Long Beach (CGN 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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1 11 it . ul 1 3 1 1 1 E H ! 1 9 1 ELELQEQY -11 11 1 11 i 11 11 ,1 111 11 111 11 1 1 11 11 1 1 H1 111 11 1 1 I ,, 11 11 1 1 11 -1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 111 11 4 1 1 11 11 ,1 1 1 1 1 11 11 '1 T wo offensive and defensive mainstays on inany classes of U S. slzzlos during World War 11 were the 5 38, below, and the 40 rnni,above. These weapons were credi'ted with countless lfills be- tween 1941 and 19452 out the speed of rnodern aircraf required greater veloc- izjz, range and accuracy. Right, an 8 sliell is about to be rammed into a gun in a turret aboard the cruiser Boston in the latter stages of Second World War. An early improvement was the range finder, with calculations worked out so that a gun could be elevated a given number of degrees to have the missile fall on target at the proper distance. Weapons development had avanced to the point that shells could be fired over 10,000 yards by World War I - and this presented new prob- lems. HFirst, according to EncyclopediaBritan- nica, it was no longer possible to fire at the target directlyg allowance had to be made for the projectile's time of flight and the target's speed and course. Second, allowances had to be made for wear of the gun barrels, temperature of the powder, meteorological phenomena affecting the projectile's ballistic qualities and temperature of , 117747271 f. M

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For close range combat, grapeshot and canis- ter were used. Canister was not used much be- yond three hundred yards, although ccgrapew was heavy enough to be effective against ships at up to four hundred yards, and against ex- posed personnel, small boats, etc., at up to one thousand yards. Both grapeshot and canister were used in running past forts as, while incapa- ble of injuring structures, the rapid and continu- ous fire of caseshot from a vessel's broadside usually drove and kept the enemy's gunners from their embrasures. Solid shot was used for battering, smashing walls of forts, or shattering penetrating armor. Shells were used against unarmored vessels Qthe shells of the period invariably broke up on striking all but the thinnest armorj, earthworks, personnel, etc. Carriages used were the old four-wheel truck carriage, the newer two-wheel Marsilly, and piv- ots of various types. The turret guns of the monitors were on fixed slidemounts, which re- volved with the turret. V Aboard CCN-9 are two complete missile sys- tems, ASROC, 5 38 guns and a Mark 32 battery of homing torpedoes. The Talos missile, housed in a dual launcher aft, is lethal against targets at extreme heights, and ranges of over 65 miles. It provides Long Beach with an offensive and defensive weapon against subsonic and supersonic air targets, can destroy aircraft carrying air-to-surface missiles, and is capable of intercepting both aircraft and missiles well away from the ship. Guided to its target on a beam rider, it is also capable of homing on its target. The shipls inner defense against surface and air targets at close and intermediate ranges is the Terrier, a supersonic, solid-fuel radar-guided missile. The ship has two dual launchers, and the capability of transferring its missiles between the forward and after magazines. The launching system components function automatically to deliver missile and booster from the ready serv- ice magazine to the power-driven remote control- led launcher in condition to fire. After firing, the Terrier separates from its booster and begins receiving guidance informa- tion from tracking and guidance radar, these inputs are converted to hydraulic signals, which operate the missile wings and fins in a manner to bring the vehicle into the center ofthe guidance radar beams and maintain it there until detona- tion. The Terrier Qwith boosterj is 27 feet long, weighs about one and one-half tons, and has a range of over 10 miles. Several Weapons Department Divisions are concerned with the fire control aspect of modern warfare, an art considerably more refined today than in even recent history. In the early days of naval gunnery, fire control was merely a matter of the gunner sighting along the barrel of his muzzle-loader, training it by a simple lever, and estimating the range. The weapon was elevated higher by means of a wedge under the breech or by a screwed shaft. Such crude tactics, under- standably, became ineffective as the range of guns increased. Sailors who manned the guns on the old cruiser USS Chicago had onbf guns to ight with, but Long Beach has, in addi- tion to her 5 38 guns, three complete weapons systems - Terrier ana' Talos anti-aircraft missiles ana' ASROC, an antz'-submarine rocket. 17

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the guns. Third, allowance had to be made for the ship's roll and pitch. The omission of one of these items might change the range of the pro- tile by several thousand yards. MTO meet all these problems, director firing was instituted. Director firing is essentially the firing of all guns in one battery by use of a director, range finder and computer. uThe director itself is a master gun sight for all the guns in its battery. The director is train- ed continuously on the target, giving the line-of- sight bearing and elevation. These, and the distance to the target as given by the range deter- mining equipment, are fed directly to the computer. . . There are, of course, a greatxmany more com- ponents Qfrom ship's course to muzzle velocity loss through erosionj fed into the computer Which, in turn, provide a continuous output of data such as present range and bearing, ad- vance range, gun train and elevation orders, and fuse orders. The introduction of radar into fire control proved a great advancement. Firing, or more accurate firing, under adverse conditions of visibility or at ranges hitherto prohibiting visual contact now became possible, surface and air targets could be picked up, locked on, and held until coming into the range of the ship 's Weapons. The ASROC Weapons system Qanti-submarine rocketj provides Long Beach with a deadly weapon for use against submarines. Basically the ASROC system is one which detects a subma- rine at long ranges, quickly computes its course and speed, and launches a rocket-propelled bal- listic missile containing either an acoustic-hom- ing torpedo or a depth charge as a payload. After the missile is accelerated, the rocket falls away and the payload continues its flight to the vicinity of the target. just prior to entering the Water, the Weapon sheds its airframe and pre- pares for Water entry. On entering the water, the acoustic-homing device causes the torpedo to in- tercept the submarine for the kill, Whereas the depth charge explodes at pre-determined depth. The range of the rocket is sufficient to enable Long Beach to strike first before a submarine can close sufficiently to launch its torpedoes.