Naval Ordnance and Gunnery
Revised edition--March 1946
NAVPERS 16116-A
PREPARED FOR TRAINING IN NAVAL ORDNANCE AND GUNNERY
Standards and Curriculum Division
Training
Bureau of Naval Personnel
March, 1946
Table of Contents
This volume is "under construction", and will be completed as soon as time allows... --HyperWar
PAGE Chapter 1-- Introduction to weapons 1 Chapter 2-- Explosives 7 A. Explosive reactions 7 B. Service explosives and their uses 8 C. Ammunition 17 Chapter 3-- Gun ammunition 21 A. General types 21 B. Primers 23 C. Propelling charges 24 D. Projectiles 32 E. Fuzes and tracers 38 Chapter 4-- Gun assemblies 44 A. Gun barrels 44 B. Breech assemblies 51 C. Mounts 60 D. Sights 71 Chapter 5-- A major caliber turret installation 79 A. Introduction 79 B. Gun and breech assembly 82 C. Slide assembly 89 D. Elevating, training, and sight gear 92 E. Ammunition handling 96 F. Safety precautions 101 Chapter 6-- Semi-automatic guns 105 A. Introduction 105 B. Operation of the breech mechanism 105 C. 3"/50 caliber gun and mounts 114 D. 5"/38 caliber gun and mounts 119 Chapter 7-- Machine guns 150 A. Introduction 150 B. 40 mm. gun assemblies 150 C. 20 mm. gun and mounts 165 D. Caliber .50 machine gun 184 Chapter 8-- Small arms 198 A. Introduction 198 B. Caliber .30 Springfield rifle 199 C. Caliber .45 automatic pistol 200 D. Thompson submachine gun 201 E. U.S. carbine, caliber .30 202 Chapter 9-- Torpedoes, mines, depth charges, release gear and rockets 204 A. Introduction 204 B. Torpedoes 204 C. Mines 217 D. Depth charges 220 E. Rockets 226 Chapter 10-- Introduction to fire control 241 A. Historical 241 B. Modern armament 243 Chapter 11-- Range measurement 249 A. Range finders 249 Chapter 12-- Gun sight principles and battery alignment 263 A. Trajectory analysis 263 B. Range tables 269 C. Gun sights and sight setting 271 D. Gun-sight alignment 273 E. Battery alignment in train 276 F. Battery alignment in elevation 286 G. Battery alignment afloat 296 Chapter 13-- The surface problem; analytical determination of sight settings 304 A. Range keeping 304 B. The gun ballistic 310 C. Control, arbitrary, total, and initial ballistics 319 D. Other considerations 323 Chapter 14-- The surface problem; practical determination of sight settings 329 A. Graphic tracking 329 B. Graphic range keeping 331 C. Basic range-keeping mechanisms 335 D. An elementary range keeper 342 E. Basic ballistics computing mechanisms 349 F. An elementary computer 354 Chapter 15-- The AA problem; analysis of sight and fuze settings 367 A. Positioning computations 367 B. Rate control 371 C. Ballistics computations 375 D. Practical considerations 390 Chapter 16-- Fundamentals of director control 395 A. Applying sight settings and firing 395 B. Synchros and servos 398 C. An elementary director system 402 D. Director control with measured gun orders 406 E. Director control with computed gun orders 415 Chapter 17-- Dual-purpose battery fire-control system 425 A. General description 425 B. The Mark 37 director 429 C. The Mark 65 stable element 441 D. The Mark 1 computer 454 E. Gun-control equipment 474 Chapter 18-- Main battery fire-control system 481 A. General description of the system 481 Turret fire-control equipment 494 Chapter 19-- Machine-gun control 497 A. General 497 B. Ring sight and tracer control 499 C. The Mark 14 sight and Mark 51 director 500 Chapter 20-- Torpedo control 512 A. Principles of torpedo fire 512 B. Torpedo control problem 515 C. Torpedo director system 518 Chapter 21-- Spotting 528 A. Salvo analysis and relation to spotting 528 B. The spotter and methods of spotting 533 Chapter 22-- Organization and interior communications 538 A. Organization 538 B. Communications 543 Chapter 23-- Suggestions to junior gunnery officers 547 A. The junior officer and the gunnery department 547 B. Sources of information 549 C. Reports and requisitions 554 Chapter 24-- Naval gunfire support 556 A. Introduction 556 B. Types of fire 560 C. Spotting and fire control 562 Appendix A-- Standard fire-control symbols 568 Appendix B-- Definitions 575 Appendix C-- Standard commands 586 Appendix D-- 5-inch range table from O. P. 551 591
Described by naval experts as one of the most remarkable sea pictures ever made, this photo shows the U.S.S. Missouri, the Navy's newest battleship of the Iowa class, in battle practice. The black dots in the sky at upper right are shells from her 16-inch forward guns. Note the foam in the water from the force of the blast. ![]()