Naval Warfare Guild

A US Navy sailor stands beside one of the gargantuan 16-inch/50-caliber Mark 7 guns mounted in Turret No. 1 aboard the battleship USS New Jersey. These guns were absolute monsters. Each weapon weighed approximately 267,904 pounds and could fire a 2,700-pound armor-piercing shell at roughly 2,500 feet per second. At maximum elevation, the Mark 7 could strike targets more than 23 miles away. The nine Mark 7 guns formed the main armament of the Iowa-class battleships, arranged in three enormous triple-gun turrets. Although three guns were housed inside each turret,…