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8 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

I have not tried to verify this.

 

I've read this story from a couple of sources (books) and I believe it happened.

 

"Nowaki fled Truk on 17 February 1944 in the midst of the massive American air and surface attack known as Operation Hailstone and escaped pursuit by US Task Force 50.9 with minor splinter damage despite being straddled several times by 16 inch salvos from USS Iowa and USS New Jersey at extreme range."

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Nowaki_(1940)  The IJN Nowaki was just over 35 feet wide.

 

I think most of us, including myself, don't fully get just how accurate the 16" guns were and just how good US fire control equipment was.

 

IF I did the math correctly (please check it), a MOA at 35,000 yards is 350 (yards).   For purposes of discussion we'll define a straddle as missing by a maximum of the width of the ship, so 35 feet (11.66 yards) from the port or starboard side.    So the USS New Jersey was missing the IJN Nowaki by just 0.033 MOA (Yards)  [11.66 yards divided by 350 yards = 0.033]

 

 

Edited by Chantry
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51 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

Yeah, scary accurate.    From a moving platform usually at a moving target.

 

Same for shore batteries....they weren't moving but the targets were.

 

Even though the USS New Jersey didn't score an actual hit, it was probably the best shooting of any battleship in history.

 

For actual hits, it can be considered a tie between the HMS Warspite and KMS Scharnhorst:  http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-006.php

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