nevada they were the oldest Battleships in the fleet. Whats great was that Texas against the odds was saved and preserved so we get a great time capsule. My personal dream would be when the Navy decommissions the USS San Jacinto (A Ticonderoga class Cruiser) it could be preserved in Texas along side USS Texas. It would be great since the two ships encompassed over 120 years of Naval History of the United States showing the evolution of Navy warships from 1912 to 2020. Both ships have a lot in common- Both ships had long service lifes (31 years for Texas, 35+ years for San Jacinto) both fielded new advanced capabilities but were followed by improved follow on classes (14inch guns on Texas, followed by Standard type Battleships) (Ageis Defense system on the San J, which was later used on the Burk class DDGs) Both had major refits to keep them relevant in the changing combat envoirments (Tripod masts radar and anti-Aircraft guns for Texas, Improved Firecontrol Systems for San J.)

[@MrChickennugget360]

​@@stevesmith9151 Do you know what they found out about the Bikini Bomb Tests? that Nukes don't do that much damage to ships unless they were relatively close. Only one ship that was 1,000 meters from ground zero actually sank and that was a dry dock. Many Ships survived the bomb test including ships that were not war ships that had little in the way of Armor Several Destroyers survived much closer to the blasts and they do NOT have high survivability. The bomb test revealed that while nukes were deadly to ships up close ships were not nearly as heavily damaged at greater distances. However all ships would have been killed by Radiation since all the ships involved had Lethel levels of radiation. If you think a Hypersonic missile traveling at 5,000 Miles Per Hour is not going to dent Class B armor you are an idiot. just kinetic energy alone would be devastating to any ship. There Are anti-ship missiles intended to sink 100,000 Ton Fleet Carriers. Yamato and Musashi were sunk with concentrated air attack involving dumb bombs and unguided Torpedos. What the hell are you talking about "modern Sabot ammo" Are you talking about Tank Rounds? or Hypersonic projectiles- Hypersonic projectiles have been cancelled and either way would have inferior performance to Missiles. And no they were not even close to having "Sabot" rounds for the Iowas. "nothing Left on Earth that could go Toe to Toe with an Iowa and survive." Nonsense. Complete Utter Nonsense. It is in fact not that hard to sink a battleship if you have the right weapons avaible. IF you don't think that you can't build Missiles that can defeat Armor that was only rated against 2,000lb AP super heavy guns from specific angles (You probably don't even understand that Battleship Armor is built to take rounds at specific angles and distances. You can litterally build a missile with More Mass than a YAMATO shell with many times the velocity and target the ship from angles it was never intended to survive. That is the Reason why Armor is not a priority for the Navy anymore. You can always build your missile or Torpedo bigger and shoot from farther. No ship can be made invincible.

[@Ganiscol]

@@stevesmith9151 what for? To be sunk from over the horizon where guns cant reach? 😉

[@dflo4165]

I remember back when stationed on a tender at the submarine base in San Diego, we were told the New Jersey was coming into port at North Island. We found the highest spot to watch it come in. It reminded me of the Star Wars battle cruisers because of the triangular shape as it started to appear in the distance. Then we were amazed at just how big that ship was. Huge is an understatement!! The Star Wars thing is what I will never forget!!

[@theonlyegg]

Were you watching from up on Point Loma somewhere?

[@OneLastHitB4IGo]

My Pappy joined the Navy in 1937 and went through training on board the USS Texas. Always said it was his favorite ship. He got moved to the USS Lexington and his Navy career ended when he was badly wounded at the Battle of Coral Sea and the Lexington was sunk.

[@marthakrumboltz2710]

Sailed with an engineer Lester L Anderson on ocean tugs was @ coral sea on the Lex. Chief Bos’n Mate. So tough he ate hot sauce on his corn flakes. Not a sea story either

[@thomasrswartzjr3821]

My thanks to your "Pappy" for his sacrifice and service.

[@drew4213]

This video is fantastic! I really loved the diagrams they made the whole process very easy to follow, keep up the great work.

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Glad you liked it!

