16-inch/45-caliber Mark 6 gun
The 16"/45 caliber Mark 6 gun is a naval gun designed in 1936 by the United States Navy for their Treaty battleships. It was introduced in 1941 aboard their North Carolina-class battleships, replacing the originally intended 14"/50 caliber Mark B guns and was also used for the follow-up South Dakota class. These battleships carried nine guns in three three-gun turrets. The gun was an improvement to the 16"/45 caliber guns used aboard the Colorado class, and the predecessor to the 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 gun used aboard the Iowa class.
Battleship armament: 16"/45 caliber guns aboard the battleship USS South Dakota (BB-57).
A cut-away diagram of the 16-inch turrets on board the North Carolina class
North Carolina-class battleship
The North Carolina class were a pair of fast battleships, North Carolina and Washington, built for the United States Navy in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
North Carolina underway on 3 June 1946. By this time, many of the light anti-aircraft weapons (Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm) mounted during the war had been removed, while more modern radars had been mounted on its fore and main masts.
North Carolina seen from the air on 17 April 1942
North Carolina fires a three-gun salvo from its number one turret
The 32,250-long-ton (32,770 t) design "A" was one of the first proposals. Unlike "B" and "C", it was far below the treaty-mandated limit of 35,000–tons. It would have carried nine 14-inch guns in its main battery; although all of the turrets were forward of the superstructure, the guns could still fire forward provided that they were elevated to 4.5 degrees or more. The secondary battery planned was twelve 5-inch (127 mm) were unusually arranged in triple mounts.
