One of the scariest things is knowing that a torpedo is headed straight your way.
To be fair, being on the receiving end of any weapon demands a serious re-evaluation
of your life choices.
But let’s be honest, watching various weapon systems fire, from the torpedo tube and VLS
cells of a warship, to things that go BRRRRT from the sky, like the A-10 Warthog, or from
the ground, like the German MANTIS, is fascinating.What’s equally fascinating is what you rarely see:
how these weapon systems are reloaded, because sometimes, they are a pain in the butt!
Arguably no weapon is slower to reload than a warship.
Of course if an Arleigh Burke class destroyer emptied all of its 96 VLC cells, I am willing
to bet that someone…
somewhere… is having a really bad day!
However, this also means that the destroyer is basically saying to their enemy, “I am
out of ammo, brb in four weeks”.
The reason for this is the vertical launch system, or VLS, which relies on giant missile
canisters that store various missile types - be it Tomahawk, SM-3 or SM-6.
Each canister can be over 20 feet long, weigh thousands of pounds and house up to four
missiles that are loaded with fuel and explosives.
You don’t really want to drop it.
Therefore reloading the VLS cells is a risky operation.
It's not uncommon for people to get injured and equipment to get damaged during the reloading
process.
Two things are needed to reload a VLS cell: a crane … and stability, neither of which
are easy to find at sea!
For this reason the US Navy currently reloads VLS cells only at approved piers, by first
removing the empty canisters and replacing them with ones that are loaded, carefully
lowering each canister into a tiny hole inside the deck of the ship.
Not being able to rearm the ships while underway at sea is kind of a big deal, and this is
why the US Navy is experimenting with MV Ocean Valor that was fitted with a giant crane to
rearm the ship at sea.
On October 7, 2022, the MV Ocean Valor was able to successfully reload USS Spruance with
VLS cells while at sea.
But hey, if a warship spent all its missiles, they could still use a Close-In Weapons system,
right?
But first If you like gifts, you may want to check out these boxes that I received from
Bespoke who is sponsoring this video
Let’s see what we got.
This one is called the Weekender
Hmm I like the unique look of this bag.
It seems to be made of canvas, and feels pretty … durable.
It even has an interior pocket for a laptop, perfect for a weekend getaway.
This little one is called the Rich box.
Inside, we got quite a few chocolate bars.
And from what I can see, it’s a really nice variety, from dark chocolate to orange milk
chocolate.
I really look forward to trying these out.
What's cool is that 90% of these products come from small brands, many of which are
based in the US.
Bespoke Post is a monthly membership club delivering a “box of awesome” top-shelf
goods from under-the-radar brands.
Every “box of awesome” has around $70 worth of goods inside but costs you only a
fraction of the value.
All you need to do is to fill out a little quiz so Bespoke knows your preferences and
then every month, they will introduce you to a cool new product.
Before they ship it, you can review the box online and confirm if you want it, you could
swap it for a different box or even skip the month altogether at no charge.
You only pay for what you want, and can cancel your subscription at any time.
To get 20% off your first box of some awesome stuff, click the link in the description and
enter NWYT20 at checkout, or go to bespokepost.com/nwyt20 Depending on the version, Phalanx Close-In
Weapons System, or CIWS, can fire at rates of up to 4,500 rounds per minute with an extended
magazine drum holding 1,550 rounds.
Each round can be made from either depleted uranium or armor-piercing tungsten which are
designed to destroy the airframe of incoming missiles.
In theory, it only takes about 30 seconds for CIWS to run empty.
But in practice, the gun usually fires in small bursts of 100 rounds per engagement
in order to prevent overheating the barrel.
This means that CIWS can handle anywhere between 4 to 10 engagements before running out of
ammo.
What happens next is a slow process of reloading the CIWS aboard the ship which provides a
window of time during which there is no close in defense.
Speaking of reloading, the original Block 0 version of Phalanx took as long as 30 minutes
for two people to reload from pre-linked ammunition boxes.
The newer Block 1 decreased the reloading time six-fold, to just five minutes.
This was accomplished by using a new preloaded ammunition loader and unloader carts.
But here’s the thing, even if CIWS didn’t have to reload, it wouldn’t matter much
if the ship was left without any missiles.
