djm@castle.ed.ac.uk (D Murphy) (06/05/90)
From: D Murphy <djm@castle.ed.ac.uk> Subject came up in a pub discussion about Iraq and large artillery.. I'm not a ballistics expert, but I'd imagine barrel wear in heavy guns means that the inner sleeve of a gun barrel, especially a rifled one, must be replaceable. If this is the case, would it be possible to equip the BBs in the US Navy with smooth-bore main guns, and use an FSDS round instead ? More to the point, if this is possible, are there plans to do this to cope with any shortage of 15" ammunition (which I believe is all of 1950s make) ? [mod.note: There *is* a DS round for the 16"; it's a 13" projectile. I don't think it's fin-stabilized, I believe it's spin-stabilized. Yes, the barrel liners are replaceable. And to correct your typo, they're 16" guns. - Bill ] Murff...