Comments by "Old Guy Gaming Network" (@CRAZYHORSE19682003) on "Range-finding and Fire Control - Plotting Your Demise" video.

Yes but for a specific weapon system like the 16 inch 50 caliber guns on the Iowa class battleships those calculations only had to be done once. Ships carried something called a range table where you could look up your latitude, course and targets range and bearing and the range table would tell you how many feet to add or subtract. You had different range tables for every weapon system onboard. It was much quicker looking at a chart than actually ding the calculations.
2
US ships had them in WW2.
1
Great video, I am a former gunners mate on the USS Iowa. So this brings back s many memories. The MK-8 Range keeper fire control computer was so advanced that when the Iowa's were reactivated in the 80's they were retained because a modern computer could not do the job any better. With the MK-8 gone were the days of ranging salvos and adjusting fire. If you had a firing solution you can realistically expect a first salvo hit. The only factors being the natural dispersion and manual error in inputting the data into the computer. Provided you inputted everything correctly the computer would update everything in real time. It did not matter if you changed course and speed or if your target changed course and speed the system was calculating where the target would be when the shells landed. It was the worlds first aimbot. A good demonstration of the system in actual combat was at the battle of the Surigao strait. The West Virginia had been completely modernized and rebuilt after Pearl Harbor had a MK-8 fire control computer. In pitch black conditions the West Virginia's fire control radar picked up the Japanese battleship Yamashiro at 42,000 yards and had a firing solution lock at 30,000. The opened fire at 22,800 yards and scored a first salvo hit and scored hits on five of the next six salvos. California and Tennessee which were also modernized and equipped with the MK after Pearl Harbor also engaged Yamashiro. The other three battleships in his formation, Maryland, Mississippi and Pennsylvania did not get those modernizations and had older less capable fire control systems were not able to get a firing solution. Maryland had to visually sight in on the splashed from the other battleships. Mississippi only fired one salvo and the Pennsylvania could not find the target and never fired a shot. The Yamashiro was unable to acquire a target and was unable to return fire on any of the US battleships. This is why the North Carolina, South Dakoda and Iowa class ships would have had little difficulty squashing any axis battleship during the war.
1
@frysebox1 As a gunners mate on the USS Iowa in 16 inch turret one I can say Yes I have. During ESWS qualifications we were trained on the fire control computer and how to plot a fire control solution manually in case the computer got knocked out. We used a RPV that is what they used to call drones to monitor shell fall.
1
@frysebox1 I totally get what you are saying. We all get our information from somewhere and that is what shapes our reality. It is not based on actual scientific experiments that we have personally done but having faith that the work of others is the correct interpretation of reality.
1