Navy Wanting New Ships

[egarrard]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,165724,00.html
Current cruisers and destroyers mount only 5-inch guns with a range of about 15 miles. The guns of the Iowa and Wisconsin can hit targets 30 miles distant with unguided shells carrying 1,900 pounds of high explosives.

The Navy says the guns of the DD(X) will far exceed the capabilities of those on the battleships and the current fleet.

The ship would carry two 155-millimeter guns that fire rocket-propelled rounds. Current test versions of the gun have hit targets 68 miles away. The Navy hopes to reach 96 miles. Navy officials also talk about an electromagnetic rail gun, possibly available by 2020, that can hit targets 350 miles away.

[bejohnson]

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/images/ddx_2003_1014.jpg

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/images/ddx-ratheon2.jpg

DD(X) link (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/dd-x.htm)

[eire1274]

Navy officials also talk about an electromagnetic rail gun, possibly available by 2020, that can hit targets 350 miles away.
Hmmm... but the Navy has been testing railguns for almost 15 years now on some of the nuclear ships. Jamie, former Gunners' Mate, has gone through and witnessed more than twenty test firings, all fully successful, and that was 10 years ago.