ballistics Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behaviour and impact effects of projectiles, especially ranged weapon munitions such as bullets, unguided bombs, rockets or the like; the science or art of designing and a ...

, the elevation is the

angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two Ray (geometry), rays, called the ''Side (plane geometry), sides'' of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the ''vertex (geometry), vertex'' of the angle. Angles formed by two ...

between the

horizontal plane In astronomy, geography, and related sciences and contexts, a '' direction'' or ''plane'' passing by a given point is said to be vertical if it contains the local gravity direction at that point. Conversely, a direction or plane is said to be hor ...

and the axial direction of the

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...

of a

gun A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, p ...

, mortar or heavy

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

. Originally, elevation was a ''linear'' measure of how high the gunners had to physically lift the muzzle of a gun up from the

gun carriage A gun carriage is a frame and mount that supports the gun barrel of an artillery piece, allowing it to be maneuvered and fired. These platforms often had wheels so that the artillery pieces could be moved more easily. Gun carriages are also used ...

to compensate for projectile drop and hit targets at a certain distance.

Until WWI

Though early 20th-century firearms were relatively easy to fire, artillery was not. Before and during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the only way to effectively fire artillery was plotting points on a plane. Most artillery units seldom employed their guns in small numbers. Instead of using pin-point artillery firing they used old means of " fire for effect" using artillery en masse. This tactic was employed successfully by past armies. By World War I, reasonably accurate artillery fire was possible even at long range requiring significant elevation. However, artillery tactics used in previous wars were carried on, and still had similar success where great accuracy was not required. Large

warships A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and ...

such as

battleships A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

carried large-caliber guns that needed to be elevated above the direct point of aim for firing accurately at small targets at long range.

From WWII

As time passed on, more accurate artillery guns were developed in a range of sizes. Some small artillery pieces were used at high elevations as

mortars Mortar may refer to: * Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon * Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together * Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind * Mortar, Bihar, a villag ...

, medium-sized guns were used on

tanks A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine ...

as well as fixed positions, and the largest guns became long-range land batteries and battleship armaments. With the introduction of better tanks in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, elevation had to be taken into account by tank gunners, which had to aim through the Gunner's Auxiliary Sights (GAS) or even through

iron sight Iron sights are a system of physical alignment markers (usually made of metallic material) used as a sighting device to assist the accurate aiming of ranged weapons (such as a firearm, airgun, crossbow or even compound bow), or less commonly as ...

s. At shorter ranges the high velocity of tank and other munitions made elevation less of an issue. During World War II artillery

fire-control system A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs the same task as a ...

s (FCS) were introduced, improving the effectiveness of artillery fire. With advances in the 21st century, it has become easy to determine how much elevation a gun needed to hit a target. The

laser rangefinder A laser rangefinder, also known as a laser telemeter, is a rangefinder that uses a laser beam to determine the distance to an object. The most common form of laser rangefinder operates on the time of flight principle by sending a laser pulse in ...

and computer-based FCS make guns highly accurate.

Superelevation

When firing a

missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket i ...

such as a MANPADS at an aircraft target, superelevation is an additional angle of elevation above the angle sighted on which corrects for the effect of gravity on the missile.

References

* Gunnery Instructions, U.S. Navy (1913), Register No. 409

* Gunnery And Explosives For Artillery Officers (1911

* Fire Control Fundamentals, NAVPERS 91900 (1953), Part C: The Projectile in Flight - Exterior Ballistic

* FM 6-40, Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for Field Artillery Manual Cannon Gunnery (23 April 1996), Chapter 3 - Ballistics; Marine Corps Warfighting Publication No. 3-1.6.1

* FM 23-91, Mortar Gunnery (1 March 2000), Chapter 2 Fundamentals of Mortar Gunner

* Fundamentals of Naval Weapons Systems: Chapter 19 (Weapons and Systems Engineering Department United States Naval Academy

* Naval Ordnance and Gunnery (Vol.1 - Naval Ordnance) NAVPERS 10797-A (1957) * Naval Ordnance and Gunnery (Vol.2 - Fire Control) NAVPERS 10798-A (1957) * Naval Ordnance and Gunnery''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elevation (Ballistics) Ballistics Angle

Until WWI

From WWII

Superelevation

See also

References