Comments on: A question for ER. https://habitablezone.com/2014/05/17/a-question-for-er-2/ Fri, 10 Apr 2026 03:45:24 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: bowser https://habitablezone.com/2014/05/17/a-question-for-er-2/#comment-30717 bowser Tue, 20 May 2014 17:44:03 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=45029#comment-30717 You're right, it is WWII stuff and by the time Vietnam came along those puppies were radar controlled. I can remember as a Boy Scout being on some ship in San Diego sitting at one of those guns. I was cranking the elevation and another kid traversing it. Without a target it was a rather chaotic time. Don't remember how it was fired, though. You’re right, it is WWII stuff and by the time Vietnam came along those puppies were radar controlled.

I can remember as a Boy Scout being on some ship in San Diego sitting at one of those guns. I was cranking the elevation and another kid traversing it. Without a target it was a rather chaotic time. Don’t remember how it was fired, though.

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2014/05/17/a-question-for-er-2/#comment-30708 ER Sun, 18 May 2014 15:06:02 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=45029#comment-30708 This gives a better view of the weapon systems, from fore to aft, 5" mount, ASROC launcher, fwd fire control (weird structure on top of bridge), torpedo launcher (two of three tubes clearly visible on the 01 level, just above the furthest aft sailor in line leaning on the main deck splash bulwark), stbd 75mm twin gun tub (just aft of ship's boats), spooks, Terrier missile battery. http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/gormady/Dewey3.jpg <img src="http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/gormady/Dewey3.jpg" alt="" /> This gives a better view of the weapon systems, from fore to aft, 5″ mount, ASROC launcher, fwd fire control (weird structure on top of bridge), torpedo launcher (two of three tubes clearly visible on the 01 level, just above the furthest aft sailor in line leaning on the main deck splash bulwark), stbd 75mm twin gun tub (just aft of ship’s boats), spooks, Terrier missile battery.

http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/gormady/Dewey3.jpg

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2014/05/17/a-question-for-er-2/#comment-30705 ER Sun, 18 May 2014 04:34:34 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=45029#comment-30705 When I was in, our two twin 75mm rapid-fire mounts, both in the waist, one guntub to port and another to starboard, were fired by a radar director that not only led the the target, but automatically set the fuzes to where the aircraft was expected to be when the round got there. The radar director was an armored turret with an officer inside who did everything except load the weapons and remove jams. If the director got knocked out, it could be fired locally by the gun crew, just like the old 40mm Bofors guns you see in WWII movies. The gun crews consisted of a pointer and trainer for each mount, and each gun in the mount had one or two ammo loaders, plus a mount captain who managed the whole operation. In the picture below, the stbd twin 75 gun tub is barely visible just aft of the ship's whaleboat, underneath the forward "spook" (missile control radar, those things that look like giant searchlights). MY GQ station was as a one-man controller in our 5" mount in a heavily armored turret up forward. This weapon was also directed by a fire control radar director which you can easily see on top of the bridge, just forward of the foremast. On top of the 5" mount you can see two glass blisters where the sight setter (me on the port side) and the gunner fired the gun in the event the radar fire control system was knocked out. The gunner aimed and fired the gun manually, while I would correct the sights by noting where the splashes were hitting near the target. We had duplicate telescopes and controls and were trained to do each other's jobs in case either of us was knocked out. My trigger was a little black button located on my control panel. Also in the mount were a gun captain (gunner's mate petty officer)and a mount captain (Bosun Mate Chief), the former operated the mechanisms in the mount, the latter supervised the entire operation, which included about a dozen men below decks in the barbette and the magazines below the waterline. They selected the separate 5", 75 lb projectiles and the 4' long brass propellant cartridges and placed them on the hoists that carried them up to the mount where they were loaded into the gun by a hydraulic ram. I served on the gun crew until I was promoted to E-4, and then I was sent up to the bridge. The barbette is an armored cylinder on which the gun mount rests and rotates, reaching from the main deck all the way down to the magazine, it protected the hydraulic lines, communications links, and projectile and propellant cartridge chain hoists that fed the gun in action. It was a semi-automatic machine cannon capable of 40 rounds per minute. Other weaponry visible is the ASROC Anti-submarine rocket launcher (the box between the the gun mount and the bridge--8 rockets with a twenty mile range, parachute-delivered nuke depth charges or homing torps). Not visible in this photo, but located on the 01 level just above the main deck right about underneath the forward stack, was a conventional torpedo launcher with 3 fish in it. It had a mate on the port side, too. Just aft of the two spooks, just forward of the helo deck on the fantail, is the missile battery. You can barely see two Terrier missiles are run out ready to go. We had several dozen on board, (some of them nuclear-capable) so with two independent spooks, we could engage multiple aerial targets simultaneously, up to twenty miles away. We also had two .50 cal MGs for small craft, and an 81mm mortar aft loaded with chaff to confuse enemy firecontrol radar. This is all 1968 technology, Dewey could kick ass if she had to, but as far as I know, never fired any of her weapons in anger in the 35 years she was commissioned. http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/gormady/Dewey4.jpg <img src="http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/gormady/Dewey4.jpg" alt="." /> When I was in, our two twin 75mm rapid-fire mounts, both in the waist, one guntub to port and another to starboard, were fired by a radar director that not only led the the target, but automatically set the fuzes to where the aircraft was expected to be when the round got there. The radar director was an armored turret with an officer inside who did everything except load the weapons and remove jams. If the director got knocked out, it could be fired locally by the gun crew, just like the old 40mm Bofors guns you see in WWII movies. The gun crews consisted of a pointer and trainer for each mount, and each gun in the mount had one or two ammo loaders, plus a mount captain who managed the whole operation. In the picture below, the stbd twin 75 gun tub is barely visible just aft of the ship’s whaleboat, underneath the forward “spook” (missile control radar, those things that look like giant searchlights).

