Naval artillery - Citizendia

Naval artillery or naval rifles refers to warship-mounted guns used in naval warfare for attacking other vessels, bombarding targets on shore (naval gunfire support), or for anti-structural. Artillery (from French artillerie) is a military Combat Arm which employs any apparātus machine A warship is a Ship that is built and primarily intended for Combat. A gun is a particular Weapon that propels Projectiles The projectile is generally fired through a hollow tube known as the gun's barrel. Naval warfare is Combat in and on Seas Oceans or any other major bodies of water such as large Lakes and wide Rivers History A bombardment is an attack by Artillery fire directed against Fortifications, troops or towns and buildings Naval gunfire support (NGFS is the use of Naval artillery to provide Fire support for amphibious assault and other troops operating within their range Conversely, the term may be used as a descriptor about the naval rifles used in land batteries for anti-shipping area denial purposes. A Land battery is a special type of gun emplacement or anti-shipping naval interdiction Fortification used in coastal defense to protect areas such as anchorages Smaller-bore guns are sometimes referred to as deck guns, such as on Coast Guard cutters and destroyers. The term caliber or calibre designates the interior Diameter of a tube or the exterior diameter of a wire or rod "Deck gun" can also mean a type of big water nozzle used for firefighting. A coast guard is a national organization responsible for various services at sea When used in a nautical sense a cutter is a small single-masted vessel Fore-and-aft rigged with two or more Headsails a Bowsprit, and In naval terminology a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance Warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, Convoy

The crowning achievement of naval artillery was the Dreadnought-era battleship. Genesis Battleships of the era typically carried four large guns mounted fore and aft in twin turrets with a number of smaller-calibre guns ranged along the sides of the A battleship is a large heavily armored Warship with a main battery consisting of the largest Calibre of Guns Battleships were The dominance of the modern battleship was from about 1906 to the start of World War II during which typical main armament rose from 12-inch (305 mm) guns to 15-inch (381 mm) guns or 16-inch (406 mm) guns with consequent increase in range and shell firepower. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The largest naval guns ever mounted were the 18. 1-inch (460 mm) guns used on the Japanese Yamato class battleships, firing a 1,460 kilogram (3,219 lb) projectile to a maximum range of 42,000 metres (45,930 yards). Design and construction Japanese naval strategy after World War I included plans for the construction of a fleet powerful enough to intimidate likely opponents in particular

The limitations to the range of the battleships' heavy guns meant that they were effectively replaced by the naval aircraft. The secondary and anti-aircraft weapons have fallen to the range and flexibility of guided missiles and naval guns have been reduced in importance though never completely replaced. Modern warships such as destroyers and frigates are typically only armed with one or two naval guns.

In naval vernacular the word "cannon" is never used to describe naval guns. | NOTE Throughout this article "cannon" is used as BOTH the || singular and plural

A naval rifle is one of the most complex and precise machines built by man. Because of the constant competition between the range and penetrating power of a shell, and the armor designed to resist it, naval rifles have seen extensive development and refinement over the last 150 years. Because of advances in accuracy of the rifle itself, optical, and later, radar range finding, and stabilization of the gun platform, typical battle ranges between capital ships rose from 4-8000 yards in 1890, to 30-40,000 yards by the end of World War II. Initial pre-dreadnought battleships tended to have a greater concentration of armour along the sides of areas to be protected because direct-fire line-of-sight was the most likely vector of shellfire. However, as both the abiltiy to direct fire and the range of the weapons themselves increased, greater consideration had to be given to both underwater protection schemes and horizontal armor because of the increasing likelihood of plunging shot.

As time progressed, naval rifles increased in length to provide greater accuracy. In naval guns having a bore of 1" or greater, caliber is an expression of the relationship between bore and barrel length, rather than simply an expression of bore diameter found in smaller pieces. Therefore, a rifle stated as having a 16" 50-caliber barrel would mean that the barrel length is 800 inches (20,000 mm), or a little less than 67 feet (20 m). The problem with casting and milling longer barrels is very complex, and poor quality control, inadequate skill, or substandard material and milling equipment can not only lead to inaccuracy, but barrel-droop after prolonged use, and in some cases, a shell jamming in the barrel and detonating.

Typical arrangement of a gun battery of a ship from the Age of Sail. The Age of Sail was the period in which International trade and Naval warfare were dominated by Sailing Ships lasting from the 16th to the mid	Gun battery aboard an early ironclad	USS Iowa (BB-61) fires a full broadside of nine 16"/50 and six 5"/38 guns during a target exercise near Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, 1 July 1984. Construction See also Iowa class battleship, Armament of the Iowa class battleship Iowa was the lead ship of her class of " Vieques ( Spanish pronunciation: /'vjɛkɛs/ or /'bjɛkɛs/ or /'βjɛkɛs/ English pronunciation: or) in full Isla de Vieques, is an island	Rear gun mounts on the USS Turner Joy
OTO-Melara 76 mm gun onboard F221 Hessen, a Sachsen class frigate of the German Navy

See also