[@stevewright8407]

I saw the USS Texas when I was about 7-8 yrs old in the late 50s. This was very interesting but back then would have been way over my head! Thanks for the video!

[@mikeowen9268]

Very well done. Hope this gets mentioned on other sites so others can enjoy and be educated about the process. Thanks Tom.

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

I hope so too

[@adamdavis7663]

I remember a recent video from battleship New Jersey talking about how the gun barrels had the longest lead time in development. I now understand why it was so complicated! Thank you for sharing this video.

[@slapeters2004]

I didn’t realize how fast these rounds go. 2700 feet per second is the equivalent of about 1841 miles per hour- basically close to Mach III. That is incredible for basically an analogue system and 1940’s technology. I would not want to be in the receiving end of one of these rounds. That is an insane amount of power per 14” gun!! Thanks for taking the time to make and share this video. I’ve always wondered about how these guns work (and work so well at that!).

[@CJ-nt4cs]

My father was a brilliant tooling engineer who did everything on a good old fashioned drawing board. I started out on the drawing board and then taught myself CAD in the late 90's. He and I were the sole suppliers of a lockwire that held the tail cone assembly to the rocket body of the hydra 70 rockets for over 30 years. I often wonder about the brilliant engineers of those days. If they had CAD can you imagine?

[@alaskanbas6507]

That's cool! And the Hydra 70 rockets are still going strong, also being turned into guided munitions in the form of APKWS, amazing stuff. While I can work with CAD, I really prefer drawing with pencil and paper. It just makes it easier to visualize what I'm picturing clearly, after which it can be made in CAD of course.

[@maxpower9631]

if you have half a mind....why is CAD amazing...??

[@damianwright3690]

@@maxpower9631 I would guess because anything that speeds up the drawing and automates certain calculations would be a god-send in speeding up the design work and speeding up the amendments needed for iteration. Which speeds up design and production.

[@n6mz]

Very interesting ratio, 1500lb shell to 420 lb propellant or 150/42. A typical 308 Winchester rifle cartridge might have a 150 grain projectile and around 42 grains of propellant giving a muzzle velocity around 2800 ft/s. Ballistics is absolutely fascinating.

[@hanc37]

I was thinking the same thing, except it was 30-06 that I was thinking of. The 308 and 30-06 are only about 200 fps difference, so it hardly matters I suppose. I'm just glad there are still people with a like mind...

[@Lakeman3211]

As this video was playing that very thought was tracing thru my curiosity, I was heading to the calculator, other web sites…thanks for the quick reference! I do think case pressures are higher on smaller ballistics bores? I came back and the .308 has 62k lbs of case pressure there is a ratio in there….,

[@alfredmorency8296]

169,925,000 ft⋅lbf

[@Strelnikov403]

75/21, reduce your damn fractions smdh

[@damianwright3690]

@@Strelnikov403 Ten and five sevenths over three, thank you good sir!

[@wayneantoniazzi2706]

Thanks! I knew the basics but always wondered how they ignited the main charges. I found it interesting that the max bore pressure when firing was 36,000 pounds per square inch. For comparison, a 30-06 cartridge has a bore pressure of about 46,000 PSI. But of course, we're talking about a HELL of a lot more volume in that 14" rifle!

[@MyS10Rocks]

Outstanding video! Thank you! What caught my attention was the chamber pressure, 36k psi is incredible and while I understand the huge volume of the chamber takes a tremendous amount of gas to achieve those pressure ratings, I was comparing it to a 5.56mm rifle cartridge that produces around 58k psi chamber pressure, but in a really tiny chamber (in comparison). Thanks again!

[@shaundis2117]

i`ve never seen this explained so well .also, i`ve never seen how the compressed air trick worked. thank you for this

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Glad you liked it!

[@Bosco-gets-it-right]

Good balance of info, enough for us laymen to understand, not too much to bore us to death. Thank you!

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Thank you for the kind compliment. That is precisely my goal, but one I rarely achieve!

[@ExtremeUnction1988]

BORE us to death??? (Get it?)

