Re:US Navy's Railgun Now Undergoing Tests in New Mexico
by CapricornNoble on Thursday June 27, 2019 @11:33PM
(#20301266)
As an addendum:
The Royal Navy had a long and well-established tradition of exceptionally well-drilled gun crews, probably going back almost 150 years from WWI through the Napoleonic era. It could be argued that their fast-firing and disciplined gunnery were decisive in more than one British victory.
HOWEVER....as you point out this led to objectively-suicidal practices....What's that term for when you've been doing a risky job for so long you don't realize how dangerous your habits are? Yeah Royal Navy gunnery is a textbook example of that.
In the Battle of Jutland (The largest naval battle of WWI), the Royal Navy lost three capital ships (Two battlecruisers and a heavy cruiser) to single shells that struck their gun turrets, detonating their ammo magazines.
The gun turrets were, in theory, supposed to be sealed off, by blast doors, from their magazines - but in order to increase fire rates, it was standard practice to leave those doors open in combat.
The Germans, not being suicidal lunatics, kept equivalent blast doors closed, which is why none of their capital ships went up in flames, despite taking a lot more damage.