Resized to 68% of original (view original)
original drawn by henshako

Artist's commentary

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    Battleship Iowa

    This is the battleship Iowa I drew for a commission of a book cover. This picture was half-traced. As for why it is 'half' traced, that is because the original picture actually depicted the 1984 modernized version of Battleship New Jersey. However, the book is about WWII battleship, so I had to research the 1943 version of Iowa-class battleship and fix all the details one-by-one. Not only were there 4 more 5-inch turret, there were also enormous amount of 20mm and 40mm AA turret that had to be added. Even though this kind of back-dating was hard, it was certainly worth the effort.
    (TL note: Forgive my poor translation, as neither English nor Japanese are my first language)

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    ThunderBird
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    Tacoboy said:

    Correct me if I am wrong, but it is impressive that even with a full broadside the ship still sails straight ahead.

    Why would it turn, the guns are nearly fired simultaneously, so the force acting on her is translation, not rotation (relative to the movement).
    But you know what's impressive? That it doesn't capsize from a broadside!

    1 Reply
    Tacoboy
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    ThunderBird said:

    Why would it turn, the guns are nearly fired simultaneously, so the force acting on her is translation, not rotation (relative to the movement).
    But you know what's impressive? That it doesn't capsize from a broadside!

    I had not really thought about it until now. Thanks!

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    MooCow21
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    279okshap said:

    Pretty cool that the artist "back-dated" Iowa to WWII configuration (and if I'm not mistaken, deck color) vs. that first image.

    I didn't realize that the Iowa-class had that many guns on it, back in WWII. Although looking back on it, it should have been obvious, given how AA worked without automation.

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    BelchingSpitfire
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    Darkagma said:

    That's one beautiful broadside. Is there any point in placing AAA on top of a main battery turret?

    Let's say the chances of surviving a wave of enemy planes is proportional to the number of AAA available on the ship and that Kamikaze pilots are not missile computers

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    Darkagma
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    MajorAmiruddin said:

    Let's say the chances of surviving a wave of enemy planes is proportional to the number of AAA available on the ship and that Kamikaze pilots are not missile computers

    I meant, a not so obvious reason... I'd say it's questionable to put AAA that can only face the direction the turret is facing so, other than saving space, I can't think of a better explanation.

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    BelchingSpitfire
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    Darkagma said:

    I meant, a not so obvious reason... I'd say it's questionable to put AAA that can only face the direction the turret is facing so, other than saving space, I can't think of a better explanation.

    There are 1921 men serving on the ship so the extra anti-air guns are give something the men to do during combat

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    thewiseduck
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    I was a GMG (Gunners Mate Guns) in the navy at the end of Viet Nam when these beasts were still doing gunfire support missions. One of the things we learned is GMG school was the power of these 16" 47Cal guns. Each turret has three guns which are physically cammed to go off 1/4 of a second apart (f you look close at the tips [muzzles] of the guns you can see that there's smoke/flash coming out of only 4 of them) . This was because if all went off at exactly the same time, the turret would be ripped off of the ship. In regards to the 'sailing straight ahead" the artist here has managed to accent very well what really happens. That is, with a full 9 gun broadside, the entire 890ft long/108ft wide/29ft deep draft displacing 45,000 tons moves SIDEWAYS in the water TWENTY THREE FEET!!!!! from the recoil.

    In regards to the WWII AA, what you see here is correct, Some of the older battleships had light (20mm) guns strung out along the entire sides of the turret roofs. While the Japanese navy has AA shells for their battleship guns the US navy did not so the main turrets would be stationary in an air battle

    2 Reply
    GAU-8/A
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    thewiseduck said:

    One of the things we learned is GMG school was the power of these 16" 47Cal guns.

    50 caliber.

    Each turret has three guns which are physically cammed to go off 1/4 of a second apart. This was because if all went off at exactly the same time, the turret would be ripped off of the ship.

    The delay is electrical, and only 0.06 seconds. The mountings are a little tougher than that - you know, what with the barbette armor being a foot thick and all. The real reason is so that the muzzle blast from each gun firing interferes less with the other projectiles; accuracy concerns, in short.

    That is, with a full 9 gun broadside, the entire 890ft long/108ft wide/29ft deep draft displacing 45,000 tons moves SIDEWAYS in the water TWENTY THREE FEET!!!!! from the recoil.

    No.

    Just no.

    http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-022.htm

    Seriously, no.

    And 45,000 tons was the "standard" WW2 displacement. Iowas were typically weighed down a lot more than that - not that it matters, at least in the context of "being pushed sideways by their own gun blast".

    How much of this were you told by a fellow serviceman prefixed by "now this ain't no shit"?

    Updated by GAU-8/A

    5 Reply