[@ntvypr4820]

The USS Constitution and WWII Battleships were my first love as a young 10 year old boy starting to build models around 1970. Every year my family took a two week vacation to Georgia (my mother's family is there) from Louisiana where my dad is from. He was a WWII, Korea and Vietnam vet of 24 years in the Army Air Corp and then the new USAF. Thing is on this trip was the USS Alabama in Mobile, and I recall I had to behave on that miserably long trip or we would not get to stop at the Alabama. When we got near I used to hunger for a view of it in the distance towering over the shoreline structures. it's not the Texas, I've seen her from a distance passing through Houston (and I understand she is undergoing an extensive restoration right now), but to get to crawl all over a true battleship was this ten year old's yearly joy for a few years. All mine and my dad's too I guess because we dragged along my 3 siblings and my mom. I even visited it again on my own honeymoon with my new (very indulgent) very beautiful wife in 1979. Battleships have a mystique that Aircraft carriers just don't have. Carriers are like floating hornets nests, they get the job done being full of bugs with stingers, cool in their own way. But NOTHING beats the brute force, pure pounding and national pride a battleship can dish out. I'm 63 now but, God! I STILL love battleships! They are wicked and intimidating looking. T.R. Roosevelt knew what he was doing when he sent the White Fleet around the world. Anyway, we won't build anymore so we should SAVE ALL that remain!! Thank you for this wonderful video. I have always wondered just exactly how firing worked. I knew the basic mechanics but the point to point illustrations were very informative. Many, many thanks, and I'll shut up now.

[@wlong1794]

go to battleship cove if you haven't yet.

[@tomayrscotland6890]

I watched a movie called battleship it was amazing how the actors got into line with the firing mechanics of the big guns. Thank you for your fine description of the firing of the guns on the battle ship TEXAS. Just amazing to watch Sir' Just Amazing.

[@Tedjenkins55]

Tom again an awsome video. always amazed by the knowledge you hold and the way you go into technical depth but also keeping it simple for everyone to understand. Thankyou captain T Scott for sharing you're knowledge with the world about battleship texas.👍

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

I appreciate that!

[@rondoway123456]

Took the full indepth tour of the USS Iowa now moored in San Pedro California. I was blown away by the technology, history and esprit de corps of the ships crew. I highly recommend a tour of this amazing piece of floating history.

[@coltinyancey6420]

What really amazes me is just how similar the chamber pressure and muzzle velocity are to rifle calibers. Difference being a huge difference in mass ejected and weight of propellent expended. Velocity might kill but apparently mass obliterates.

[@ironcito1101]

Both, which translate to kinetic energy. If you shoot a pea at 1% the speed of light, it will cause a lot more destruction than these shells.

[@josephastier7421]

@@ironcito1101 One of the ways that a hypothetical alien species might destroy the Earth would be to hit it with a 100 kg or so mass that they have accelerated to 99% the speed of light. This can be done without violating any laws of physics, and the kinetic energy would be like a rifle bullet going through an apple.

[@philgiglio7922]

Kinetic energy goes up in a linear fashion with mass (2x the mass, 2x the energy. It increases by the square of velocity (2x the velocity 4x the energy).

[@Cirux321]

Really enjoy your videos Tom. The time and research you put in to these are very much appreciated.

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Thanks! I'm glad you like them!

[@josephburns9819]

Excellent presentation. Very informative and clear. Thank you. These guns are badass!

[@davidburch4165]

My gosh, how many times did I spend a day as a kid, playing on the decks and running up and down the ladders of USS Texas! BB-35, right? Thanks so much for this informative video! I just read Hornfischer's "Neptune's Inferno", so your video makes clear the process that turret crews used in those awful engagements.

[@austinroper5556]

Very interesting. A lot goes on in this precees that I never knew. My friend and neighbor used to fire the 11 inch guns on the old USS Arkansas.

[@ifga16]

Very nice presentation. FYI, The photo of USS Missouri firing a full broadside was upon our arrival at Sydney, Australia in 1986 for the celebration of the RAN's 75th anniversary. I'm on the open bridge next to an Aussie journalist as an escort. The blast created quite an impression and could have been one of those brown out moments. R. Lindel PH1(SW) ret.

