NationStates Jolt Archive

Ok, a small attack boat with a 80 cm gun. There was an 80 cm gun in real life so I think it would work.

Well the common light boat guns today(and for some heavier boats these days) are the 76mm OTO malera (sp?) and boffers 57mm deul purpose guns.


By small attack boat what exactly do you mean? how small? veitnam river patrol boat small or fast attack craft small(ie pegesus hydrofoil).

He's talking cm, as in 31.5 inches, or twice the bore-width as the guns mounted on an Iowa-class battleship...:roll:

Are you insane? Eighty centimeters is approximately 31.5 inches!

Have you ever seen one of the Iowa-class battleships fire a single broadside salvo with 16.5 inch guns? The ships weighs as much as a large building, yet the recoil pushes it backwards 5 or 6 feet.

Even fitting a 31 inch gun onto a boat would be a feat of engineering. For one, it probably wouldn't be able to go anywhere without a propeller that was the size of a large house. Secondly, I wouldn't be surprised if the gun didn't just crash straight through the deck because it weighed so much.

Firing a gun that big would certainly split it in half, or at the very least capsize it. Also, if I remember correctly the gun you're thinking of required several weeks to put together, fired, 15,000 pound shells, and averaged a rate of fire of 14 shells...per day. It was also mounted on railroad tracks...

An 800 mm gun, that translates into 32 inches, thats bigger than the largest WWII battleship main guns, can you put it on a small boat? sure you can, you can also put an elephant on the back of a tightrope walker. . . its physicly possible, but it just won't float for more than .00000001 miliseconds. if you mean an 80mm gun, then go for it, though an 88 mm would be closer to real life.

An eighty-cm gun would probably be a bad idea. Even if you could manage to mount a weapon with nearly a meter-wide barrel on a small ship, firing it would likely cause the vessel to capsize, and as has been mentioned, it would be slow as hell. An 80mm, or even an 88mm gun might even be a good idea, but not as a primary weapon. You probably want to include a few secondary weapons.

To see how big this barrel would be, hold one arm out to your side and stretch it out to full length. Place your other hand on your sternum, pointing the same direction as your arm. From the tip of one hand's fingers to the other is a little more than eighty centimeters, give or take.

Hhmm i didn't see the cm bit maybe because my brain just couldn't belive it.

accualy, a pair of 88 mm guns mounted on a patrol boat would be a decent newbie weapon, provided that he backed it up with speedboats loaded with rapid firing machine guns and some migs for aircover, at his size, he shouldn't be fighting anyone much larger than him anyways, so that would give him the punch of a destroyer fairly cheeply.

personally for my light boats i would go for the 57mm boffers or okerlion's 35mm millenium gun with a couple of pengiun missiles...

Agreed, Crookfur. With today's advents in weapons technology, most battles are likely to be fought outside the range of any guns, and missiles are a far better option.

Incidentally, the 80cm Dora Railroad Gun is what he was thinking of. It was not, however, the largest caliber gun ever. That award goes to the United States and their 941mm Mortar, "Little David". The mortar had originally been designed to lob bombs in the air for testing, but it was decided to make a mobile version. Needless to say, it probably wasn't a fun gun to load, what with its 6,500 pound shells. :lol:

true, but you are larger than he is, and thus more able to affoard ammo, last I checked, solid projectile ammo is a lot cheaper than missiles, and after being glassed so many times, I belive he'll finaly start under pricing his army.

Gun in question was called Schwerer Gustav or 'Dora' and built to destroy the Maginot Line. It ended up being used in the siege of Sevastopol, where it destroyed a supposedly inpenetrable bunker, apparently.

http://home.att.net/~meiii/rrpix/DORA7SML.JPG

Agreed, Crookfur. With today's advents in weapons technology, most battles are likely to be fought outside the range of any guns, and missiles are a far better option.

Incidentally, the 80cm Dora Railroad Gun is what he was thinking of. It was not, however, the largest caliber gun ever. That award goes to the United States and their 941mm Mortar, "Little David". The mortar had originally been designed to lob bombs in the air for testing, but it was decided to make a mobile version. Needless to say, it probably wasn't a fun gun to load, what with its 6,500 pound shells. :lol:

Random note: mortars are generally counted as a seperate category to artillery guns for such records.

true, but you are larger than he is, and thus more able to affoard ammo, last I checked, solid projectile ammo is a lot cheaper than missiles, and after being glassed so many times, I belive he'll finaly start under pricing his army.


Well for killing ships you really need something like a decent tank gun (the 100mm french DP gun might do it) but then light vessels are why we have 160mm ECT guns on our alrger vessels to suplment our 35mm multirole weapons...

the 88mm was the gun on the german Tiger tanks durring WWII, seeing as how most escort ships have armor about comperable to a sherman to a panther, both of which would be torn through with 88, it was a logical choise for me. if he wants big guns, he'll just have to wait till he grows up enough to get a battleship, though by that time, Aircraft carriers would be a more economical choise.

Actually 155mm guns can be fitted onto frigates and destroyers (the UK's new type 46 currently has a 4.5" gun and plans to upgrade that to the new 155mm AGS exist).

The problem with guns on light vessels is simply range: to get best use out of a decent direct fire weapon you need to be well within 4km at which range light weapons such as goal keeper and next gen 35/40mm weapons are going to shred light vessels.

Cheap ATGMS are likely going to be a better option for the light vessel particularly longer ranged ones. (fire and forget would be nicer but likely expensive).

of course an ungiuded super cavitating torpedo might work...

Thank you for that correction, GMC.

IIRC, the Dora gun bombarded several WWI-era fortresses and fired a total of 46 shells in anger. I think that her greatest shot slammed through 30 meters of water and penetrated an arms cache, setting the whole thing off and sinking a nearby ship in the process. :?