Matrix Games

quote:

ORIGINAL: Mynok


Do the Yamato's big guns have a '*'?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Mynok


Do the Yamato's big guns have a '*'?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Shark7

quote:

ORIGINAL: Mynok


Do the Yamato's big guns have a '*'?

Technically Nagato and Mutsu *should* have the * for the first 2 years of the war...granted those submunitions were virtually useless...but who's keeping track of that?

quote:


Source - NavWeaps (http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNJAP_18-45_t94.htm)

As were most Japanese warships, the Yamato and Musashi were provided with a special anti-aircraft incendiary shrapnel shell officially designated as "3 Shiki tsûjôdan" (Common Type 3) and supposedly nicknamed "The Beehive," but this could be apocryphal. This round weighed 2,998 lbs. (1,360 kg) and was filled with 900 incendiary-filled tubes. A time fuze was used to set the desired bursting distance, usually about 1,000 meters (1,100 yards) after leaving the muzzle. These projectiles were designed to expel the incendiary tubes in a 20 degree cone extending towards the oncoming aircraft with the projectile shell itself being destroyed by a bursting charge to increase the quantity of steel splinters. The incendiary tubes ignited about half a second later and burned for five seconds at 3,000 degrees C, producing a flame approximately 5 meters (16 feet) long.

The concept behind these shells was that the ship would put up a barrage pattern through which an attacking aircraft would have to fly. However, these shells were considered by US Navy pilots to be more of a visual spectacular than an effective AA weapon.