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This is a mock-up of one of the USS Iowa's 4 Mk.15 Phalanx 20mm AA Guns. The real Phalanx guns were removed, and probably put into storage somewhere.
This type of weapon is what's called a "Close-In Weapon System" or "CIWS" for short (pronounced "see-whiz"), which is pretty appropriate --- at 4000rpm, it whizzes 20mm shells all over anything in it's sights!
Anyhow, in addition to fending-off low-flying aircraft, the Phalanx can reputedly also shoot down anti-ship missiles, though the odds of actually hitting one in combat conditions are pretty slim; as such, the Phalanx is regarded as a last-ditch defense.
Not that any anti-ship missile in the world can possibly penetrate the Iowa's 12in-thick RHA Nickel-Steel hull armor, mind you.
This type of weapon is what's called a "Close-In Weapon System" or "CIWS" for short (pronounced "see-whiz"), which is pretty appropriate --- at 4000rpm, it whizzes 20mm shells all over anything in it's sights!
Anyhow, in addition to fending-off low-flying aircraft, the Phalanx can reputedly also shoot down anti-ship missiles, though the odds of actually hitting one in combat conditions are pretty slim; as such, the Phalanx is regarded as a last-ditch defense.
Not that any anti-ship missile in the world can possibly penetrate the Iowa's 12in-thick RHA Nickel-Steel hull armor, mind you.
Category Photography / Scenery
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Size 960 x 1280px
File Size 97.3 kB
The only missile I know that could seriously damage a Battleship is the SS-N-19 Shipwreck; nothing else will even scratch the paint.
Or to put it another way, why to Battleships load-up with so many AP rounds to throw at other Battleships, instead of carrying nothing but HE rounds? The latter, BTW, typically holds some 500-1000lbs of explosives
Or to put it another way, why to Battleships load-up with so many AP rounds to throw at other Battleships, instead of carrying nothing but HE rounds? The latter, BTW, typically holds some 500-1000lbs of explosives
It's incredible that these things can shoot down little mortar bombs with such tedious regularity.
This capability isn't just a staged publicity stunt, either (as with the Interceptor ABM, M247 Sergeant York, or the AEGIS System in the early 1980s) --- there are home videos that show the Phalanx swatting offending munitions out of the sky over FOBs in Iraq!
This capability isn't just a staged publicity stunt, either (as with the Interceptor ABM, M247 Sergeant York, or the AEGIS System in the early 1980s) --- there are home videos that show the Phalanx swatting offending munitions out of the sky over FOBs in Iraq!
I don't have a lot of confidence in lasers, for a number of reasons. First, these;
http://www.g2mil.com/abl.htm
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010.....69K3RZ20101021
Second, ships only have so much power generation, storage, and transmission capability. Lasers powerful enough to destroy projectiles at a usefully-long distance require *colossal* amounts of these.
Third, the barrels, reflectors, and lenses for anything that powerful will bur-out very rapidly, and replacing them will be one hell of a chore.
Fourth, the heat output will be colossal, and the the power of the weapon isn't worth the workarounds required to make such a weapon safe and stealthy to fire.
Finally, a shell or missile *will* work without any of these problems, and given that the technology to do so has been available (and in widespread use) all along, it defeats the entire purpose of ever developing a Directed Energy weapon to begin with.
http://www.g2mil.com/abl.htm
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010.....69K3RZ20101021
Second, ships only have so much power generation, storage, and transmission capability. Lasers powerful enough to destroy projectiles at a usefully-long distance require *colossal* amounts of these.
Third, the barrels, reflectors, and lenses for anything that powerful will bur-out very rapidly, and replacing them will be one hell of a chore.
Fourth, the heat output will be colossal, and the the power of the weapon isn't worth the workarounds required to make such a weapon safe and stealthy to fire.
Finally, a shell or missile *will* work without any of these problems, and given that the technology to do so has been available (and in widespread use) all along, it defeats the entire purpose of ever developing a Directed Energy weapon to begin with.
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