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The Staff of SOH
Where's the Earth Shattering Ka-boom!?!
- Thread starter PRB
- Start date
aeromed202
SOH-CM-2014
I can only imagine what several ships pounding an island must have sounded like. And I know where that line came from too 
When he enlisted in the Army prior to WWII, Dad belonged to a part of the Army that no longer exists - the Coast Artillery Corps. Most major U.S. ports, as well as Puerto Rico, the Panama Canal, and the Fortified Islands of Manila and Subic Bays were protected by 10, 12, 14 and 16-inch guns that looked and sounded just like what is seen in this clip. He worked on the guns until it was discovered he had an aptitude for math, geometry and trig - which landed him a good spot in the battery plotting room. With the exception of the 16-inch guns, all were hand-loaded by crews of gunners manhandling the shells to the breeches, followed by the powder. There were short, squat high-angle 10 and 12-inch mortars that were fired in groups almost vertically, their plunging fire being deadly to any warship venturing within range. If you go to San Francisco today, Forts Funston and Cronkhite still have the emplacements for the 16-inch guns and can be readily visited. These weapons were more heavily-constructed than their Navy counterparts, could handle a heavier powder charge and consequently had significantly longer range. At least one of the 12-inch mortar batteries is located at Fort Miley, directly behind the Veterans' Hospital in San Francisco, which must have made things entertaining for the patients when they were fired. I can remember my dad telling me what happened when the 16-inch guns were fired, for practice or for record - shingles were peeled off the post barracks, windows broke, hurricane fence on the beach below the emplacement was blown down. It was so disconcerting notices were posted in the San Francisco papers several days prior to the firing to warn citizens of the noise and concussion. Notices to Mariners were also posted to warn fishermen away from the projectile impact area, which was the Farallones. The Corps ceased to exist right after WWII. Its greatest legacy is the defense of Baltimore Harbor, and Ft McHenry, that is immortalized in "The Star Spangled Banner." Its next greatest legacy is the story of the defense of Manila Bay and Corregidor in early 1942 - that was an Alamo with survivors.
Paul, if you ever get a chance to visit Pensacola, be sure and check out Fort Pickens on the island across the bay from NAS and/or Fort Barrancas which is on NAS near the Naval Aviation Museum. Pickens is mostly a mid 19th century harbor fort made from brick, but there is an outer group of later concrete Coastal Artillery positions that had the larger guns.
brad kaste
Charter Member
Quite mind numbing. I was always under the impression that when a 16" gun was fired off that ALL crew members were moved to below decks,...safe from the noise/concussion/percussion of the fired shells. So how were photo crew members from another ship be able to film the firing events without getting permanently knocked out by the battleship's main guns being fired? They seem quite close to the battleship but maybe a telephoto lens was used to create the closeness of the two ships. I don't know.
I think the impact of the blast wave from the muzzle drops off sharply as you move away from the guns. Since the sound took between .5 and 1 second to reach the camera, that comes out to between 500 and 1000 feet away, while on the ship the farthest you could possible be away from a muzzle blast would be around 500 feet, if standing on the fantail when turret 1 went off, for example. Just guessing though. We do know that 8” guns from cruisers in the Pacific would destroy the exposed float planes sitting on the ship's catapults. That's why those cruisers came with hangars to hide them in, of course! I read once that the reason the Yamato's guns were all enclosed was for protection from muzzle blast...
I got this story second hand but the source is VERY reliable, and I hope I can relate it accurately...
During the Korean Conflict / Police Action - why they didn't just call it what it was a WAR!, Canada had troops on the ground and ships doing what they called "Coastal Packages", my father and his Uncle served on HMCS Haida which did two tours off the North Korean coast attempting to impede train traffic which was used to carry supplies to the troops moving south. During one such patrol of one of the normally quiet packages the "Old Man" was called to Seoul for some meeting or another and another commander was onboard from one of the other UN ships, (I am not sure if he was acting as a temp Commander or assisting the XO) the temp duty Commander ordered Haida to anchor close to shore and he called a full dress inspection on deck with FULL Colours - while on active Patrol I might add... I am told the order was not well received but a Navy Crew follow orders so the anchors were dropped and the duty crew were mustering on deck when a couple of hidden shore batteries opened up... spouts of water flew up just off shore of Haida and the temp Commander was dumb founded... Apparently he had NO battle experience at all (no frigging kiddin full colours on deck while on patrol...) the XO of Haida stepped in, the anchor chains were slipped, the 4" gun crews scrambled into action (in full dress whites), and Haida was under full power in record time. The alerts went out, Haida was firing her 4" guns as fast as possible, 2 mile farther out to sea a British ship with slightly more fire power opened up with everything it had and began pounding the hillside. Then as my great uncle told me he was on deck and he heard a kind of "Whoosh" then another Whoosh, and all of a sudden the whole side of this mountain began falling and huge dust clouds flew up, then the big rolling thunderous sounds from the 16" guns of the American Battle ship that had been farther off shore began to roll over (he never knew which battleship it was but it was beyond the horizon), the men on deck could not see it - but they knew very well where those shells came from... Suffice to say there was no more pot shots from hidden shore batteries on that package, Oh and Haida made 32 knots in just a couple of minutes, there was not a clean dress uniform on the ship, and that temp UN Commander well he was not heard from again, something about endangering the ship and crew. The Old Man - one of the best loved Commanders in Canadian Naval history as far as I can tell H. G. De Wolf, returned to Haida with commendations for his Crw and XO in particular for their quick action in getting the ship underway, and engaging the enemy at the same time, the loss of 2 anchors was considered a small price to pay.
