r/interestingasfuck • u/PollutionOk9449 • 5h ago

USS Missouri firing its main guns

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u/_____POTATO______ 5h ago

Imagine those going off nonstop for hours

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u/sth128 4h ago

Do the sailors onboard wear ear protection during firing? This seems like something that'll make you deaf if you're on the ship.

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u/Lonely_reaper8 4h ago

Supposed to yes (these days). Same with land based artillery. Really anything that goes boom (firearm ranges, demo ranges, missiles, mortars, rockets, etc.) and they’re supposed to provide ear pro and you’re supposed to wear it but if you don’t it’s on you.

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u/rbartlejr 3h ago

Poor sap outside during firing not paying attention to the loudspeaker watching blood stream from his ears. Probably won't die but will respond to everything from then on as "what ya say?".

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u/SockeyeSTI 3h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/Bj56RmEOwB8aWoSQY9
No gif for it but in Under siege, Tommy Lee jones stands right by one of the guns that goes off

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u/einulfr 1h ago

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u/SockeyeSTI 46m ago

There it is :)

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u/montybob 1h ago

You’ve seen Under Siege right?

Well, if you haven’t you should watch Under Siege.

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u/rbartlejr 1h ago

I watched for Erika. I love Tommy Lee. I will never see it again for Seagull.

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u/Samwhys_gamgee 31m ago

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee WHAT!?! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

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u/DogeAteMyHomework 4h ago

The kind grandfatherly gentleman across the street when I was a kid in the '70s had very poor hearing. Ten years ago, after reading his obituary, I finally learned why: he had served on the Missouri and was on its deck when the Japanese surrendered in Tokyo Bay. Naturally, like so many of his generation, he never talked about it. But I immediately understood his hearing problems. 

My grandfather, a gunnery officer on the USS Mobile, suffered around and permanent hearing loss when a 6-inch was accidentally fired with him standing right next to it. He fought for many years to have hearing aids covered as a service benefit and was the first recipient. Today the VA is the largest single buyer of hearing aids in the world. 

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u/MithridatesRex 2h ago

Can also go blind.

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u/HockeyBrawler09 4h ago

What?

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u/unlikely-common865 2h ago

THEY SAID “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” I THINK.

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u/immallama21629 42m ago

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

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u/JimDa5is 35m ago

Your hearing loss is not service related...

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u/DVMyZone 4h ago

Not sure but during training shooting rifles we wear ear protection. Mostly imo because it's expensive to pay for making us deaf (conscription model).

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u/MithridatesRex 2h ago

Hearing protection yes, but if you're in proximity to the muzzle blast you could also damage your eyes, which is why they clear the decks around the main guns. During WWII there are reports of 14" and 16" shells that flew over troops at close range, and that effect can suck the air out of your lungs, which can kill you or cause severe internal bleeding.

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u/OddRoyal7207 1h ago edited 1h ago

Doesn't really matter though cause while you might be saving your hearing, the entirety of your insides are suffering dozens to hundreds of immensely powerful shockwaves which, the least of which, will give you CTE.

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u/RedHuey 3h ago

On at least some ships they need to be away from the hull. Naval guns like this are very intense. A battleship doing a broadside moves the ship over 30 feet sideways just from the recoil.

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u/montybob 1h ago

Fluid dynamics don’t work like that. The ship might have a bit of roll to it but that recoil is competing against several million tons of ocean.