American post-war AA gun projects

YourChair

YourChair

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Hello everyone,
I remember seeing a mention a while back (I think on this very forum even) that after WW2, the US was planning to use new 55mm and 30mm (probably an early version of the Oerlikon KCA) AA guns (not sure about the exact calibers) on new ships.
Does anyone recognize what I'm talking about, or am I misremembering or having a false memory?
 
YourChair said:
Hello everyone,
I remember seeing a mention a while back (I think on this very forum even) that after WW2, the US was planning to use new 55mm and 30mm (probably an early version of the Oerlikon KCA) AA guns (not sure about the exact calibers) on new ships.
Does anyone recognize what I'm talking about, or am I misremembering or having a false memory?
Click to expand...
Friedman briefly mentions a 35mm "free swinging mount" as a replacement for the 20mm Oerlikon (not the 40mm L-60). I think that the 3 inch and above calibers were focused on because, given the technology of the day, and the importance the U.S. put on the V.T. fuse those were seen by the U.S.N. as the smallest calibers feasible.

I THINK the 35 mm was seen as an absolute last-ditch Hail-Mary-Pass and the larger caliber was primarily to allow for something like a 'grenade round' to more effectively blow apart a missile and possibly deflect or (more likely) reduce the effect of its by then nearly inevitable impact. The larger calibers were actually intended as area defense weapons, with the 3 inch explicitly being a replacement for the 40mm Bofors.

I THINK the Swedish/French interest in 57mm guns might come from a similar place, as the U.S. 3", but know even less about them (and it's beyond the scope of this thread anyway).
 
There was a 50mm caliber developed by Oerlikon working with the USN, but no details on the actual gun and mountings planned to use it. It might have been a back-up plan for a 40mm Bofors replacement in the event the planned rapid-fire 3" (76mm) guns failed.

I'm not sure how they intended that 35mm gun to be a free-swinging mount, because at that size I don't see how that would be feasible. Supposedly the 35x228mm Oerlikon caliber in widespread use today had its origin in work done for the USN, likely related to that requirement.
 

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