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Originally posted by Surface Dog:

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Originally posted by Joe:
That is pretty damn awesome. I wonder what would happen if you were in a little boat in the water; right under the guns?

I was on an FFG in company with the NEW JERSEY when she was doing some NGFS qual firing off San Clemente in the 80's.

We were about 150 yards astern of her. Single-gun salvos weren't that bad, provided you knew they were coming, but when they fired the entire turret it was like being hollered at by God. They warned us to secure all topside personnel but we stupidly left the bridge wing doors open. I thought I was gonna crap my pants the first time they opened up with those 16-inchers.

Interesting fact: When the BB's would fire a full "broadside" salvo, the battleship was actually pushed backwards in the water a few hundred feet.

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Originally posted by TOW Gunner:
Another story about the big guns. My unit received an intel brief about what went wrong in Lebanon in the early 80s that prompted the suicide bombing on the Marines. It's a long story. To make it short, the American "peacekeepers" were hailed as heroes at first. For about a year they enjoyed Lebanese hospitality. But after about a year, one of our battleships (I think the Missouri) started shelling the Lebanese countryside where militants were thought to be residing. I'm not sure, but this may have even included the Bekaa Valley. Partly because of this massive, indiscriminate shelling, many others in Lebanon turned against the Americans. The Marines knew something was up when one day a platoon was on patrol in a Beirut neighborhood. A teenager ran out to a Marine, punched him in the chest, and ran back to cover. Later, suicide bombers struck the Marines and French peacekeepers.

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Originally posted by Sully:
Tow I am not sure about the Lebanon insident but there was 3 Iowa's in commison Iowa ,New Jersy & Missouri I don't know I think the Missouri's first mission in the Med. was Gulf 1 but who knows they were big.A 16" Armor Piercing weight is 2800 lbs if I remember an AP round is 1800 lbs so a VW Bettle wouldn't be much of a problem.

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Originally posted by SULLY1:
Dreadnought...good post I lived in Long Beach Ca. and both the New Jersy & Missouri were home ported in Long Beach CA.I had a lot of Beer drinking buddies on both ships a couple of yrs.before de-commissing.One thing for sure you could tell the difference in a fighting ship and a dress ship the USS New Jersy had 15 Battle Stars and the Mighty Mo had the prestege.