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Thanks for the photo i.d.! That had to be an incredible sensory experience! Btw, did you know Bob Lian? I believe he was a turret commander on Missouri around that time.

[@joshuaharrington6094]

Excellent video! Thank you for the graphic. It goes along with your physical gun video a lot. Keep em coming and Come On Texas!

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Thanks, I have plans for more.

[@joshuaharrington6094]

@@tomscotttheolderone364 We can't wait!! I remember being 4 or 5 years old when Texas was last dry docked and wishing I could see her in person. In 2018 I was finally lucky enough to fulfill that dream. A lot of the ship was under construction at the time so a lot of the tour routes were off limits but I didn't care. I was having the time of my life. I've had many low back surgeries and several hip surgeries but even that couldn't keep me from the Texas! I was in bed for 2 days after crawling over every square inch that I legally could that day. My new dream is to come back to Texas after her upcoming dry doc and explore even more. These videos are a great window into my favorite ship ever made. Being from Texas she is near and dear to my heart so Thank You for all the great videos and the work y'all are doing to save this amazing piece of history.

[@Robmlufc]

Great video, loved it. Explaining stuff like this in an understandable way is an art. 👍🏻

[@markjaynes7151]

Thank you for the clear and concise explanation! Your videos are awesome!

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Glad you like them!

[@zetordaft]

Another superb video Tom, I really enjoy the concise and informative nature of your videos and your delivery style. Bring on the deep dives, the deeper the better! 😁

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Many thanks!

[@bpsitrep]

That was great ! Amazing the amount of 'science' that went into just making a big gun. Yes, they were really smart.

[@johnarcher8090]

I must of been both awesome and highly dangerous to be an integral part of a 16” gun crew. Respect to the ones who were part of a well oiled machine.

[@seatedliberty]

An exceptional video. One bit of trivia- the 36,000 psi in Texas' main guns is a little more than half of the roughly 60,000 psi in the 30-06 chambered Springfield rifle in service at the time when Texas entered service and that only fired a bullet weighing one third of an ounce at approximately the same muzzle velocity as Texas' 14 inch guns.

[@alzinn8231]

While I agree with your main illustration, your numbers are a bit off - the 30-06 cartridge as used in the M1 Garand operated at 50,000 psi - not 60,000. 60,000 psi would have very quickly broke the operating rod.

[@bgdavenport]

excellent series! I saw her in her berth just before she went into drydock. That means another trip to TX to see her innards!

[@heinzfissimatent4294]

In 1999 I visited the battleship. Afterwards I was on the USS Lexington. Both really impressive ships.

[@yvc9]

So many small questions answered in one clip. Thank you!❤️

[@timsmith2525]

Fascinating! So many pieces that have to work in concert!

[@MHTfueler]

Thank you for another awesome video!

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

You bet!

[@dntlss]

I'm one of those people that believes the Internet has done a lot of harm specially the social media part,keeps people indoors instead of being outside like it used to be and just a host of other maladies however KZbin has to be one of the most amazing things ever invented and the concept is painfully simple,get people to upload videos of just about anything and everything, from sewing a button to catching a whale and everything in between, its amazing, thank you much for a great video,always wanted to know how this was done.

[@JohnReidEngineer]

Great video. The drawing shows the threads on the breech as having a spiral. If you look at the photos of the breech plug you can see that there is no spiral - it sees that there is no need for the breech plug to move axially when closed.

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Thanks for the compliment. There is a slight pitch to the threads, but not as much as shown in the illustration. While it is exaggerated, the pitch correctly suggests that the threads tightly pull the plug into the screw box to close up the threads and prevent movement during firing.

[@damianwright3690]

@@tomscotttheolderone364 How much does the plug move because of the pitch - 5 mm / fifth of an inch? Some other value?