MY GQ station was as a one-man controller in our 5″ mount in a heavily armored turret up forward. This weapon was also directed by a fire control radar director which you can easily see on top of the bridge, just forward of the foremast. On top of the 5″ mount you can see two glass blisters where the sight setter (me on the port side) and the gunner fired the gun in the event the radar fire control system was knocked out. The gunner aimed and fired the gun manually, while I would correct the sights by noting where the splashes were hitting near the target. We had duplicate telescopes and controls and were trained to do each other’s jobs in case either of us was knocked out. My trigger was a little black button located on my control panel.

Also in the mount were a gun captain (gunner’s mate petty officer)and a mount captain (Bosun Mate Chief), the former operated the mechanisms in the mount, the latter supervised the entire operation, which included about a dozen men below decks in the barbette and the magazines below the waterline. They selected the separate 5″, 75 lb projectiles and the 4′ long brass propellant cartridges and placed them on the hoists that carried them up to the mount where they were loaded into the gun by a hydraulic ram. I served on the gun crew until I was promoted to E-4, and then I was sent up to the bridge.

The barbette is an armored cylinder on which the gun mount rests and rotates, reaching from the main deck all the way down to the magazine, it protected the hydraulic lines, communications links, and projectile and propellant cartridge chain hoists that fed the gun in action. It was a semi-automatic machine cannon capable of 40 rounds per minute.

Other weaponry visible is the ASROC Anti-submarine rocket launcher (the box between the the gun mount and the bridge–8 rockets with a twenty mile range, parachute-delivered nuke depth charges or homing torps). Not visible in this photo, but located on the 01 level just above the main deck right about underneath the forward stack, was a conventional torpedo launcher with 3 fish in it. It had a mate on the port side, too.

Just aft of the two spooks, just forward of the helo deck on the fantail, is the missile battery. You can barely see two Terrier missiles are run out ready to go. We had several dozen on board, (some of them nuclear-capable) so with two independent spooks, we could engage multiple aerial targets simultaneously, up to twenty miles away.

We also had two .50 cal MGs for small craft, and an 81mm mortar aft loaded with chaff to confuse enemy firecontrol radar.

This is all 1968 technology, Dewey could kick ass if she had to, but as far as I know, never fired any of her weapons in anger in the 35 years she was commissioned.

http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/gormady/Dewey4.jpg

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