Navy Test-Fires 33-Megajoule Railgun

[crg1372]

Mach 8 velocity, a range of 110 nautical miles and as much kinetic energy as a 33 ton semi traveling 100mph......pretty impressive.

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/10/5626100-railgun-shot-heard-round-the-world

 

[dennishoddy]

I read that article. Pretty awesome, but they still have some problems to work out.
When its done, ..........look out.

 

[crg1372]

I read that article. Pretty awesome, but they still have some problems to work out.
When its done, ..........look out.

I like the fact that with such a range it'll help keep even more troops out of harms way. Plus once these ships are outfitted with the guns there will be no need to carry all those explosives onboard. Granted thats still over a decade away.

 

[JRSherman]

I read that article. Pretty awesome, but they still have some problems to work out.
When its done, ..........look out.

Didn't you see Transformers:Revenge of the Fallen Dennis? Who says its not already done. . .

 

[Neil]

So that's NAVSEA Dahlgren huh? It looks like the vacant lot behind Lonnie Bob's Transmission Service.

But I agree, that is one incredible gun! I guess any ship outfitted with one of those would have to be nuke-powered in order to generate that kind of electricity efficiently. For now, that rules out every platform but the carriers.

 

[crg1372]

So that's NAVSEA Dahlgren huh? It looks like the vacant lot behind Lonnie Bob's Transmission Service.

But I agree, that is one incredible gun! I guess any ship outfitted with one of those would have to be nuke-powered in order to generate that kind of electricity efficiently. For now, that rules out every platform but the carriers.

I believe the new stealth battleships (however many there are) are nuclear powered. Might be wrong though but I thought it was something that was mandated for them.

 

[JRSherman]

I believe the new stealth battleships (however many there are) are nuclear powered. Might be wrong though but I thought it was something that was mandated for them.

Nope. The ONLY current nuclear powered US Naval vessels are carriers and subs.

There were supposed to be a few studies done in the next few years looking at the efficacy of bringing nuclear destroyers into the mix again(would be the first small class surface ships since the Long Beach), and more than likely it will be to support a system such as this. There's no other good reason, even with fossil fuel costs, to do it on a small boy.

It'll be hard to miss anything that has one of these bad boys attached to it, unless they make it rotatable and hide it on a carrier.

 

[crg1372]

Nope. The ONLY current nuclear powered US Naval vessels are carriers and subs.

There were supposed to be a few studies done in the next few years looking at the efficacy of bringing nuclear destroyers into the mix again(would be the first small class surface ships since the Long Beach), and more than likely it will be to support a system such as this. There's no other good reason, even with fossil fuel costs, to do it on a small boy.

It'll be hard to miss anything that has one of these bad boys attached to it, unless they make it rotatable and hide it on a carrier.

Went ahead and did a search on this and this is what it came up with...

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?126026-U.S.-Mandates-Nuclear-Battleships

However, that doesn't mean the article is correct or thats whats in use.

 

[JRSherman]

Went ahead and did a search on this and this is what it came up with...

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?126026-U.S.-Mandates-Nuclear-Battleships

However, that doesn't mean the article is correct or thats whats in use.

If that ever happens, that's gonna be one sexy girl. It's been awhile since that I read that stuff in the Navy Times, but it seems like I remember that stuff was going to take a good period of time to start happening, i.e. 15-25 years.

Even with the Long Beach as a background study, the way our navy operates now is 200% different than then, so there will have to be theory tests, then design tests, operational tests, corrections to all those, etc etc etc that will happen before a core goes into the ship. Especially if they decide to deviate from a core design that they already use. I can't say what they will or won't use, but the core of a carrier is friggin huge, so I doubt that, and the core of a sub, either fast attack small or SSBN/GN medium probably won't fit the bill for where they want to take it. The SSBN displaces almost the same weight as the 14k ton cruiser, but probably won't do if they move to the 25k ton class.

On top of all of this, you have to remember it will be a contract effected project, so GE, Westinghouse, Northrop Grumman, etc will have their hands twisting it all around to get what they want out of it too.

 

[crg1372]

If that ever happens, that's gonna be one sexy girl. It's been awhile since that I read that stuff in the Navy Times, but it seems like I remember that stuff was going to take a good period of time to start happening, i.e. 15-25 years.

Even with the Long Beach as a background study, the way our navy operates now is 200% different than then, so there will have to be theory tests, then design tests, operational tests, corrections to all those, etc etc etc that will happen before a core goes into the ship. Especially if they decide to deviate from a core design that they already use. I can't say what they will or won't use, but the core of a carrier is friggin huge, so I doubt that, and the core of a sub, either fast attack small or SSBN/GN medium probably won't fit the bill for where they want to take it. The SSBN displaces almost the same weight as the 14k ton cruiser, but probably won't do if they move to the 25k ton class.

On top of all of this, you have to remember it will be a contract effected project, so GE, Westinghouse, Northrop Grumman, etc will have their hands twisting it all around to get what they want out of it too.

Excellent points and makes sense. What I find fascinating is those 600 foot cruiser can operate one a 150 man crew. Am I correct in thinking that these are heavily designed for future railgun use?