My uncle has told that story to me many times and I have talked with several former Haida crew over the years, some details vary depending on who is telling the tale, but they are all pretty darn consistent on one thing, when those 16" guns started it was like nothing they had ever heard or seen before - Death From Afar...
A personal note, I never got to hear any of the tales from my father, he died when I was just a baby, I am fortunate in that two of his brothers and his uncle did have chance to serve with him during his career so I have a few stories from close family. I had hoped to follow in his and the family tradition of naval service, but that pesky medical test changed that plan, I have to settle with reading the stories and supporting those that can serve and choose to. Hats off to those who have served and serve now :salute:
My uncle has told that story to me many times and I have talked with several former Haida crew over the years, some details vary depending on who is telling the tale, but they are all pretty darn consistent on one thing, when those 16" guns started it was like nothing they had ever heard or seen before - Death From Afar...
A personal note, I never got to hear any of the tales from my father, he died when I was just a baby, I am fortunate in that two of his brothers and his uncle did have chance to serve with him during his career so I have a few stories from close family. I had hoped to follow in his and the family tradition of naval service, but that pesky medical test changed that plan, I have to settle with reading the stories and supporting those that can serve and choose to. Hats off to those who have served and serve now :salute:
Gig, a related story that happened when I was a crewmember of the USS Tortuga (LSD-46). We were on a Med cruise off the coast of Spain. Nothing much was going on at the time and our LCAC (hovercraft landing craft) crews were needing some practice, so we dropped the stern ramp and let them out to play. LCACs are commanded by senior NCOs, Chiefs. We stayed at ballasting stations while they were out and suddenly the Senior Chief in charge of the LCACs radioed back to the ship that they were taking fire with shell splashes sighted. That stirred things up. A couple of nearish destroyers headed in our direction at full speed and the USS George Washington started launching aircraft to intercept. We went to General Quarters (battle stations) and prepared to recover the LCACs.
The LCACs returned with no damage and came back on board. The Washington's aircraft got the scene and reported spotting nothing but a pod of whales playing on the surface. It soon became apparent that the shell splashes the Senior Chief reported were the whales blowing when surfacing. For the rest of the cruise, if you wanted to make that Senior Chief mad, all you had to say was "Thar she blows!". And we rubbed that one in every time he showed up in the Chief's Mess.
The LCACs returned with no damage and came back on board. The Washington's aircraft got the scene and reported spotting nothing but a pod of whales playing on the surface. It soon became apparent that the shell splashes the Senior Chief reported were the whales blowing when surfacing. For the rest of the cruise, if you wanted to make that Senior Chief mad, all you had to say was "Thar she blows!". And we rubbed that one in every time he showed up in the Chief's Mess.
Rgr that Willy. I've been in that area before, and visited USS Alabama (BB-60). Been a while since I've been there.
Speaking of gun blast, most of it is apparantly (mostly) created by the shell itself. My brother used to be involved with a Civil War reenactor outfit, as a cannon shooter crew. He said one time they fired off a "live" round, with a real cannon ball, instead of the usual blanks. He said the muzzle blast shock wave was significantly greater. This I would not have guessed, but it does make sense.
@SSIO1 The story of those concrete battleships at the entrance to Manila Bay is a very interesting story. I found a site some years ago with photos from people who have made visits there since then. Those fortresses were stocked with food and ammo for a long defense but their one weakness was fresh water that they received from the Bataan peninsula via a pipeline. Once Bataan fell they were in trouble. The story of the allies retaking those fortresses is also pretty interesting.
Regarding the Coastal Artillery, I also read that they received some of the big guns from a Pearl harbor battleship to mount as coastal guns but the war ended before that was complete.
Regarding the Coastal Artillery, I also read that they received some of the big guns from a Pearl harbor battleship to mount as coastal guns but the war ended before that was complete.
Even though the sound is saturated by the low budget camera, it's the sound that's so impressive about this video, to me. We've seen video of these guns going off countless times, in color and B/W, and 100% of the time the sound has been “redubbed” in some fashion. The muzzle blast is clearly “visible” in the form of the camera shake when the shock wave gets to it. This is “raw data”, such as it is, but that fact alone makes this video fascinating as heck.
From far away, the sound would be completely different. It would “crackle” and build slowly, ending with a low bass series of rumbles, exactly like thunder heard from a distance. I can confirm this as this is exactly what happened when an A-6E dropped a bunch of bombs far out during an air show for some foreign big-shots on Enterprise one day. This was so surprising, and I never forgot it. Between the sound the shells themselves make as they pass overhead, and this bizarre thunder-like sound of the guns, it must be a strange and scary time indeed to be on the wrong end of these babies...
From far away, the sound would be completely different. It would “crackle” and build slowly, ending with a low bass series of rumbles, exactly like thunder heard from a distance. I can confirm this as this is exactly what happened when an A-6E dropped a bunch of bombs far out during an air show for some foreign big-shots on Enterprise one day. This was so surprising, and I never forgot it. Between the sound the shells themselves make as they pass overhead, and this bizarre thunder-like sound of the guns, it must be a strange and scary time indeed to be on the wrong end of these babies...