Phalanx CIWS is not meant to deal with mass missile attacks also known as saturation attacks.
Instead it was designed to deal with missiles that leaked through all the previous layers
of air defense.
Think of it as a multi-layered defense strategy like soccer.
All the players on the team are there to help prevent the ball from getting inside the goal.
The goalkeeper is the last line of defense.
Similarly for a warship, the long range missiles such as SM-2 and SM-6 and short range Sea
Sparrow missiles are Phalanx’s team mates, helping to prevent hostile missiles from hitting
the ship.
The CIWS, just like a goalkeeper, is the last resort to prevent a disaster.
If all you have left is CIWS and no other weapons, you are pretty much done.
Speaking of short-range defense systems, have you seen MANTIS?
It’s a very short range air defense protection system used by Germany.
And it may resemble CIWS, but there are some big differences between the two.
Let’s start with size!
CIWS uses 20mm rounds, but MANTIS shoots 35mm rounds.
These rounds are huge!
But what’s even more interesting is what triggers these rounds to explode.
CIWS rounds explode on impact with the target, or when the tracer burns out.
But MANTIS uses KEFT rounds, which stands for Kinetic Energy Time Fuse.
Every single round that leaves the muzzle of MANTIS is programmed using magnetic coil
induction, to explode at a specific time.
This time is calculated based on the muzzle velocity and the calculated distance to the
target.
In practice, the round explodes before it hits the target, but in the process, it ejects
its payload of tungsten sub-projectiles.
This creates a cloud of dense sub-projectiles near the area of impact, which destroys even
small targets.
MANTIS fires at a rate of 1200 rounds per minute.
But those rounds need to be reloaded manually, 7 at a time.
If my math is correct, reloading this thing can … take a while!
You’d think automating the reloading process would be a no brainer.
But that didn’t seem to be the case when it comes to reloading the gun on tanks.
There are two choices: One is the Russian way, which primarily uses an autoloader system,
or the American way, which uses a manual loading mechanism, or as some would call them, humans.
Because Americans believed that a human loader could reduce the chances of the tank blowing
up.
You see, some Russian tanks like T-72 use a carousel autoloader, meaning that some of
the ammo is stored in the turret basket.
Therefore if the armor around the hull of the turret is penetrated by enemy fire, the
entire ammunition magazine will cook off.
In contrast, M1 Abrams stores the main gun ammunition in a compartment that is separated
from the crew by a power-operated armored door.
That door is only open for a few seconds each time the human loader grabs another round.
The ammunition compartment has blowout panels on its roof, so if the compartment is hit
and the ammo explodes, the panels will vent out the explosion while protecting the crew
inside the tank.
In contrast the T-72 carousel autoloader doesn't have blow off panels and the only way to reduce
the risk of cook offs is to remove all the ammo that’s stored inside the turret.
Having safety features and having an autoloader are not mutually exclusive.
For example, the French Leclerc tank has a much safer cassette autoloader as well a separate
ammunition storage compartment that is protected by both a sliding armored door and blowout
panels.
So it really comes down to the size of the tank you want to have and the crew size.
Believe it or not, autoloaders save space and weight, and that's why they are frequently
used in lighter tanks with smaller turrets.
For example, the Russian T-72 is much smaller than the American M-1 Abrams since Russians
were looking for increased mobility.
In contrast Americans wanted a larger tank with extra crew.
The thinking was that the manual loader could replace the driver or the gunner if needed,
help with communication equipment and, more importantly, help with maintenance.
Things break, be it a human loader or an autoloader, it’s just that it’s much easier to replace
a human loader in the middle of a battle.
All that said, autoloaders are generally quite reliable.
For example the M1 Abrams Tank Test Bed, or TTB, used a carousel autoloader which completed
61,000 cycles while achieving a rate of fire of one round every 12 seconds.
Another frequently cited advantage of an autoloader is increased rate of fire, but not everyone
is buying that it actually makes a real difference.
The M1 Abrams has an ammunition ready rack with 18 rounds, with the rest of ammunition
stored throughout the tank.
