Potential premium proposal: "Special charge" for 16"/50 Mark 7

[DeliciousFart]

I'm sure most are aware of the difference between the 16"/45 Mark 6 guns on the North Carolina and Alabama and the 16"/50 Mark 7 on the Iowa, Missouri, and Montana. When firing the 2,700 lb AP Mark 8, the Mark 6 on the North Carolina has a 701 m/s muzzle velocity compared to the Iowa's Mark 7's 762 m/s muzzle velocity. That being said, I remember being in situations where the high shell arcs of the Mark 6 came in handy especially when behind cover.

 

But, did you know that the Iowa's Mark 7 can use "special charges" of propellant to give it the same 701 m/s muzzle velocity as the Mark 6? I'll defer to Mr. Brad Fischer, who is an International Naval Research Organization (INRO) writer for Warship International publication. He's an expert on USN battleship gunnery; he and Mr. William Jurens co-authored numerous articles on the gunnery of USN battleships and were involved in the Iowa-class gunnery improvements during the 1980s. I've had the privilege to correspond with them both, and they post on the Navweaps forums.

 

Anyways, the relevant quotes from him are below, from here and here.

 

Quote

I would pursue a couple approaches to enhance the effectiveness of the 16-inch guns such as the introduction of the 2,300 f.s. "special" velocity propellant for use with the 16-inch/50 gun (this was actually done and reduces outer immune zone by about 10%) and make a special effort to enhance the penetration of heavy armor (late war USN designs increase penetration by about 12%). The total affect would be to reduce a Yamato's IZ by about 20% and give small windows on both sides of the theoretical IZ by which might be exploited tactically.

...

It is not completely clear from the surviving records what that charge was intended for but it seems highly likely it was for that purpose.  It was manufactured with the first seven lots of 16-inch/50 propellant and was proofed at NPG Dalhgren but there are no records of it being loaded out or fired from a Iowa.  The records are, however, incomplete and its certainly possible that Iowa or perhaps New Jersey did during their shakedown period as gunnery records from those two ships during that time are incomplete. I did see one correspondence file from Missouri inquiring about that charge but did not find the reply to that inquiry.  My guess is it was designed as a hedge against some of the speculation about the true size of the Yamatos and it was kept in reserve for that purpose (i.e. they'd load out if they had confirmation about their characteristics), but that's just a guess.  Interestingly the Alaskas also had a 2,300 f.s. charge and actually did fire about 100 rounds of Mark 18 AP with the charge.  It is also possible that it was a training charge but I find that unlikely as it would not provide much of a reduction in EFC wear vs. service velocity charges plus they already had 1,800 f.s. target charge for training. 

 

Now, my suggestion is, why don't we incorporate this "special charge" as a third ammunition type for the Iowa-class ship the USS New Jersey? It can then choose between 3 ammo types, the HE and AP as on the regular Iowa, and the "special charge" reduced velocity AP as the third ammunition type. I think this would offer interesting gameplay possibilities especially for those who dart in and out of island cover. The only map that this would be useless on is Ocean, but that's a pretty rare map.

 

What I would like to eventually see is the USS New Jersey in her 1944 form as a Tier 9 free XP ship with the "special charge" AP has her unique gimmick. Furthermore, the 1944 New Jersey had a dark blue paint scheme and the unique circular bridge that she had before her 1945 refit that gave her the square bridge that we all recognize today. It was this appearance that earned her the nickname "Black Dragon". I'm not demanding that this ship should immediately come; we already have two Tier 9 free XP battleships and I would like to see more ship types but I think in the longer term this is something worth looking into. Check her out below.

 

[crzyhawk]

interesting, I had not heard of this.

[Tzarevitch]

Me neither. It makes sense that they would produce some, but I wasn't aware that they ever planned or did it. 

[DeliciousFart]

Furthermore, if it's possible to have different sigmas for different ammo type, I propose increasing the sigma of the 701 m/s "special charge" AP to 2.0, matching that of the NC. This would make the high arcing shells more accurate and devastating at the cost of being harder to use. This should reward good aim and target prediction.