Re: Australian speed boat crash on BBC
I thought the gunner did very well.
In a past-life i found myself on the back end of a Single 40mm Bofor, above the bridge on a Fleet Carrier.
One day, a small exercise turned in to a shambles....a large old boiler dropped in to the ocean was meant to sink...and didn't...so after a lot of shagg-ing around, our crew was called to Station and instructions were to hole it so it would sink.
Now, at the range we were at, it was very difficult. The Carrier moves end-to-end, sideways, and up-and-down.... the boiler did the same.
Being saturday afternoon, the 2-3 Bn of Marines were all out on the flight deck playing a deck hockey tournament. They just had to stop and watch....and as time dragged on, the abuse and ridicule directed at us became greater.
So the Gunnery Officer called a halt, and got the marines to bring up a few GPMG's (equivalent to your M60).....they were all set up properly....and then they had a go at the target.
They were worse than us....mostly they couldn't get their rounds within 100m of the boiler.....others, well you couldn't even see where they went!!
So they bring up some tracer.
Now we could see what was going on........nothing of consequence. Unless you were on the end of the weapon, you could not believe you could miss by that much.
So back to our crew.....and in the end one 40mm round hit....and didn't ricochette off (a lot had), and 'flash', we got our explosive head to ignite the HE chargers placed inside the boiler....oh!, I didn't mention them did I....that's why we had to stand-off a bit.
Our station was full of empty brass cases, (in fact, I have one right here in the office (I pinched) and my mate Tex is going to turn a wooded projectile to put in it).
Firing at a target at sea is not like leaning up against a tree to steady yourself, to shoot some dumb animal chewing it's cudd.
Here is another myth....have you ever had a gunship pass you firing madly at a line not too far to your front....it is nothing like the movies....the faster the gunship goes, the greater the distance between where the rounds land....and the gaps are very big.
Cheers
Phillip
