Comments by "Steve Valley" (@stevevalley7835) on "" video.

  1. wrt the question at 52:59 about firing battleship guns like howitzers, a couple points: There is a limit to how much the charge can be reduced, as, with too small of a charge, the shell might not make it out of the barrel. Army howitzers have significantly shorter barrels than long guns. The 155 howitzers my dad's battery during WWII used had a barrel length of 12' 5", 24 calibers. The longer ranged 155 "Long Tom", had a barrel 45 calibers, 22' 10" long. iirc, the 18" on HMS Furious was notorious for the shell getting stuck in the barrel if it was fired with an excessively reduced charge. The gunnery tables for firing with a reduced charge already existed. They were SOP in the USN. Example, using a USN gunnery table published in 1935: a 14" firing a full charge, producing a muzzle velocity of 2600fps, firing at a target 13,000 yards away, would fire with an exit angle (elevation plus jump) of 7 degrees 26.2 minutes, and produce an angle of fall of 10 degrees, 5 minutes. The same gun, firing a reduced charge, generating a muzzle velocity of 2000fps, aiming at a target 13,000 yards away, with an exit angle of 13 degrees 2.5 minutes, would produce an angle of fall of 17 degrees, 32 minutes. Without a practical way of shortening the gun barrels, firing with a reduced charge increases the angle of fall, but, at short ranges, does the increase make enough difference? I would not be surprised if the BBs in the case you mention were firing with reduced charge, but the resulting angle was still too low.
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