Naval Ordnance and Gunnery

Revised edition--March 1946

NAVPERS 16116-A

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PREPARED FOR TRAINING IN NAVAL ORDNANCE AND GUNNERY

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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.