Each turret was fitted with an optical range finder, ballistic analog computer, and a switchboard. The turret interiors were subdivided and designed to permit the independent loading, elevation and firing of each gun. The ships could fire any combination of their guns, up to a broadside of all nine. ![]() ![]() The turrets were described as "three-gun" rather than "triple" because each barrel could be elevated independently. The turrets cost US$1.4 million each, excluding the cost of the guns. Each turret required a crew of 79 men to operate. At maximum range the projectile spent almost 1 + 1⁄ 2 minutes in flight. When firing armor-piercing shells, their muzzle velocity was 2,500 feet per second (762 meters per second) with a range of up to 24 mi (39 km). They fired projectiles weighing from 1,900 to 2,700 lb (860 to 1,220 kg) at different muzzle velocities, depending on the shell. ![]() These guns were 50 calibers long, 50 times their 16-inch (406 mm) bore diameter with barrels 66.7 ft (20.3 m) long, from chamber to muzzle. The lightweight 16-in/50 Mark 7 was designed to resolve this conflict. However, the Bureau of Construction and Repair assumed that the ships would carry a compact 16-in/50 turret and designed the ships with barbettes too small to accommodate the 16-in/50 Mark 2 three-gun turret that the Bureau of Ordnance was actually working on. A cutaway of a turret mounting 16-inch gunsĭue to a lack of communication during design, the Bureau of Ordnance assumed the Iowa class would use the 16-inch (406 mm)/50 Mark 2 guns constructed for the 1920 South Dakota-class battleships.
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