[Captain Rhino]

During my time with 3rdBn 26thMar in Vietnam, the battalion went afloat twice. The second time, I was aboard the USS Paul Revere, an amphibious attack transport (APA). One afternoon, all the embarked Marines were ordered to remain in their berthing spaces while the ship’s crew did gunnery training with the multiple twin 40mm antiarcraft gun mounts positioned around the ship’s weather deck. My berthing space was on the lowest billeting level in the forecastle (bow). There were two twin 40mm mounts immediately above. When the firing began, the effect was like some huge sledge hammer beating on the hull just outside the compartment.

I write all of this as a preamble for you to appreciate what that hour aboard the USS Washington at Salvo Island must have been like:

Extracted from the article text:

- From 0016 to 0019 fired 42 rounds 16”, (42 rounds in 3 minutes)
- From 0016 to 0017 fired 100 rounds 5” (100 rounds in 1 minute)
- fired 133 rounds 5” from 0025 to 0034 (133 rounds in 9 minutes)
- From 0100 to 0107 fired 75 rounds 16’’ and 107 rounds 5” (182 rounds in 7 minutes)

In 51 minutes, the USS Washington fired 117 rounds of 16” and 440 rounds of 5.”

Wow.

[Blueflag]

The ship had nine 16” tubes. Do the math on shots per tube/ turret and you can see those men were seriously jumping some AP shells and powder bags.

They exceeded 1 round per minute in the early action.

[Psalm 73]

"In 51 minutes, the USS Washington fired 117 rounds of 16”..."

That stuck out for me, too - can you imagine what that looked like at night?

[lapsus calami]

 

 

You would have loved duty aboard a battleship. After an engagement with all batteries the below decks would look like a cross between a burglary and the Sack of Rome. Lockers burst open, contents strewn everywhere, mattresses off bunks, bunk frames tore loose from the walls, your stuff thrown everywhere all over the floor, various conduits shook loose, bent and maybe leaking, supporting brackets cracked if not bent, asbestos dust floating in the air. There was re-engineering done on-the-fly while out to sea to figure out ways of keeping things secured that were not anticipated in the original design plans.

 

 

[topher]

Admiral Lee constantly drilled his sailors for gunfire action.

This is the fruit of that. He also used his gunfire radar effectively to find the biggest target -- the opposing battleship -- and target it...