It can take anywhere from 7.5 seconds to 10 seconds to reload the gun, and if the blast
door is open it can take 3 to 5 seconds at the cost of imminent death in the event of
a penetrating hit.
If M1 Abrams spends all rounds from the readily available rack, the loader has to hunt for
shells throughout the tank which increases the reloading time.
In contrast, the autoloader in the T-72 tank has a minimum reloading time of 6.5 seconds
if rounds are next to each other, but the time increases to 15 seconds with full carousel
rotation.
Maybe with the exception of a carousel autoloader that can cook off your head, autoloaders are
not such a bad idea.
In fact, you know who uses an autoloader?
The US Navy, on their M45 Naval gun.
Over 150 of these naval guns are currently being deployed across 11 nations.
The reasons for such popularity are their lethality and their autoloader system.
The Mark 45 naval guns combined with “vulcano” precision guided munitions can shoot rounds
from 24 km to excess of 90 kilometers away with an accuracy of 5 meters.
These rounds could be equipped with GPS and even Infrared homing.
While they are not exactly cheap, with costs ranging from $70,000 to $150,000, they are
much more affordable than traditional missiles which can easily cost a few million dollars
each.
The Mark 45 mod 4 features an autoloader system below the deck which allows for automatic
firing of up to 20 rounds.
It can take just over a minute to exhaust the auto loader rounds after which 4 crewmen
are required to manually reload the gun during sustained firing operations.
But if you think 20 rounds in an autoloader is not enough you’d be right, as the new
Mark 45 Ammunition Handling System, or AHS, is currently being marketed by BAE systems.
The new system will completely eliminate the need for manually loading the gun because
it can automatically handle 192 rounds with a rate of fire of six rounds per minute.
When using a dual shuttle system, you can double the rounds and increase the firing
rate to 10 rounds per minute.
Of course not everyone is happy with this new wave of automation, as some folks would
be losing their jobs.
Torpedos and harpoons make up the primary armament for submarines.
Torpedoes move underwater and sneak up upon their prey, while harpoons pop out of the
water and fly away toward their target.
Of course surface ships and even airplanes can also launch Torpedoes and Harpoons.
But how are these large weapons re-loaded into a submarine, where space is quite limited?
Whether it’s a harpoon missile or a torpedo, the weapon needs to be lifted and transferred
over, above the submarine, using a crane.
It is then lowered onto a missile transfer rail.
Personnel must ensure that the torpedo is securely in place, before sliding it down.
To do so, one end of the transfer rail is lifted up.
Once at the appropriate angle, the transfer rail is secured in place.
The missile is then slowly and carefully lowered into the sub.
With the help of sliding mechanisms that move the torpedo over, Virginia-class submarines
can store up to 26 torpedoes in their torpedo room.
How long does this whole process take to bring in one torpedo?
We couldn’t find any specifics, so if you know, let us know in the comments.
To fire the torpedo or Harpoon missile, it first needs to get loaded into one of the
torpedo tubes.
Mechanical arms push the torpedo into the launch tube.
In case the torpedo is wire-guided, the connection is hooked up.
Just as slowly as the torpedo was loaded, the breach door is also shut, and then locked
in place.
The torpedo tube is then flooded, the water pressure is equalized to the outside, and
once everything is ready, it’s just one push of a button.
And finally, how could we talk about reloading ammo without mentioning the A-10 Warthog . The
GAU-8 Avenger autocannon on the A-10 can fire 112 rounds per 2 seconds!
And that looks something like this if you’re watching it,
something like this if you’re firing it … and something like this if you are on
the receiving end of it.
With a capacity of 1150 bullets, you get about 9 trigger pulls before running out of bullets!
Which brings us to the reloading process of the gun, and that involves specialized equipment
and personnel.
But there is something quite unique about the GAU-8 autocannon on the A10.
While most guns eject the casing after firing each round, the Avenger doesn’t.
One of the reasons for this is that the casings act as ballast for the center of gravity of
the aircraft.
If the casings were to be ejected, that would throw off the A-10’s center of gravity.
For this reason, the casings actually go back into the ammunition drum.
It’s only when the A-10 is reloaded on the ground, that the spent casings are offloaded,
which is done simultaneously while the live rounds are being loaded in.