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

@@damianwright3690 That's an excellent question that I don't have an answer for. I don't have drawings that indicate that, nor can I directly measure them since I don't currently have access to the ship. You have my curiosity up. I'll look at that and give an answer once I can get back into a turret.

[@markjulius2006]

Great video. A lot more going on than I could imagine. Thanks for sharing your video.

[@feelingzhakkaas]

ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL INFORMATIVE VIDEO. GOD BLESS YOU SIR.

[@joshuapaul349]

I think this was number 1 on the list of things I didnt think I'd learn today.

[@danperin]

Greetings from Brazil! Thank you very much for a so detailed video. Subbed! God bless, brother!

[@usethenoodle]

Nice video. Very interesting and informative. Thanks!

[@robertlian2009]

Great job as always Tom. Very accurate and you are correct no real difference in the Iowa’s loading and design. The biggest change was the adding of circuit 1R the ready fire circuit which was a series of switches which prevented loading out of sequence. For example the gun captain had to hit a bore clear switch before the rammer could ram the projectile. And I never knew the names of the two ramps the shell moved through to get to the rifling. So I learned something new. Also our gas check pads were neoprene rubber (impregnated with asbestos I believe). I didn’t think Texas used the old mutton tallow pads in WW2, did it? Thanks!

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Hi Bob! You saying that you learned something made my day! I would certainly prefer the safety of the 1R circuit; however, I would feel pretty safe in one of Texas' turrets. With the exception of the two powder men in the gun pit, the entire gun crew worked within literal spitting distance of one another, so there was no lack of communication. Ramming the shell into a "hot" chamber is no big deal, but powder is obviously a different beast. One absolute step in the 14", two-gun turret loading procedure said that the flash tight door between the side pocket and gun pit would not be opened and powder bags not pushed through until "bore clear" was called. Since that was done by one of the pit powder men who were less than 6 feet from and in full view of the gun captain, it effectively the same as a 1R circuit. I saw the check pad composition in an ordnance manual from the late 1920's. I have at least one newer one, so I'll check to see if there were any changes.

[@jamesbeaman6337]

@@tomscotttheolderone364 how was “bore clear” determined? I assume it would be by visual check to see the sky through the barrel, however, how would it be done at night if that was the method?

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

@@jamesbeaman6337 I don't recall seeing anything in gunnery manuals that address the issue of visibility in the bore. My experience with looking down bores is that even a small amount of light, direct or reflected, provides decent visibility. There are two things that can be done to assure a safe bore if visibility is poor. The first is to simply ram a shell. It tightly fits against the barrels compression slope to seal the powder chamber from any remaining residue farther up the bore, isolating any hazard from the powder chamber. The other measure is to spray the chamber with water using a flexible metal water hose mounted on the overhead behind the breech. This will immediately extinguish any hot fragments and make it safe. Since the gunnery manuals specify that charges only be loaded if it is known that they will be immediately used, they aren't exposed to water long enough to have any affect upon their performance. In fact, I have read that this was part of the standard loading procedure for the British. So, if the gun captain has any doubt about the condition of the bore and powder chamber, he simply has a shell rammed, then hoses down the powder chamber. He can then safely call bore clear.

[@georgedistel1203]

One thing on this class of ships that wasn't repeated was that the projectiles were brought up and were even stored nose down during loading. I really like the old girl hopefully they get her where she's not in danger if sinking sometime soon. Thanks for the video I live this stuff even at 65 years old it makes me feel like I'm 15 years old again!

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

The ship is currently scheduled to be towed to dry dock for hull repairs in late June or early July. The ship has been well prepared, the tow carefully planned and run through simulations, and it will be less than 50 miles in protected water.

[@MrChickennugget360]

@@tomscotttheolderone364 Good Luck! hopefully everything works out.

[@georgedistel1203]

@@tomscotttheolderone364 I thought they were bringing the drydock to her at least thats what was being said in March or April

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

@@georgedistel1203 Bringing the dry dock to where the ship is currently located was never considered for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is that tied to the state provided funding for repairs was that the ship could not stay in her present location. In any case, Galveston is a short and safe tow from where she is now, and it has all of the required logistical support and infrastructure already in place.

