Confirmation of some aspects BAE Bofors 57mm

[Todjaeger]

In the past, the 57mm Mk2 has been advertised as being able to deal with sea skimmers, is this true or does it depend entirely on the ammo? The reason I'm asking this I because it was mentioned in another thread that 3P ammo can only be used on the Mk3.

Skimmers are surface vessels. In that respect, a 57 mm can indeed be used against them. However, its effectiveness is dependent on both the type of 57 mm ammunition used, as well as the target vessel. For example, a 57 mm gun will be able to damage a large military or commercial vessel, but would likely be insufficient to sink or even achieve a 'mission kill' on such vessels. Against a smaller vessel like FACs, fishing trawlers and other smaller vessels, a 57 mm gun could be devastating.

-Cheers

 

[Lucasnz]

Rate of Fire for Bofors 57mm

While watching some of the videos on the internet it occurred to me that the Bofors 57mm can not acheive the 220rpm stated by BAE Bofors. I outline my reasoning below and invite any corrections in my caculations or any mis-understanding I might have in relation to the guns operations. I outline my reasoning below.

The published rate of fire is 220 rounds per minute, which translate to about 3.66 (the BAE website states 4 rounds) rounds per second. The turret holds (according to Nav Weapons and other sites) 120 rounds of ammo (40 in the ready use, 40 in 2 secondary cassettes and 40 in the two intermediate magazines).

*If the max rate of fire is used then the first 40 rounds are expended within 11 seconds.
*The gun elevates and the secondary cassette reloads the ready magazine. This takes about 8-10 seconds. The gun then reacquires the target.
*The gun then expends the next 40 rounds, while the secondary cassette reloads from the intermediate magazine.
*When all 120 rounds are expended the gun moves to the fore and aft position position to reload the turrent.
*Firing the 120 rounds takes 33 seconds with a further 20 seconds required for reloading. That would seem to suggest the rate of fire is a lot less than 220 rounds per minute, especially since the gun as to goto the fore and aft position to reload.

The only way I can see a rate of fire of 220 rounds being acheived is if the intermediate magazine in the turrent can be reloaded without moving to the fore and aft position. However all the internal diagrams I've seen on the net do not support the ability to load outside the fore and aft position.

 

[Todjaeger]

The only way I can see a rate of fire of 220 rounds being acheived is if the intermediate magazine in the turrent can be reloaded without moving to the fore and aft position. However all the internal diagrams I've seen on the net do not support the ability to load outside the fore and aft position.

It could be that the ROF was based upon "theoretical" numbers. For instance, if the 57 mm can fire the 40 ready rounds in 10 - 11 seconds, then the 60 sec/ 11 sec = ~5.45 times that the ready rounds could be fired, * 40 ready rounds = ~218 rounds per minute. This is not the real, per-minute or sustained ROF for the 57 mm gun, because it completely ignores the need to repeatedly reload the ready magazine or the turret for that matter.

What would be interesting to know is if the OTO Melara 76 mm/62 cal. Super Rapid gun, which has a published ROF of 120 rpm, encounters a similar sort of situation, or does the turrent and magazines hold sufficient ammunition to allow a full minute of firing prior to reloading.

-Cheers

 

[STURM]

Skimmers are surface vessels. .-Cheers

Sorry Todjaeger, i was refering to anti-ship missiles. But thank you for your feed back. The reason I was asking is because way before 3P was developed, Bofors had advertised the fact that the MK2 had the ability to shoot down anti-ship missiles. In my opinion maybe against slower missiles like the Styx or Silworm but not I think against faster missiles.

Off topic but just like Bofor's claim with the Mk2, BAE Systems also advertises the fact that only Jernas has the ability to deal with cruise missiles unlike other missiles in the same class such as Roland or Crotale. Could be just sales hype.

 

[deadman0513]

It could be that the ROF was based upon "theoretical" numbers. For instance, if the 57 mm can fire the 40 ready rounds in 10 - 11 seconds, then the 60 sec/ 11 sec = ~5.45 times that the ready rounds could be fired, * 40 ready rounds = ~218 rounds per minute. This is not the real, per-minute or sustained ROF for the 57 mm gun, because it completely ignores the need to repeatedly reload the ready magazine or the turret for that matter.

What would be interesting to know is if the OTO Melara 76 mm/62 cal. Super Rapid gun, which has a published ROF of 120 rpm, encounters a similar sort of situation, or does the turrent and magazines hold sufficient ammunition to allow a full minute of firing prior to reloading.

-Cheers

RPM refers to the numbers of rounds that can be fired per minute. It does not matter if the gun cannot be loaded with that number of rounds as the rate can still be achived.
e.g. You do not need a road 220 km long to test a top speed of 220km/h right ?