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Nebula Hawk has currently reviewed the following:

US 5 Inch 38 Calibre - Dual Purpose Naval Gun

The American 'twin barrel' 5 inch naval gun is regarded as 'one of the most successful naval guns' of all time:

American 5 Inch 38 Calibre Naval Gun - twin barrel and dual purpose (mounted on battleships).
American 5 Inch 38 Calibre Naval Gun - twin barrel and dual purpose (mounted on battleships).

Part of its success, comes from the fact that the US Navy standardised the 5 inch gun, for use on both battleships and smaller warships (such as cruisers and destroyers). This made shell logistics 'so much simpler'. On a battleship, the twin 5 inch was only ever a secondary armament (for use against aircraft and surface targets). Whilst on cruisers and destroyers, the 5 inch 'was usually' the primary armament - with up to eight turrets being installed (for example) on the 'light cruiser' USS Atlanta (which featured six centreline turrets 'for stability reasons' and two wing turrets 'for maximising' anti-aircraft firepower). The 5 inch gun was heavily used throughout World War Two, to defend the American warship fleets 'in the Pacific'. When used to defend against enemy aircraft, several turrets would operate together, using barrage fire (the idea being: not to target the enemy aircraft directly, but rather 'target the area' that the enemy aircraft was in) and destroy the aircraft with shrapnel 'exploding outwards' from the 5 inch shells (which were equipped with proximity fuses). As an anti-aircraft gun, the twin 5 inch 'more than proved its worth', and it was a gun turret that would not be easily mothballed - even after World War Two had finished (in 1945) ... When the Iowa class battleships were reactivated (in the 1980s'), the venerable twin 5 inch dual purpose gun, was retained as part of their armament - although with only six turrets (as opposed to ten turrets) to make room for newer 'more modern' missiles.

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HMS Hood 1941 - Twin 4 Inch Anti-Aircraft Guns

The early World War Two modifications of HMS Hood, resulted in Hood's 'boat deck' (also called her 'shelter deck') being outfitted with seven 4 inch 'twin barrelled' anti-aircraft guns:

Twin 4 Inch Anti-Aircraft Gun - with ammunition lockers (aboard HMS Hood 1941).
Twin 4 Inch Anti-Aircraft Gun - with ammunition lockers (aboard HMS Hood 1941).

This was something of an 'austere makeover' that aimed to increase Hood's anti-aircraft capabilities. To 'make space' for installing these guns, all of Hood's single barrelled 4 inch anti-aircraft and 5.5 inch naval guns 'were removed' - although facilities (such as their magazines and 'shell supply lines') were enhanced to support her new guns. These modifications were carried out 'more for speed' than for robustness reasons - as the entire 'boat deck' could really be considered as a target for incoming shells! This issue was further compounded, by the fact that 'ready use' ammunition lockers were installed 'next to and near' each anti-aircraft gun mount. During the Battle of the Denmark Strait, a boat deck fire 'wreaked havoc' amongst the ammunition that was stored in these.

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HMS Hood 1941 - Twin 4 Inch Anti-Aircraft GunsUS 5 Inch 38 Calibre - Dual Purpose Naval Gun