[@huggleskuishy]

This video is awesome! Did I need to know this information? Absolutely not. Did I enjoy every educational second of it? Absolutely.

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@jeffreyhicks4651]

Wow that is incredible and explained very well thank you

[@phil20_20]

It's a top view! Yeah!

[@ZippyThePinhead]

Although not what I was expecting, I was expecting to actually see the guns load and fire. 😁 However it was VERY interesting to understand the process. What amazes me is that the primer was so small for such a huge load. I realize that the electrical charge also helped ignite the powder, but still surprised by the size of the primer.

[@eviltricster8090]

Seeing the design up close and how it's made in sections make me wonder what kind of tolerance the measurements on the parts were. I can only imagine it'd be very small as any small imperfections would likely result in a failure

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

You are correct. Even major parts may be machined as closely as .002-.003". More than that could not only cause failures, but could result in what was called lost motion. That is looseness that creates unwanted movements that can ruin accuracy. That could happen in a number of places in the gun and sighting assemblies.

[@geoffreydowen5793]

I'm a Brit ex navy veteran and really enjoyed the post well done yours aye!

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Thank you, that means a lot to me! You may already be aware of this, but Battleship Texas has very strong ties to Great Britain. She was not only attached to the British Grand Fleet during the last year of World War I, she took part in neutrality patrols, was a convoy escort to Britain, and spent time in British Shipyards and preparing for D-Day there.

[@Eugene2ndW]

Great Video, Thanks, Also, the calculations and materials dealing with absorbing and controlling the massive recoil. The test was the durability of the system after thousands of firings with no major failures or causalities.

[@therealbarnekkid]

That was very interesting, as are many of your videos.

[@9HighFlyer9]

Thanks, this answered a lot of questions I didn't know I had.

[@MrTexasDan]

Great video Tom, thanks!

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Glad you liked it!

[@falksyberg5624]

That is a great video. I needed some moments but I think that the spin arrow caused by the rifling is pointing in the wrong direction. But nothing which impacts the outstanding educational quality.

[@P61guy61]

Awesome. Thank you for posting

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

My pleasure!

[@edwardpedley8813]

In these days of computer aided design which allows quick work of most any type of mechanical problems or components it's easy to forget that there were a lot of very smart people who knew how to get the job done with slide rules and good old fashioned know how.

[@theonlyegg]

80 year old technology still absolutely blows my mind.

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Prepare to be really blown away. The majority of it is 110 year old technology!

[@Bogie3855]

I was curious about this function and was going to do a search when I saw this. Always wondered how those big bags of powder got ignited. Thanks

[@dynomike11]

super clear and step-by-step!

[@TheHatedRuthlessTruth]

Awesome video!!! Thank You!

[@thurin84]

very cool and informative. so what kind of problem could result in excessive slope wear in the breach? id imagine a shell weighing as much as a car sliding over it causes a good bit of wear. and in had no idea the barrels were formed from so many payers.

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

I have not seen or heard that it was a problem. However, even if there was significant wear, the only problem would be that ramming effort may increase some. The primary source of wear was from firing. The extreme pressures and temperatures created microfractures in the surface of the bore and powder chamber. This wasn't dangerous, but it did lead to bore erosion that affected firing accuracy and periodic replacement of the barrels. The last barrels installed on Texas were rated for 250 shots of what were called effective service rounds, which was armor piercing rounds fired using a full 420 lb. charge that created the most wear. However, a large percentage of rounds fired were high capacity shells and reduced charges. That increased barrel life by several hundred shots. Lastly, whatever wear may occur on the slopes would be resolved when the barrels were replaced since the new liners installed in them included new slopes.

[@thurin84]

@@tomscotttheolderone364 ok. thanks! great info!

[@jameshowland7393]

Great presentation!

[@raydunakin]

I had no idea that just firing one of these was so complicated!

[@c.a.mcdivitt9722]

It's a real shame that those guns are too loud to safely fire. It would be awesome to get a crew together every year or so and try firing a few blank rounds.

