The Navy gets a bigger gun, sort of...

Can you say Rail Gun?

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4231461.html

 

Here's a clip, Bill.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...179&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

But, this is still so coooool!
Iowa Class Battleship fires its 16 inch guns
Picture of USS Iowa firing 16 inchers

 

I suspect rail guns, if their actually ever made practical, won't compete with the big guns. They are for different jobs, although both have a reallly long reach.

 

Great clips Musk,I think the rail guns they use now where the the rail is eroded on each firing will be abandoned,I think the only way it be practical is when the round is levitated above the rail similar to a theme park ride,that would take some extremely powerful magnets to accelerate anything into the mach numbers within 40-50 feet.

 

Both rail guns and the big guns accelerate a projectile to Mach plus numbers, large ones. It's part of their charm.

 

I had the honor (?) of watching 5 inchers firing. That was pretty cool. Can't imagine what a 16 incher would be like. I also got to watch some missile frigates letting lose at a target range, off the coast of California, at night. Now, that was really cool, loud, and concussive! :tas

I just wonder what a ship-borne rail gun would sound like firing. Are they silent? Is there a sonic boom? Inquiring minds want to know. LOL

 

Loud. Very loud. And there is a flash, from the plasma generated by the extreme magnetic files and ions from the vaporized metal. Ever hear a transformer go off on a pole and see the flash? Much bigger than that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y54aLcC3G74

Here is a shorter video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1q_rRicAwI

and a Japanese version, supposedly non weapon...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEaZUeCkelU

 

The flash and big bang is cool, but is the bang from the firing or from hitting the target?
I saw the first video yesterday and it is hard to tell what the bang is from, being the target is so close and the speed so fast.

But then a silent, gun with a bright flash would be cool , too.

 

Its from the projectiles electrical arcing along the rail,some I guess will be from air shock wave created as it accelerates through the air,especially if the shot is trans mach.