5 Inch Naval Gun

Unlike its larger brothers, the 16 Inch Naval Gun and the 18 Inch Naval Gun, the 5 Inch Naval Gun was built for shore bombardment specifically. When a target is within the engagement envelope, the 5" gun is significantly more economical than a guided weapon. Versatile and extremely accurate, the gun is also used in an anti-air defense in depth capacity.

This class of lightweight gun provides surface combatants accurate naval gunfire against fast, highly maneuverable surface targets, air threats and shore targets during amphibious operations. A standard 5" Gun has a range is more than 13 nautical miles and can fire 16-20 rounds per minute. Normally, each magazine has a capacity of 475-500 rounds.

In real life, the Naval Surface Fire Support (NSFS) program was developed in response to the Navy’s Forward From the Sea strategy and the Marine Corps’ Operational Maneuver From the Sea doctrine. Both of these documents described the need for a combination of various NSFS systems for close-in and over the horizon (OTH) amphibious operations with sufficient range, accuracy, and lethality to meet the wide range of requirements for the support of assaulting forces during all phases of the operation. The NSFS mission is not only for Naval Gunfire Support but also for suppression and destruction of hostile antiship weapons and air defense systems.

This type of gun is intended to utilize a rocket assisted shell to greatly extend range, such as this:

This article stub focuses primarily on real world information or activities. You can help NSwiki by adding content relevant to NationStates.