Ammunition carried by warships

[gajabhau]

How much ammunition per piece did the warships of World War II carry for their guns ? Perhaps that might depend on the caliber of the piece. What were the norms for , say , 4", 6", 8",12" and 15" or 16" guns and also for anti-aircraft guns ? I would be obliged if some one would give this information and , if possible , cite the source as well.

[LWD]

Check out this site by country and weapon. It doesn't have them for all weapons or ships but has a fair number.
http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/index_weapons.htm

[gajabhau]

Thank you LWD. I visited the site advised by you. An article entitled "Destruction of the Bismarck", on that site says that 100 shells per gun were carried for the main armament of a battleship. That is a good start for me. Thanks. I shall search for more.
Gajabhau

[LWD]

If you look at the individual weapon pages you'll also find some info. For instance:
from http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_16-50_mk7.htm

10) There are conflicting accounts about the number of rounds that could be carried by the Iowa class. The following numbers are taken from notes and sketches made by a chief gunner's mate for USS Missouri BB-63 just before she was decommissioned in February 1955.
16-inch Projectiles:
Turret I: 387
Turret II: 456
Turret III: 367
Total: 1,210
16-inch Powder Canisters (each canister contains three propellant bags):
Mark 4 are Full Service, Mark 8 are Reduced Service
Turret I: 843 Mark 4 or 989 Mark 8
Turret II: 928 Mark 4 or 1,148 Mark 8
Turret III: 743 Mark 4 or 874 Mark 8
Totals: 2,514 Mark 4 or 3,011 Mark 8

And from: http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-38_mk12.htm

Yorktown (CV-6) and Essex (CV-9): 450 rounds
North Carolina (BB-55), South Dakota (BB-57) and Iowa (BB-61): 450 rounds
Alaska (CB-1): 500 rounds
Baltimore (CA-68), Oregon City (CA-122) and Des Moines (CA-134): 500 rounds
Saint Louis (CL-49), Cleveland (CL-55) and Fargo (CL-106): 500 rounds
Atlanta (CL-51): 450 rounds
Pre-war destroyers of the Farragut (DD-348) through Sims (DD-409) classes: 300 rounds
Benson (DD-421) and Gleaves (DD-423): 320 - 360 rounds
Fletcher (DD-445): 350 rounds (420 in later ships)
Allen M. Sumner (DD-692) and Gearing (DD-710): 360 rounds

That's per gun

[gajabhau]

Thank you very much LWD. I got it.
Best regards
Gajabhau

[Michael Emrys]

And from: http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-38_mk12.htm

Yorktown (CV-6) and Essex (CV-9): 450 rounds
North Carolina (BB-55), South Dakota (BB-57) and Iowa (BB-61): 450 rounds
Alaska (CB-1): 500 rounds
Baltimore (CA-68), Oregon City (CA-122) and Des Moines (CA-134): 500 rounds
Saint Louis (CL-49), Cleveland (CL-55) and Fargo (CL-106): 500 rounds
Atlanta (CL-51): 450 rounds
Pre-war destroyers of the Farragut (DD-348) through Sims (DD-409) classes: 300 rounds
Benson (DD-421) and Gleaves (DD-423): 320 - 360 rounds
Fletcher (DD-445): 350 rounds (420 in later ships)
Allen M. Sumner (DD-692) and Gearing (DD-710): 360 rounds

That's per gun

Should we take it that that is for 5" in all cases?

Michael

[LWD]

I don't think I would. In fact the page is specifically for the 5"38. It's also likely a standard which may have varried from ship to ship and time to time. Poke around the site and you'll get more of a feel for it. My feeling it that it's very good for general type information and for a starting point but in some specific cases you may want to investigate further.

[maxs75]

Hello,
I have the following main guns load for some of the ships selected for fire support at Iwo Jima:
BB-42 Idaho (12x 14") -- 1291
BB-36 Nevada (10x 14") -- 850
BB-43 Tennessee (12x 14") -- 1050
BB-33 Arkansas (12x12") -- 1428
BB-35 Texas (10x14") -- 1030
BB-34 New York (10x14") -- 1041

CA-27 Chester (9x8") -- 1200
CA-24 Pensacola (10x8") -- 1190
CA-25 Salt Lake City (10x8") -- 1200
CA-37 Tuscaloosa (9x8") -- 990
CL-86 Vicksburgh (12x6") -- 2760

It is not the capacity, but the actual load.