[@rolandfischer931]

Fuck that I want to see em hit some target 🤣

[@philgiglio7922]

The USS KIDD used to fire a noon charge from the 51 mount. It was discontinued due to the expense of the 40 odd pounds of smokeless powder for each salute

[@deplorablecovfefe9489]

I might suggest the drawing is a "Top View".

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Thanks, the drawing was intentionally misdrawn in order to more clearly show the action of the breech plug and rammer.

[@joseaponte1037]

Absolutely gorgeous

[@GVBiggs524]

Excellent video and explanation of the Firing cycle of the guns. I wish that they had taken better care of the Texas. I saw all that rust, grrrr.

[@williesnyder2899]

Wonderful explanation!!

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Glad you liked it

[@humphrey4976]

Phew I am glad I found this. I was really struggling to fire my main guns. I am off to harass shipping in the Atlantic.

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

I'm glad that I could help!

[@chrishayes5790]

Xellent vid. I shall tell everyone at the pub. Cud watch this stuff allday

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Thanks! While I described what goes into firing a shot on the 14" guns, I didn't talk about how the turrets and guns were crewed. Go to the following video to see that. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hnScmGyNoKmGY5Y

[@Leswayne777]

What a mean looking magnificent ship

[@peterroe8800]

Wonderful description ,thanks !

[@garvinhooper]

a good friend of mine was in the 2nd Ranger Bn and his landing craft was sunk going in on D-Day he was picked up and put aboard the battleship Texas, just one of the two that survived the sinking of their landing craft

[@oufdii7559]

Magnifique travail et partage. Merciiiiii❤

[@scottcolvin9997]

Great video! Amazing to think how the gun crews were so well trained they could go through this entire cycle in such a short time. What was the average reload time?

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Thanks! Maximum rate of fire per gun was 45 seconds.

[@grahamhodge8313]

Excellent explanation. Thanks.

[@bouffant-girl]

The technology is amazing.

[@drats1279]

Very concise and interesting. thank you

[@daveskimmer]

Very informative, thank you.

[@halo3zocker]

Love it! Can't wait for the more in detail Videos ^^

[@nemo6900]

it always amazes me the engineering required as well as the forging to keep that barrel from detonating from one shot let alone years of such abuses makes me wonder if there is more work gone into the design of a single turret on that ship then It took for the whole ship

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

I discussed propellant in another video in which I describe how maximum chamber pressure during firing is 36,000 pounds per square inch, well within the strength parameters of the barrel. The reason is that propellant does not truly detonate, but burns extremely quickly. The individual pellets of propellant were designed in such a way to burn progressively faster so that they start fairly slowly and then speed up as the bore's volume increases as the shell moves through the barrel. This makes it build pressure in a controlled fashion without over pressuring. The guns and turret were the result of years of evolution from previous designs, much like the engines, boilers and even the ship's hull and structure.

[@nemo6900]

@@tomscotttheolderone364 thank you for the clarification I had assumed it all went off at once but gradual would make it far easier for containment.....👍

[@lbowsk]

VERY COOL. THanks for posting.

[@elultimo102]

This video explains the extra puff of white smoke from the guns after firing, as the remaining gases are ignited in the barrel. (BTW, the Iowa has a mechanical fire control computer that is so accurate, that it was not replaced with an electronics).

[@clydecessna737]

It's a year later and I watched it again and It is still terrific. How can the gunners verify that the compressed air has done its work and that the barrel is now safe to open the breach?

