Battleship revolving cylinder guns

[MadRat]

The original ironclads used a variety of multi-barrel guns. Rather than loading a single shot at a time, load several in a revolver carriage to allow volley firing seems like it could have been helpful in throwing a pattern at a target. The Des Moines-class cruisers demonstrated a viscious rate of fire in the 8" diameter class of main gun, but scaling it was not practical as the brass alone would have been a deadly hazard to the crew. Maybe the bagged loads were better suited to a revolver carriage for pre-loading several rounds ready to fire. Was any sort of revolver loading mechanism ever studied on Battleships?

 

[Scott Kenny]

The original ironclads used a variety of multi-barrel guns. Rather than loading a single shot at a time, load several in a revolver carriage to allow volley firing seems like it could have been helpful in throwing a pattern at a target. The Des Moines-class cruisers demonstrated a viscious rate of fire in the 8" diameter class of main gun, but scaling it was not practical as the brass alone would have been a deadly hazard to the crew. Maybe the bagged loads were better suited to a revolver carriage for pre-loading several rounds ready to fire. Was any sort of revolver loading mechanism ever studied on Battleships?

The challenge with that is sealing the chamber to the barrel. Not that it cannot be done (revolver cannons say hi), but it's a lot of work.

 

[MadRat]

Fair enough. As your chamber grows in diameter you probably would have a more difficult seal.

 

[Scott Kenny]

Fair enough. As your chamber grows in diameter you probably would have a more difficult seal.

The easiest way would probably be Puckle Gun style, where each chamber had a sealing surface machined onto the front and the whole cylinder moved forward far enough to seat the chamber and seal. But then that's a very large drum behind the gun that takes up a lot of turret volume. Which means larger, heavier turrets, and a limited time of quick reloading before you need to refill the cylinder.

Might have happened in the 1800s with early breechloaders and engaging at ~7,000yds, but not after the long range shooting breakthrough. By the time you're shooting 20,000yards or more, the time of flight so you can see you shell splashes and correct your aim is longer than a simple shell reload cycle.