Fletcher class - Armament
The five five-inch dual-purpose guns, the largest on the ship, fired on aircraft, ships, and shore targets. They could hit a surface target nine miles away, or an air target six miles away. As many as nine men worked inside the mount, loading, aiming and firing, as fast as every four seconds. Below is a handling room where men passed ammunition to the gun crew above. In the Ammunition Handling Room, nine men stood by ready to move projectiles and powder cases up the electric hoist to the 5-inch/38 caliber gun mount directly above on the next level. Each of the 5-inch gun mounts on the ship has a handling room beneath it. In battle, this crew moved 24 to 30 shells and powder casings a minute up to the gun mount. Gun crews used dummy ammunition to practice loading the 5-inch/38 caliber guns which had to be loaded by hand. Teamwork was essential for rapid, accurate fire in combat.
During World War II in the Pacific, the ship's ten 40 mm gun mounts were crucial to her survival. Each gun mount had two barrels, and each barrel could fire 160 rounds per minute, with an effective range of 4 miles. However, even this tremendous firepower was not always effective against enemy planes. Japanese suicide planes (kamikazes) hit 88 American destroyers.
During World War II, seven 20 mm guns provided a final and important line of defense against enemy aircraft. However, these small-caliber guns had little chance against a determined kamikaze pilot, or later against high-speed jet aircraft [all the 20 mm guns were removed during the modernization of the ships in the 1950s].
Two types of depth charges were used in World War II to sink submarines. The Mk-7 "ash can" charges which resembled 50-gallon oil drums were mostly replaced during the war by the Mk-9 "teardrop" charges which are on the rack today. The teardrop sunk more quickly and with greater accuracy than the ash can it replaced. Initially teh US depth charges were too small. At least 300 pounds was needed to do much damage. The U.S destroyers were all retrofitted to carry the British made depth charges once they discovered this issue.
Torpedoes are designed to attack enemy surface ships. During World War II, Fletcher class destroyers carried 10 21-inch torpedoes, each weighing 2,215 pounds. A three-man crew programmed the torpedoes' course, speed, and depth. Once fired into the water, the torpedo provided its own propulsion that could carry a 780 pound explosive charge three miles at 45 knots or 7 1/2 miles at 28.5 knots. It was usually difficult to hit a target with a torpedo, and sometimes torpedoes failed to explode on impact. However, when it worked, a single torpedo could sink a ship.
An anti-submarine weapon, the hedgehog was deployed on most Fletcher-class destroyers after World War II to supplement the depth charge. The 24 small bombs were launched from spiked fittings, hence the name "hedgehog". The bombs exploded on contact and achieved a higher sinking rate against submarines than depth charges did.
The C.I.C. was the Combat Information Center aboard ship. Information collected by visual means and by radar, sonar, and radio was assembled and evaluated here and then relayed to the appropriate combat stations on the ship or to neighboring vessels. Ten to twelve crewmen worked in C.I.C., including the ship's Executive Officer. During battle, the most important job of the ship was C.I.C. There was a serious debate during the end of the war as to whether the Captain should be in C.I.C. and the exec on the bridge. Because everything happened in C.I.C.
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