 fantomfixer wrote: | | What was the effect of constant emersion in salt water on the deck guns of a sub? Seems to me that there would be a serious problem with corrosion, especially on the closely machined moving parts -- which couldn't be painted -- and the barrel rifling. Were these guns coated with grease or some other type of preservative? |
|
Submarine deck guns are specifically designed as what was called "wet" guns. This was to prevent the different problems you describe here from occurring. Basically, the gun's operable parts were sealed against the pressure from being submerged, and if you look carefully, you can also see that the muzzles had pressure caps to protect the bore. A good example is the 5"51 cal. guns that were refitted onto the Tambor class. Although these were standard secondary guns taken off rebuilt battleships, they were modified for immersion, and redesignated as Mark 18 mounts to show these modifications. Jon |