5" Naval gun

[Micdrow]

Well this past weekend while at a wedding reception I came across this at the reception hall. Never realized how big a 5" 1944 gun was till I saw this.

Enjoy!!!!

 

[BombTaxi]

Naval guns are huge pieces of kit - even the little ones! About 4 or 5 years back I visited USS North Carolina, and was struck by the size of the twin 5" turrets - and that was just the secondary battery. The 16" weapons were truly monstrous, the biggest guns I have ever seen.

I have also visited HMS Plymouth, a Royal Navy frigate that fought in the Falklands, and was surprised that although the (unmanned) twin 4.5" mout was relatively small, the gunroom below where ammunition was fed into the autoloading system was huge for such (relatively) small guns.

Great pictures anyway, thanks for sharing them!

 

[Micdrow]

Naval guns are huge pieces of kit - even the little ones! About 4 or 5 years back I visited USS North Carolina, and was struck by the size of the twin 5" turrets - and that was just the secondary battery. The 16" weapons were truly monstrous, the biggest guns I have ever seen.

I have also visited HMS Plymouth, a Royal Navy frigate that fought in the Falklands, and was surprised that although the (unmanned) twin 4.5" mout was relatively small, the gunroom below where ammunition was fed into the autoloading system was huge for such (relatively) small guns.

Great pictures anyway, thanks for sharing them!

Thanks Bombtaxi,

Yeah Ive seen the 16" guns on the USS New Jersey and the twin 5" guns but that was roughly 19 years ago before here last decommission. Memory goes quick!!!

 

[timshatz]

I used to work in (short time) the handling room for that gun. But it was the twin version on a destroyer. Same size as those you saw on the N. Cara. At least I think those are the same guns. Should be a 5" 38 caliber (as apposed to the 5" 54 Caliber).

If I remember correctly, there were 8 guys in the mount with the gun, maybe more. Down in the handling room, there were three of us plus guys feeding rounds in. It was not really complicated, but you had to know where you were supposed to be. But the rounds we fired were pretty slow into the hoist. NGFS was not rapid so there was no great hurry to feed rounds.

Even on the occasional rapid fire, everything kind of broke down. She was an old ship (38 years old) and things just didn't work like they were supposed to anymore. The one time we tried a broadside, the whole ship shorted out.

 

[Messy1]

Cool pics. Thanks for posting. Any info as to where this gun was based? Was it a land based gun?

 

[Stitch]

I saw 5" naval guns when I spent the night on the USS Hornet in Alameda; I believe they had a total of four mounts, two on the starboard, and two on the port. They were pretty large; IIRC, the handling rooms were actually next to the mounts, just inboard of the guns, not below decks like they are on most ships. One of the docents opened the shell handling room up for us and showed us inside; the room is normally off-limits to the public, but he was kind enough to show us around. Here are the guns I saw:

 

[Micdrow]

Cool pics. Thanks for posting. Any info as to where this gun was based? Was it a land based gun?

I couldnt find any info out on it other then whats posted. By the way nice pictures there Stitch.

 

[Messy1]

thanks for looking, I am always interested in where these monuments like these come from.

 

[renrich]

I had an uncle, a Chief Gunners Mate on CA25, Salt Lake City, in 41-43. He had the responsibility for some or all ( I am not sure) of the eight open mount 5-inchers on board. It was interesting to hear him describe how the guns were loaded and sighted at that stage of the war, particularly against AC( no proximity fuses)

 

[vikingBerserker]

Any wedding reception that involves a 5" Navel Gun rocks!!

Seriously, it is amazing how big they are.

 

[Messy1]

Agree Vb. We do not have too many artifacts like that gun around here where I live. It would be cool to see! Love to go to a wedding like that.

 

[Micdrow]

I have to say this after it was all done and over with we forgot to take pictures of the bride and groom yet I came home with pictures of a 5" gun.

 

[renrich]

The Nimitz museum in Fredricksburg, Texas has a 5 inch mount also along with a lot of other exhibits. Well worth a visit. In fact the whole town is a very interesting place. The Becker Winery there should be on the list for a visit also. Set aside at least a couple of hours for the Nimitz exhibits.

 

[Messy1]

You don't see military items like this used very often anymore it seems.

 

[Stitch]

I couldnt find any info out on it other then whats posted. By the way nice pictures there Stitch.

Thanks!

I should be spending the night there again sometime this year (probably September or October), so I'll try and take some better pictures then.

 

[Amsel]

The Nimitz museum in Fredricksburg, Texas has a 5 inch mount also along with a lot of other exhibits. Well worth a visit. In fact the whole town is a very interesting place. The Becker Winery there should be on the list for a visit also. Set aside at least a couple of hours for the Nimitz exhibits.

A week could be set aside to visit the hill country of Texas. From Bandera and Fredricksburg to New Braunfels, Austin and San Antone. It is like heaven on earth, at least in the springtime.