8" /55 Largest automatic gun

[Slick]

I watch a lot of these old military training films. Few compare to this explanation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8XRDipD0EU

I stood on the fantail of an old(built 1944), now scrapped, CLG and watched/heard/felt the blast from a 3 gun salvo of 6"/47, a mere 500 or so feet away. The 8" would have been even more spectacular. I never got farther inside the turret beyond sticking my head up through an access hatch.
This film would be a good candidate for colorization.
Somewhere early on this refers to it being the largest caliber automatic gun. An impressive piece of machinery.

 

[917601]

Years ago I found an 8" QF brass case in a junk yard....I found an Army 8" shell, stuck it in, carried it over to the FT Worth gun show for sale....well, at opening a senior gentleman walked past and offered me $5k even for it, did not even ask what my selling price was....turns out he was the owner of Lucky Lady oil company, or so his check said, I delivered it to his storage center in downtown Dallas.....he had a Sherman and an M48 tank inside, wish I never sold it....

 

[M8owner]

So many moving parts. I suppose maintenance is not an issue with so many idle hands at sea.

 

[AE501]

I would think that you would need them all and very well trained to keep it going if someone shot back at you.

 

[Slick]

So many moving parts. I suppose maintenance is not an issue with so many idle hands at sea.

Idle hands generally caught the attention of the Chief. Lots of dirty jobs on a ship. Slackers and disciplinary cases generally got to tend to those. Napping was never an option.