Re: [GZG] Railguns

Doc wrote:
>
>So can 1 of you weapon expert give me an idea of the damage this 
>test shot does compare to a 5" or 16" shell?

Not an expert, here's a rough comparison:

A 5" shell is about 30kg warhead, a 16" Iowa shell is 1225kg. The
only weight I've seen (so far) given for the 32MW railgun is a
20kg dart. So for ammunition storage and handling it's much closer
to the 5" than to a battleship gun.

The muzzle velocity for the 5" gun is 760 - 800 metres/second,
the 16" Iowa is 760 metres/second. The railgun is reported at
Mach 7, 2300 metres/second.

The railgun round does damage through kinetic energy rather than
explosive force, and since it's three times faster and KE is
proportional to velocity squared, that's roughly nine times as
much damage as the 5" shell. While it can't pack in as much
explosive as a HE version of a battleship shell, whatever you
hit is going to have one heck of a hole in it.

That Mach 7 velocity also gives it an effective range of 180km
or so with a flight time of around 80 seconds.

Anyone got more details?

	cheers,
	Hugh
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