Battleship Main Battery Guns Against Aircraft?

I just finished reading a book that made several references to the Bismark and Tirpitz firing their main battery of 15" guns at aircraft.

I vaguely recall many years ago reading that the Bismark fired at Swordfish torpedo bombers with her main battery only because the little biplanes flew so low that it there was some chance of the waterspout from a shell impact knocking them down.

Other than that, the only time I can recall hearing of a battleship firing its main guns at aircraft was the Yamato and Musashi, which had special AA rounds for their 18" guns but which they were reluctant to use because for reasons I'm not clear on the shells could damage the barrels. Some were nevertheless fired during the Sibuyan Sea portion of Leyte Gulf.

1. Did the Bismark and Tirpitz use their 15" guns for AA purposes? Did they have special AA ammunition for that purpose?

2. Why was the AA ammunition of the Yamato and Musashi bad for the gun barrels?

3. Did any other battleships have AA ammunition for their main guns, or otherwise use their main battery for AA purposes in any engagements?

 

Im not a naval expert, but trying to follow an aircraft with such slow traverse would be a waste of time...from a long distance/altitude heavy guns can put effectively grape shot at say a bomber...However, anything close is about volume of lead, even today with the phalanx or goal keeper systems.
You may be able to shoot a Swordfish as it comes in because its low and slow and for a time flying not only in a predictable track but facing the ship so the line is easy just the length one has to judge.

 

I recall that the Italians would not have had enough smaller aa weapons with their bigger ships and trying to shoot small planes with massive guns was useless. The Italians thought they would get aeroplanes in a short time to protect the ships. Even AA guns were not enough always like Taranto proved.

 

At close range, the main guns could not reach bomber altitude, th a San-Shiki was meant to be died at distance against a large formation of aircraft - not just one.

That is only because of supersonic cruise missiles. Without the volume of lead, destruction could not be assured, and the wreckage/warhead could just as easily continue on and still hit the ship, or a close detonation would still cause considerable damage to the vital, but delicate, electronics antennaes. The high volume of lead hopefully ensures destruction before the supersonic gets to close.

This is true, but the timing is still quite tricky to do. Either with a short time delay fuze or timing the water spout to hit the aircraft.

 

Accounts of the final 'tallboy' raid against the Tirpitz by 617 & 9 Squadrons RAF refer to the main armament being used against the Lancasters at high altitude. IIRC no bombers wre lost. I've always assumed that this was an act of desperation. Certainly an unexploded shell from this raid has been dug up some distance away and is now mounted as a local memorial.

 

The British equipped a number of battleships and cruisers to use their main batteries against aircraft in barrage fire. Shells would be set to explode at a preset distance and a special barrage director with Type 283 radar would track an incoming formation of aircraft and fire the guns at the appropriate time. Not sure what other navies, if any, used similar systems.

 

Well the Japanese had no shallow water torpedoes, did they?

 

Using HE main battery shells as AA weapons was a long-shot gamble by any stretch of the imagination. Predicting the course of the aircraft and obtaining first-round accuracy is quite difficult. Due to the slow reloading times of big guns, adjusting from the first salvo would be just as difficult. Then of course, there's the fact that the time fuse of the weapon would have to be perfectly set and work perfectly-not likely. Even the excellent 5"/38 didn't really come into its own as an AA weapon until the advent of the VT fuse.

The wall of water thing would be just as tricky since the splash of an exploding shell only lasted a second or even less. That means absolute perfect aim and timing-this all the while the ship is twisting and turning to evade bombs and torpedoes.

 

Japanese battleships and heavy cruisers sighting inbound aircraft would sometimes fire their main batteries towards them as means of quickly getting the attention of the rest of the formation and particularly their airborne fighters, since they no rapid radio communications. Not trying to hit or even distract, just raising the alarm and showing the fighters where to go.

 

Japanese had a special "beehive" round for its 18" guns. They also landed two triple 6" gun turrets (port/starboard) in favor of more heavy AA guns.

 

The San Shiki, aka "beehive", was made for all Japanese large & medium caliber guns - down to 5" or 4.7". They were occasionally used as bombardment shells(most infamously at Henderson Field).

The 6" guns were intended to be capable of high angle fire(as were the 8" cruiser guns). However, in practice, they proved disappointing. The elevation gear proved not up to the task of high angle elvation(expected to be 75 degrees - but in practice 55 degrees maximum elevation(this was further hindered by having to return to 7 degrees for loading - which greatly lengthened firing times), and the training gear quickly became incapable of tracking modern fast aircraft.

 

Yes, and as Riter says, the 6" wing turrets were removed(during Yamato's January-April, 1944, refit) to add 6 additional twin 5" guns(3 per side), as well as numerous 25mm guns, to provide additional AA protection. Yamato's AA outfit would be further strengthened during her refit that began in late-November, 1944, which added many more 25mm guns.

 

I believe Yamato's 24 5" were the largest dual-purpose battery ever mounted on a ship. She had four Type 94 directors, which seems a bit extravagant for her original six 5" mounts, but served her well when the battery was doubled. Type 94 was one of the best antiaircraft gunfire control systems of the time; American investigators considered it comparable to our Mark 37.

 

So, in her last battle, how many American planes did she get?

 

Some painted photos....Taranto








The Italian battleship Littorio under attack by B-24 Liberator bombers, during the contrast to Operation Vigorous, June 1942