zadmiral wrote:
The Mk 41 was the mk number for Montanas secondary gunhouses. Ive never heard of the mk45 but that would probably be the new version of the mk41 they were going to install on the Iowas.
Oooo! Interesting! Very nice. Thank you for that. I had never come across the Mk-designation of the Montana's 5"/54s. That's great.
The Mk45 is the modern 5" gun that all USN DDGs and CGs use.
zadmiral wrote:
Ive never heard of the mk45 but that would probably be the new version of the mk41 they were going to install on the Iowas. The one problem would have been the handedness of the 54 cal gun assy.
While the modern 5"/54 and 62caliber guns use a ready service loader for a slightly faster rate of fire, they are still hand loaded into the hoists and into the drum. After the 20 round ready service loader has been exhausted (firing for affect), the firing rate drops, and every round fired is directly hand loaded. It's still a pain in the ass with little on-target effect.
zadmiral wrote:
But I have seen several references to the mk 41 gunhouse..just never a drawing. Im assuming there is one if they assigned it a mk number???
Me either. I really wish they would be scanned and posted up on a site like navweaps.
zadmiral wrote:
At any rate I only added a quarter of an inch(1 foot in 48th) to my gunhouses which are basically mk28s...
It's up to you, but I think the mounts would probably have been longer than that. For the 1993 modernizations, NAVSEA and LBNSY were considering moving the base rings on the Iowas' 5" mounts 24" out toward the rail to provide the enough if not the same room between the gun house and the super structure. That leads me to believe that the houses would have been at least 24" longer than the Mk28s. Your call, of course
zadmiral wrote:
Then again maybe they would have done it that way then too...What do you think???
Good question! In a stylistic point of view, the modification would look great. In practicality, it makes perfect sense. In 1945? I don't know. It was a lesson learned from the war, and the Montanas' guns were going to be a new design. I think it would be possible that they would have made that change. However, again, it's up to you
zadmiral wrote:
And where can I get a drawing of the mk41/45. Does it have a drawing number to reference???
The Mk45 can be found anywhere on the net, especially
http://www.navweaps.com. I have very limited internet access right now so I can't really post pictures.
I think we would all love to see pictures of your build!