How were the holes for the guns in battleships' turrets protected?
score:10
After some more research I stand by my earlier comment in general the gun ports had minimal protection, relying on small size and being in the shadow of the gun. There is a large amount of negative evidence for this, for example in his books Warrior to Dreadnought, The Grand Fleet and Nelson to Vanguard D. K. Brown does not mention protection to turret gun ports.
The positive evidence I cite the cross section of a 14" three gun turret on Eugene Solver's US Navy pages which shows no protection to the gun port. From the same site we have access to OP 769 Configuration of the Three Gun Turrets of the USS New Jersey which explains that there are upper and lower shield plates on the gun slide. These do not seal the gun port and at best provide protection from 6" projectiles and splinters. The arragements are shown in the accompanying illustration, from which their thickness can be measured which when compared to the face plate thickness is equivalent to about 3" thick. The relevant section of this document is shown below:
Further research turns up this entry on the NavWeaps site
Gun Port Shield - Curved armor plate attached to a gun barrel such that it seals the gun port in the glacis plate, regardless of the elevation of the gun. Gun ports are by their very nature weak points in the armor protection of a gun mounting or turret. Gun shields seal these openings and are intended to provide at least some measure of protection from shell splinters. In addition, many gun shields are designed so as to keep water and weather out of the interior of the mounting or turret. Some images of gun shields may be seen in these photographs of a USN 6"/47DP and a German 38 cm SK C/34.
A rough estimate of the gun shield thickness in this photo (reproduced below) can be made which is very roughly ~4" (maybe a bit more?).
The Yamato's gun shield appears to be similar in form to that of the German 38cm (15") gun shown.
Upvote:0
One factor not mentioned in the other answers is this:
Those openings are very small relative to both the size of the vehicle and the accuracy at engagement ranges of the weapons trained against it.
In other words, chances of the openings being hit are very small indeed, even if deliberately aimed for.
Hence they're typically either unarmoured or armoured against small arms (rifles, machine guns) fire only, their size being their main source of protection. A canvas sheet as seen on the guns of ships provides protection against water getting into the ship in rough seas or rain/snow conditions. Some land vehicles and even aircraft have similar sheets in place.
Upvote:2
Telling from your pictures of the Yamato and an Iowa-class, the holes were covered from the inside using steel, probably with less thickness than the turret armament. The combat environment of tanks and battleships is different, with battleships receiving more fire from higher elevation angles than tanks. This leaves mostly shrapnel from the deck as a threat to the interior of the turret.
More post
- 📝 Is there a correlation between the colonial power and the stability/success of the post colonial state?
- 📝 Valid source of Greek historical periods , in a URL
- 📝 What is the Thalassic Age?
- 📝 Why did Virginia let Kentucky become a separate state?
- 📝 Why did the Red Army change uniforms in 1943?
- 📝 Could the Russian fleet go via northern route to Port Arthur instead of via Cape of Good Hope?
- 📝 Which tools were available in 1933 for the Chinese government to intervene in the money market?
- 📝 What resources did the Nahua value most at the time of Spanish conquest?
- 📝 How accessible was the port of Archangelsk from the east?
- 📝 UK Tories vs Whigs in the 19th century: broad political classification?
- 📝 How much firepower did the British navy represent in 1940?
- 📝 At what point did the United States have a truly federal army?
- 📝 Tomb for Charles V (of france) and Jeanne de Bourbon in Saint Denis?
- 📝 Were slaves allowed to use the Roman baths?
- 📝 Why did the United States issue the Monroe Doctrine when it did?
- 📝 Why were ancient cities protected by walls?
- 📝 Why did European people settle in America and later create another nation of their own?
- 📝 Who named San Andreas, California?
- 📝 How was life in the Iron Age different from life in the Middle Ages?
- 📝 Theoretical approaches to History
- 📝 Why was 19th-century Japan able to modernize and not China?
- 📝 Why did officers fire revolvers with just one hand, while wielding a sword in the other hand despite being too far away to use swords?
- 📝 What literature explains life in Han dynasty tomb towns?
- 📝 When was the last time that the U.S. as a country, state, or city was occupied by foreign troops?
- 📝 Execution at the scene of the crime under Australian law
- 📝 Were the Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan officially volunteers?
- 📝 Did the Germans use the V1 and V2 missile system on the Eastern Front in World War 2?
- 📝 Whig party identification in the House of Lords
- 📝 Who was Richard of York at the Battle of Grunwald?
- 📝 Did the Great Wall of China help cause the fall of the Roman Empire?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How were the holes for the guns in battleships' turrets protected?
- 📝 How were taxes collected for traveling merchants in the middle ages?
- 📝 How many acres per person were needed for the early American settlers vs. the native Americans?
- 📝 How economically profitable for Nazi Germany were the occupied countries in Western Europe?
- 📝 How effective were siege guns and gun boats compared to field artillery in the 19th century?
- 📝 How did knights in full suits of armor eventually die in combat? What were the most common causes of death for soldiers in full-body plate armor?
- 📝 How many ministerial deferments were there during WWII for the United States?
- 📝 For how many years in the eighteenth century were Russian soldiers present within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth borders?
- 📝 How well were early WW2 naval tactics and strategy accounting for the importance of aircraft carriers?
- 📝 What were the reasons for the Renaissance / scientific revolution in Europe?
- 📝 How were smallpox vaccines enforced in the US?
- 📝 How severe were the casualties in ancient/medieval battles?
- 📝 How kind were the Muslim occupations of North Africa?
- 📝 What were the reasons for making Prohibition a constitutional amendment?
- 📝 How were the cities of Milan and Bruges spared by the Black Death?
- 📝 How beneficial were war bonds to the US during WWII
- 📝 Were Russians in the cold war era USA discriminated against for their ethnicity?
- 📝 How prevalent were recreational drugs in the ancient world?
- 📝 How were Kurds involved (or not) in the invasion of Normandy?
- 📝 How much were telegraphists in the 1950s paid?
- 📝 Are there any documented examples of wooden ships which were in active service for 100 years or more? If not, what is the longest?
- 📝 How unfavorable were the terms of Germany's "surrender" in WW1?
- 📝 How heavily were the British taxing their American colonies?
- 📝 Were any German cities spared by the Allies for personal or idiosyncratic reasons?
- 📝 How many lives were estimated to have been saved by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs?
- 📝 How long did it take for a diplomat to travel between Berlin and Vienna in the 1770's?
- 📝 How expensive were castles? And how were the costs distributed?
- 📝 How come every culture on the planet has a different calendar, yet follow the same system for a week?
- 📝 What were the criteria for class ranking at West Point prior to the Civil War?
- 📝 Were Shakespeare's plays written for "high culture" or "entertain the bawdy masses" during his time?