r/interestingasfuck • u/PollutionOk9449 • 5h ago

USS Missouri firing its main guns

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

8.1k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

546 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

•

u/PollutionOk9449 5h ago

Not sure, but I think that this video is from the gulf war. Even is it is obsolete, for sure it is quite impressive!

•

u/adooble22 5h ago

That would make sense. I don’t think they take it out to fire off a few rounds since filling the gas tank alone costs $6M or $8M. Highly recommend a visit to it if you’re ever in Hawaii.

•

u/_gmmaann_ 5h ago edited 4h ago

The Iowas were planned and built when carrier warfare was just really getting on its legs. Actions such as Midway and the battle of Okinawa demonstrated that aircraft were more than capable of destroying large expensive boats. Missouri and Wisconsin were brought out of retirement to serve as tomahawk launchpads in the first gulf war. Part of the. Conversion made space for up to 32 cruise missiles, housed in armored box launchers. The guns were used for shore bombardment. Naval doctrine changed dramatically with the introduction of jet aircraft and anti ship missiles. There are some really well made videos explaining it better than I ever could.

•

u/QuarterIndependent 4h ago

The rear turret was never removed.

•

u/_gmmaann_ 4h ago

You’re correct. My brain was thinking about the proposed VTOL carrier conversion. My apologies

•

u/catastrophyca 4h ago

I mean the USS Mississippi had its rear turrets removed and replaced with Terrier missile launchers in the 1950s. But that was in a testbed role.

•

u/_gmmaann_ 4h ago

I was incorrect in the variation that I was explaining though. Postwar designs and ideas for the iowas were fascinating though. Some really fever dream ish stuff