Max

[Delta Tank]

Max,

Hello,
I have the following main guns load for some of the ships selected for fire support at Iwo Jima:
BB-42 Idaho (12x 14") -- 1291
BB-36 Nevada (10x 14") -- 850
BB-43 Tennessee (12x 14") -- 1050
BB-33 Arkansas (12x12") -- 1428
BB-35 Texas (10x14") -- 1030
BB-34 New York (10x14") -- 1041

CA-27 Chester (9x8") -- 1200
CA-24 Pensacola (10x8") -- 1190
CA-25 Salt Lake City (10x8") -- 1200
CA-37 Tuscaloosa (9x8") -- 990
CL-86 Vicksburgh (12x6") -- 2760

It is not the capacity, but the actual load.

Max

Is this per tube or total carried on the ship? The USS Nevada only had 85 rounds per tube?

Mike

[mescal]

It's certainly not a total per barrel.

From memory most BB had a theoretical 100-150 shells per gun.

I wonder what was the proportion of AP and HE shells.

[LWD]

...I wonder what was the proportion of AP and HE shells.

In US service that varied by mission type. Ohlendorf's BBs held their fire on Yamashiro for quite a while due to concerns over the lack of AP ammo. This site has the ammo load out for them at the bottom of the page:
http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-079.htm
Note that overall those ships were at 50% ammo capacity and had been supplying fire support prior to the battle. I suspect that they had most if not all the AP they started with.

[Delta Tank]

Mescal,

mescal wrote:It's certainly not a total per barrel.

From memory most BB had a theoretical 100-150 shells per gun.

I believe you are correct, but that is not very many shells!!

Mike

[maxs75]

Allowance rounds per gun, inital landings at Leyte:
-------------------- 14"/16" HC ---- AP-----5"/38-----5"/51 ---------5"/25 AA
West Virginia -- 100--------------10/15---350/100
Maryland---------100---------------10/15-----------------200----------160/350
Mississippi-------100--------------10/15------------------200----------130/350
Tenn/Calif/Penn--80-----------------10----350/100

---------------------8"/55 HC---AP--------------5"/25AA
Louisville------------110--------10/25----------125
Minneapolis----------100-------10/25----------125
Portland---------------90--------10/25----------125
------------------------------------8" HE(=USN HC)----SAP-------4" HE
HMAS Australia/Shropshire: ---80----------------10/140-----100/150

-------------------------6"/47 HC----AP-----------5"/25 AA---------5"/38
Nashville & sisters-----150---------10/55--------200/110
Denver/Columbia------180---------10/90---------------------------250/100

HMAS Arunta/Warramunga: 50-100 4,7" HE
USN DD: 80-150 5"/38 AA, 25 Com, SP 10

[LWD]

Here's the table from the referance above. It seams to be a bit at odds with your numbers:

Ship / Capacity / Total On-Board / AP / HC / Rounds Expended
(all AP)
West Virginia / 800 / 375 / 200 / 175/ 93
Maryland / 800 / 685 / 240 / 445 / 48
California / 1200 / 318 / 240 / 78 / 63
Tennessee / 1200 / 664 / 396 / 268 / 69
Mississippi / 1200 / 744 / 201 / 543 / 12
Pennsylvania / 1200 / 453 / 360 / 93 / Did not fire
From: http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-079.htm

Note that Pennsylvania has 30 AP rounds per gun unless maybe the Allowance was the number of rounds they planned on firing? But the allowance would implies 1,080 Rounds of HC for the ship and 120 rounds of AP which comes out to th2 capacity of 1200 mentioned?

[mescal]

Mescal,

mescal wrote:It's certainly not a total per barrel.

From memory most BB had a theoretical 100-150 shells per gun.

I believe you are correct, but that is not very many shells!!

Mike

At first glance no.
But note that 850 rounds of a 1,275 HC shells make 1083750 lbs. That's not negligible.

And from a perspective of number of rounds and sustainability of fire, if you assume a nominal rate of fire of 2 rounds per minute, you can still fire a 30 minutes barrage (throwing 765000 lbs at the enemy) and, assuming a 100% output during this barrage (which never happens) you still have 250 shells to deal with 'on demand' fire (for which you will almost never fire full broadsides).

Remember also that the big gun's barrels had a lifetime of around 300 rounds.