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Thanks! Thanks for the question. It cannot be overstated just how important the gas ejector system was. There would almost certainly be a flashback into the turret if a breech plug was opened without compressed air first being shot into the gun after firing. That happened on Battleship Mississippi when system pressure dropped below its operational level and a gun in turret 2 failed to be cleared. The resulting flashback killed several crewmen. They could not directly observe that the bore was clear of explosive gasses until they opened the breech. However, it was a sound assumption that if a sufficient quantity of compressed air had shot into the bore, it would be clear. On Texas, and I'm sure all other battleships, there is a pressure gauge located above each gun's breech and a backup gauge in the commander's booth that constantly monitored air pressure in the gas ejector system. One of the checklist items prior to going into action was to trip the ejector valve by hand and observe it blow air into the powder chamber. If it worked then, it was reasonable to assume that it would work while the gun was in action. If pressure dropped below a safe level, they could remove the spent primer and use a portable air hose to shoot air through the primer vent to clear the gun before the breech plug was opened. Lastly, they could hear the gas ejector valve trip and air shoot into the gun as the breech plug was rotated. If that wasn't heard, the plug man would not completely unlock the plug and they would use the previously mentioned portable hose.

[@johnjames1374]

It's very helpful that the round constantly shrinks to fit whatever the narrator is telling us.

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

If that's a compliment, thanks. If not, the round never shrinks in relationship to the barrel. However, there are frequent changes to overall scale in order to zoom in for details or out for full size looks.

[@greggweber9967]

I've always wondered about what looks like a pushing chain that IMHO has to bend and probably hang down out of the way and yet push straight.

[@kpadmirer]

Yes, the chain only bends one way.

[@bpp325]

Was always curious what the puff of smoke was after the gun was fired and the barrel was lowered. Now I know. Thanx.👍👍

[@patchmack4469]

indeed naval guns were a marvel of technology even for a hundred years ago, pretty advanced for their time in history, the designers were definitely way too clever, i hope they benefited unlike some i can think of, Mr Dunlop who after a lifetime of redesigning the formula for rubber, having invested so much time and other peoples money died penniless, and yet into the future, Dunlop becomes a big name apparently, my grandfather left a design on the back of an office door for divers to be able escape a submersible and swim away, known today as the Davis and Tate escape capsule, pinched by Mr Davis and Mr Tate, thanks (i have absolutely no idea if any of that is true, just one of those family myths that one tells)

[@rushd45]

Thanks always wondered about the process. At the beginning, at 0:28 in the video, there is the photo of the guns firing taken in the air from above and foward of the bow. You can see some small waves that are perdicular to the axis of the ship. Are those waves that are actually caused by the force of the guns firing and displacing the ship in the opposite direction of the firing?

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

That's a good question that has been asked by many people when looking at similar photos. Regardless of how much it appears that the ship is being moved, it is not. The waves are made by the immense pressure wave created when the gasses are expelled from the muzzle as the shell leaves the barrel. An interesting math exercise was performed a number of years ago by someone who calculated the effect on hull movement when guns are fired. The author cheated the computation by assuming the ship was sitting on a friction free surface, like ice, instead of in water to keep from having to calculate hull resistance in water and simplify the math. The result was that even with that huge advantage, the ship would only move a fraction of an inch. Based upon that, it is accurate to say that the amount the hull would move when in water would not be measurable.

[@k4000]

Great video

[@njjeff201]

Thank you. Fascinating!

[@ned900]

Love it! keep em coming, great presentation.

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Thank you! Will do!

[@marthakrumboltz2710]

As you said, these guys were really smart. They engineered all of this with slide rules, something that I’ll bet not 200 people world wide could do today. Most people couldn’t or wouldn’t leave their home without a computer screen @ the ready. Help me, what do I do! My phone wont work.

[@shotokan1216]

Great video as always, Sir!

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@sup5356]

outstanding explanation

[@altaccount4697]

For reference, a 16 inch gun at 32,000 PSI produces a force on the shell of about 3,217 tons.

[@ewetho]

One I would love to see a tour of the forward wand rear tripod mast… to see what is up there……….

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Unfortunately, there is nothing worthwhile to see in either. Not only were both completely stripped of their equipment by the Navy when the ship was decommissioned, they are no longer period correct inside. Both were in need of major structural repairs when the ship went to dry dock in 1988. Lack of adequate funding forced them to use materials and methods that were not part of the original construction. So, there isn't much to learn by visiting them. The good news is they were careful to make sure that outer appearances were correct.

[@nomore9203]

Great video ☺️

[@tomscotttheolderone364]

Thank you!! 😊