BIG GUNS

16 inch salvos
Pictures of the USS Wisconsin firing her sixteen inch guns

The following clipping was from the December 17, 1951 issue of TIME magazine:   Scratch One T-34
“Hitting a tank with a 16-in. shell from a battleship’s main battery is something like potting a mouse with an elephant gun. It isn’t often done–but when it is, there isn’t much left of the mouse. One night last week the 45,000-ton U.S. battleship Wisconsin (which relieved the New Jersey last month) lay off Korea’s east coast, firing her secondary batteries of 5-in. guns in support of U.N. ground troops ashore.  Finally came a call for heavier fire.   The No 2 turret crew swung into action and five 16-in. shells, weighing a ton apiece, whistled into the target area, 8,000 yards away. Result:  direct hits on two Communist gun emplacements, one T-34 tank.  Said an observer:  “With what’s left of that baby (the tank), they can’t even make carpet tacks.”

First 10 pictures were taken from 1943-1947, 1951-1952,1952-1953, 1955-1956, 1990-1991 Cruise books. 

 Two ways to view photos: Left Click on thumbnail and photo will fly up. You can now click the arrows to go forward, back or return to the index file.  Viewing photos this way also displays photo captions if available. Or you can watch a Slideshow without photo captions. 

 

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Send E-mail to Dom Menta with questions or comments about this web-site. This website was established in 1998 and all contents are the property of the USS Wisconsin Association.  If you desire to use graphics or other info from this web-site – please E-mail Dom Menta