80 years ago today: Testing the 5-inch/38-caliber dual-purpose gun on the newly-commissioned Casablanca-class escort carrier, USS Manila Bay (CVE 61), 3 November 1943. Note fuzed ready shells in the open box and the “Gilligan” style dixie cup on the gun later.
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 80-G-372778.
Built on freighter hulls, the Casablancas in addition to a AAA battery of 8 Bofors, and 12 Orlekons, these little 7,800-ton ships carried a single Mark 30 Mod 80 open-based ring mount 5″/38 DP gun without a shield, as seen above.
It ran on three motors: a single 10 hp motor to work both elevation and train, a 7.5 hp motor for the shell hoists, and a 5 hp motor for ramming, allowing a decent rate of fire with a trained crew of some 12-15 round per minute.
Capable of throwing a 55-pound shell to a theoretical maximum range of 18,000 yards (or to an altitude of 37,220 ft), it used the same core gun as on the rest of the American carriers (Yorktown and Essex class CVs and Independence-class CVLs) but in single mount.
USS Hornet (CV-12) fires her after 5″ / 38 guns during practice in the Western Pacific, circa June 1945. Hornet’s 5-inch guns fired no less than 7,275 shells in anger during WWII (a figure that was small compared to the 115,179 rounds of 40 mm and 409,580 rounds of 20 mm ammo). 80-G-K-5701 (color)
USS Hornet (CV-12) firing her starboard 5″ / 38 gun battery in a Western Pacific practice exercise, circa June 1945. The next ship astern, also firing, is USS Bon Homme Richard (CV-31). During their SCB-27C/SCB-125 modernizations in the 1950s, these big twin mounts were removed to free up deck space but the Essexes still carried seven Mk.24 5″/38 DP singles on sponsons for another couple of decades and Hornet still has hers with her as a museum ship.80-G-K-5704 (color)
As far as effectiveness? In addition to “kills” against aircraft, at least three of the Casablanca class used their single 5-inch popgun in the one-sided action against more superior Japanese surface ships, the cruiser-destroyer force of Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita during the Sacrifice of Taffy 3 in October 1944: this included USS St. Lo (ex-Midway ex-Chapin Bay) (CVE-63) recording a hit on a destroyer, USS Kalinin Bay (CVE-68) landing two hits on a Myōkō-class cruiser, and USS White Plains (CVE-66) claiming to hit the Takao-class heavy cruiser Chōkai with six shells.
American carriers would continue to carry at least a few 5-inch guns in open mounts well into the Cold War with the Essex and Midway class still keeping some of their teeth into the 1970s (and the Forrestal class supercarriers being commissioned with an eight-pack of more modern 5″/54 Mark 42 guns mounted on sponsons jutting out from the sides of the ship so they did not interfere with the flight deck.
Aerial starboard bow view of the training aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CVT-16) underway. Although the photo is dated 1985, it must have been taken before 1970, as the ship is still fitted with sponson-mounted Mk.24 Mod. 11 5-inch 38-cal open gun mounts. DN-ST-86-02002.
Essex-class USS Intrepid (CVA-11), left, with her 5-inch twins deleted from her flight deck but still carrying single mounts on sponsons, and the newForrestal-class supercarrier USS Independence (CVA-62) alongside Pier 12 now Pier 14 Norfolk March 1961, note the 5-inch Mk. 42 guns– the same as on Knox class frigates and Forest Sherman class tin cans–on Indy. These would be deleted in the 1970s
The first batch of Tarawa-class LHAs even carried two 5″/54 Mark 45 guns that edged out the front of the flight deck into the 1980s.
USS Tarawa with bow 5-inch MK45 guns. These were later removed.
It wasn’t until 1961 that the first American flattop, USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) arrived in the fleet without at least a 5-inch gun aboard.