Gunfire Dispersion of Large Italian Naval Guns The Strange Case of the 381/50 ANSALDO-OTO mod. 1934 gun

摘要

From the first decade of the 20th century throughout World War Two, the effectiveness of Italian naval gunfire was seriously impaired by remarkably large point-of-fall dispersions. Despite extensive investigation, the Regia Marina was unable to uncover the true technical reason for this poor performance or account for the great difference in dispersion between Italian and British same-caliber ordnance, both in battle and on the proving grounds. Although tactical decisions also played an important part in combat outcomes, this analysis has been restricted to technical issues in order to let the numbers speak for themselves. A thorough examination of the original Range Tables together with the application of aerodynamic theory not available to Regia Marina engineers shows that contrary to widely-held opinion, gunfire dispersion of Italian big calibers was not mainly due to excessive manufacturing tolerances affecting projectiles and propelling charges, but to excessive shell stability in flight. A full treatment of this issue requires an understanding of physics and mathematics that many readers may find intimidating. In that regard, attempts have been made to render the text in such a way as to make the content accessible to readers with a wide variety of technical competence and interest.