gambadier wrote:The ship equivalence was a rough and ready UK rule of thumb. I've always thought it rather flattered naval capabilities. I also think it related to 25-pr units (24 guns) and ships with 4.5 in (8 guns?). They fact the artillery units probably carried a lot more ammo and could be replenished as they were firing is another aspect.
I was taught that a single 4.5" gun on a Type 42 or Leander was equivalent to a battery of 105mm light guns because of its higher sustained rate of fire. The 1982 Falklands Campaign reminded everyone of this.
It was a rule of thumb. Here are notes based on COBUs (RAJ Apr 1946, Vol 73 No 2)
Naval gunfire has different characteristics to field artillery. Naval guns are high velocity guns with flat trajectories and have larger 100% zones, which means they are unsuitable for destruction shoots or small targets, or targets close to our own positions. The main ammunition for naval bombardment is HE direct Action (DA), but ships carry a proportion of HE with time or VT fuzes, and armour piercing (AP) for ship to ship engagements which the captain may be willing to use if the ship to ship threat is slight, or he can re-ammunition easily, in which case they can be used against well dug in targets or airburst shoots. The ships do not have smoke, but they do carry starshell for illumination.
Destroyer = fd regt. Range 17 to 20,000 yards. Four to eight 4-inch to 4.7-inch
Cruiser = Med Regt. Range 21 to 25,000 yards. Twelve 6-inch (Colony) to eight 8-inch (County)
Battleship = hy regt ++. Range 30,000 yards plus, 9 tons/minute. And secondary armament
Clock code method of adjustment, Line of fire method secondary
Shoots controlled by ship, by FOB if necessary
Call for fire to first round – five to ten minutes
Preferably at anchor, but can be done under weigh with slight loss of accuracy
I was taught that