Why Do Modern Warships Have Tiny Guns?

[MrX-uncz]

it may be small but it has great personality

[rezaganjizadeh]

Russian gun design: just put AK in there

[FizzleFX]

Others: measures calibre in mm
Germany: measures in metres

[MithrilSqueegee]

Definitely wouldnt underestimate a 127mm, it's extremely accurate, fires every 4 seconds, and reaches 23km which is still 5 times the distance from the ship to the horizon. Anything further or needing more punch, you would wanna shoot missiles at anyway, since a projectile is subject to wind, the coriolis effect, blah blah blah

[zakazan]

127mm is the size of a tank gun, but the big boy cannons that used to be on ships were 406mm and shot car sized shells at targets.

[creedleader]

For context the M1 Abrams main gun is 120mm.

[majhnsn]

They are dramatically more accurate than their predecessors

[justsomeguy]

Just an FYI, the Battleship New Jersey was recommissioned for her 16"(406mm) guns for one purpose, to sink an island!

[just_violet]

Some main deck guns have evolved to have anti-air purposes also. The Italian OTO Melara 76mm Super Rapid can fire devastating long range guided anti-air ammunition, its most recent use was against a Houthi drone attack to the Caio Duilio destroyer, which was shot down from over 4 km (2, 5 miles) of distance.

[kriceis]

AK in Russian warships means ship artillery, not Kalashnikov's AK. Kinda like AR-15(/18) is ARmalite, and not assault rifle

[pantherhmtd]

Imagine using a tomahawk missile costing 2 million dollars on small pirate boat which only worths not more than 3000 dollars and 5 somalis

[carabela]

It's not the size that counts, it's how you shoot it.

[Ratelau]

A 5" gun is pretty good for a frigate or a destroyer. Probably even a cruiser as they would use missiles instead of the larger guns navies used to use

[JG]

Those 5 inch guns are stupid accurate. Tied in with computer control and serious high resolution radar you'd be surprised how on the mark they are.

[FredSmith-st]

I was one of two Tomahawk Data Base managers on the USS Fife DD-991 in the early 90s.

[timsullivan]

"The reason they are so small, isn't what most people think."

Actually, the reason is EXACTLY what I thought and I imagine most other thinking people would think the same. Perhaps an interesting observation but by no means an imponderable mystery.

[OtherWarthunderNoob]

You say a battleships guns are obsolete. That is until you need to delete an entire coastline

[davidragan]

They are still looking at battleships coming back, because it is more Coast-Effective to yeet a car's worth of Mass than expensive rockets.

[godzillatoons]

If we can make a 13, 000 ton construction vehicle, then we can certainly make a P. 1000 Ratte

[mansquatch]

As we get better and better at intercepting missiles, guns might make a comeback as they are much harder to intercept.