Teeth of the Tiger
by Jon Burch Photography
Title
Teeth of the Tiger
Artist
Jon Burch Photography
Medium
Photograph - Digital Capture
Description
"If you want to kick the tiger in his ass you'd better have a plan for dealing with his teeth"
― Tom Clancy, The Teeth of the Tiger
The sixteen inch guns on the USS Missouri and other Iowa Class battleships fired projectiles weighing from 1,900 to 2,700 pounds at a muzzle velocity of 2,690 feet per second to a maximum range of 42,345 yards 24.06 miles using an armor-piercing shell.
The armament of the Iowa-class battleships underwent a massive evolution since the first Iowa-class ship was laid down in June 1940. Owing to the continual evolution of the weaponry aboard these battleships they remain the most heavily armed gunships the United States has ever put to sea. In their World War II configuration, each of the Iowa-class battleships had a main battery of 16-inch guns that could hit targets nearly 20 statute miles away with a variety of artillery shells designed for anti-ship or bombardment work. The secondary battery of 5-inch guns could hit targets nearly 9 statute miles away with solid projectiles or proximity fuzed shells, and were equally adept in an anti-aircraft role and for damaging smaller ships. Each of the four battleships carried a wide array of 20 mm and 40 mm anti-aircraft guns for defense against enemy aircraft.
When reactivated and modernized in the 1980's each battleship retained the original battery of nine 16-inch guns, but the secondary battery on each battleship was reduced from ten twin-gun mounts and twenty guns to six twin-gun mounts with 12 guns to allow for the installation of two platforms for Tomahawk missiles. Each battleship also received four Harpoon missile magazines, Phalanx anti-aircraft/anti-missile Gatling gun systems, and electronic warfare suites.
Image copyright 2013 Jon Burch Photography
Uploaded
February 16th, 2013
Statistics
Viewed 315 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/23/2024 at 3:50 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet
Comments
There are no comments for Teeth of the Tiger. Click here to post the first comment.