Model Boat Mayhem
The Shipyard ( Dry Dock ): Builds & Questions => Navy - Military - Battleships: => Topic started by: Martin (Admin) on February 23, 2019, 10:49:18 am
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I'm having an discussion with someone on Facebook as to whether the Main battery guns were used in an Anti Aircraft role?
There is a great film, Yamato (2005 - Otoko-tachi no Yamato ) and during the final battle, Yamato is shown firing her main armament against the devastating aircraft attack;
1. Is that accurate?
2. What type of shells would be used?
3. Were large caliber AA shells available during WWII?
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Martin
Sure the real Yamato carried a round called beehive, for use in the AA role, also I think that there are records of her using them as well.
Hope this helps
Bob
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I’m sure I’ve read that both Bismarck and Tirpitz fired their main guns against the aircraft launched against them, 9 Sqn bomber crews reported seeing 15” shells hurtling past their Lancasters!
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Bit of an elevation issue, though.
Andy
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Absolutely correct that Yamato and Musashi carried and fired 18.1" AA rounds. This was reported numerous times by USN pilots, especially during the naval battles for the Philippine Sea in 1944. The round was the 46cm "San-Shiki"AA common projectile Model 3, weight 1350kg, number of fragments 1500. There is an excellent description and sectional plans in The "Anatomy of the Ship" series, The Battleship Yamato", by Janusz Skulski.
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The 12inch monitors of WW1 also had a special AA round similar to Beehive and used them on occasion when protecting the Thames.
HMS Roberts and Wolfe (14inch and 12inch monitors respectively) had 6 inch HA weapons that were mounted on the upper deck but served from the deck beow and were the largest AA weapons used by the RN.
References are from the 'Buxton Bible' Big Gun Monitors.
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Bismarck reportedly fired her main armament into the sea in front of the attacking Swordfish from Ark Royal to create a waterspout barrier. The same technique was employed by one of the Nelson class whilst under attack in the Mediterranean.
The day after Jutland, several battleships of the Grand Fleet fired their heavy guns at scouting Zeppelins to drive them away. They didn't hit any but scared the life out of units of their light forces miles away when shells arrived out of nowhere!
Colin
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Nelson and Rodney used their main 16" armament to 'dissuade' the Italian torpedo bombers from their torpedo runs against the Pedestal Convoy in August 1942. No doubt aided by the high angles of elevation the main guns could attain following their 1930s refits. A combination of airburst proximity fused shells and plunging fire into the sea, which would produce huge plumes of water in front of the approaching bombers.
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I remember my great uncle telling me about the monitor at Sheerness Dockyard in WW2, apparently she flooded her aft compartments to get sufficient elevation to fire her main armament at German Bomber formations flying up the Thames estuary, although there was no confirmed hits, the blast from the shells severely affected the German Formations.
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Monitors used this technique of controlled heeling from time to time in WW1 as well to gain extra range, but doing this for extra elevation is a good idea.
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The shell fired from the Yamato was indeed a beehive anti- aircraft shell.
Think of it as a very large shotgun round and you have the basic idea.
The 46 cm (18.1 in) Sanshiki Model 13 round weighed 2,998 lb and was filled with 900 incendiary tubes and 600
steel stays. The round was equipped with a delay fuze set before firing that detonated the shell at the set altitude;
on explosion, the steel stays and the incendiary tubes were ejected in a 20-degree cone forward, with the shell
fragments from the explosion itself further increasing the amount of debris. The incendiary tubes ignited about a
half-second later and burned for five seconds with 5 m (16 ft) long flames. Each of the incendiary tubes was a
90 mm long, 25 mm diameter hollow steel cylinder, filled with rubber thermite (phosphorus, vulcanized rubber,
natural rubber, stearic acid, sulphur and barium nitrate) and ignited through holes on both sides.
The rounds were similar to conventional shells, except for their wood-filled ogive and several layers of
assembled fragments.
Regards