County of display: New Hanover County
Location of display: USS North Carolina Rd., North Carolina Museum, Wilmington
Marker erected by: National Park Service
Generously funded by Hank and Terry Falkowski
The mighty battleships had many guns onboard, but the largest were the nine 16 inch guns. The size of the gun was measured by the diameter of the bullet or projectile that it could fire. For example a 5-inch gun fires a projectile that is 5 inches in diameter.
This projectile is a high capacity bombardment shell. About 95% of the shells fired from a battleship were high capacity projectiles. The shells were loaded with about 150 pounds of explosives. The 2,100 pound shells were loaded into the gun with 660 pounds of powder. Traveling a twice the speed of sound, the projectile could travel over 22 miles in under 50 seconds. Marines in the Korean War described the shell sounding like a train going overhead. The size of the crater was over 50 feet across and 20 feet deep. The gray ring shown here is the end of the muzzle of a 16-inch gun. Note the land and grooves. They increase the range and accuracy of the round.
More can be learned at the following sites: Naval Gunfire
USS Maryland
USS Missouri
Range Tables
Marker text:
The "Big Guns
The 16 inch guns fulfilled two important purposes:
• destruction of enemy ships
• shore bombardment
The 16 inch guns are housed in three turrets. Turrets I and II are located on the bow while Turret III is on the stern.
A turret is a massive structure that is supported and rotated on a ring of heavy rollers. Each rotating turret structure consists of three 16 inch guns and all the equipment required to aim, load, and fire the three guns. Unique to a 16 inch turret is that each gun barrel may be elevated independently of the other two in comparison to NORTH CAROLINA's five inch guns in which both barrels must be raised and lowered together.
The turret has six levels. The top one can be seen from the Main Deck while the remaining five levels extend down through the Ship. The lowest level is located just above the Ship's bottom.
During World War II, approximately three officers and 177 enlisted men worked in each turret and could fire one round for each gun every 30 seconds.
The Gun House
The top level of the turret is called the gun house. You may enter the gun house through the hatch, the only entrance to the turret from the Main Deck. The hatch opens into the turret officer's booth which is in the back of the gun house.
The booth contains systems which could aim and fire the guns, communications circuits, and power equipment for the rammer. Even though the guns could be aimed and fired from the turret, the usual arrangement was for "fire control" to be handled from the Main Battery Plotting Room. Located three levels below the Main Deck, the men in "Plot" controlled the aim ad fire of all three turrets using analog computers, radar, and a large control switchboard.
The gun house also has three compartments called "gun rooms," one for each gun. The five men in each gun room received a projectile and six powder bags, rammed them into the gun, and fired the round.
The Pan Floor and Electric Deck
The second level down from the gun house is the pan floor. It contains operating machinery and hollow spaces into which each gun breech is lowered when the gun is elevated.
Below the pan floor is the electric deck where a gun layer for each gun and a turret trainer were stationed. The gun layer operated the machinery that raised and lowered the guns. The turret trainer's equipment controlled turret rotation.
[PHOTO]: Men in a POWDER HANDLING ROOM loading the six 90 pound powder bags required to fire a projectile. The elevator-type hoist lifted the bags up to the guns in the gun house.
16 inch 45 Caliber Gun Statics
• Weight of Armor piercing projectile 2700 pounds
(shells used to penetrate another ship's
armor or reinforced fortifications on shore)
• Weight of high capacity projectile 1900 pounds
(Shells used primarily for bombardment
of islands and other land targets)
• Weight of powder charge (six bags) 540 pounds
• Effective range at 45 degrees
armor piercing projectiles 21 miles
High capacity Projectiles 23 miles
• Initial velocity
(speed of projectile as it leaves the gun)
armor piercing projectiles 1,568 miles per hour
high capacity projectiles 1,797 miles per hour
• Rate of Fire 30 seconds per round
• Gun bore diameter 16 inches
• Gun barrel length 61 feet, 4 inches
• Maximum number of projectiles
carried aboard ship 1188
• Rounds of fire during action in WWII 2396
Upper and Lower Projectile Stowage and Handling decks
The two levels below the electric deck provide storage and handling areas for 16 inch projectiles. There is also an elevator-type hoist for each gun which lifted the projectiles ip to the gun rooms. (The lower of these two levels is open for touring.)