Superfiring armament is a naval military building technique in which two (or more) turrets are located in a line, one behind the other, with the second turret located above ("super") the one in front so that the second turret can fire over the first. This configuration meant that both forward or aft turrets could fire at any target within their sector, even when the target was in the same vertical plane as the turrets.

History

The history of large surface warships follow generic labels as battleships, and a further distinction between

pre-dreadnought Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built between the mid- to late- 1880s and 1905, before the launch of in 1906. The pre-dreadnought ships replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s. Built from steel, protec ...

s and

dreadnought The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...

s. The era of technical evolution occurred roughly from 1900 to 1945. Part of the technical evolution was driven by the need to compress as much large-gun firepower into the smallest space possible. In early designs, the large-caliber turrets were all located on the same plane firing to one side or the other. In firing ahead or to the rear, usually only the forward-most or rearmost turret could fire, especially at low angles. Brassey's1912 South-Carolina

An early concern was that the pressure and shock from the higher turret would damage the lower one when firing over the top. In 1908,

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

tests using the

monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, West ...

as the testbed proved that superfiring was safe. The result was the design for the first (commissioned in 1910). The first ship with superfiring artillery (though not of the same caliber), was the French battleship ''Henri IV'', launched in 1899.Roger Chesneau, Eugène Kolesnik (ed.): ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905'', Conway Maritime Press, London, 1979, , p.295 Superfiring was not limited to two turrets. For example, the ''Atlanta''-class of

light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to th ...

, which were developed and built for service 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 opposing ...

, utilized a triple-overlap system both forward and astern, their armament of dual-mount 5"/38 caliber dual-purpose main armament having a nearly unobstructed arc of fire. The British ''Dido''-class, which were also light cruisers armed entirely with dual-purpose guns (the 5.25" Mk 1) also had three turrets forward, with two aft.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages of superfiring turrets over non-superfiring arrangements include improved firing arcs for all except the foremost and rearmost turrets, as well as an increase of useful deck space on which to build the ship's superstructure due to the concentration of the main batteries towards the ends of the ship. Depending on the design of the ship and its weapons, it may also help to avoid issues with the ship's propulsion. Fuso1944

These advantages come at the cost of raising the centre of mass as a result of the higher placement of turrets, thus decreasing the

metacentric height The metacentric height (GM) is a measurement of the initial static stability of a floating body. It is calculated as the distance between the centre of gravity of a ship and its metacentre. A larger metacentric height implies greater initial stabi ...

. This decrease in stability may cause issues if not corrected by compromises elsewhere to keep the center of mass low. Because of this, superfiring arrangements, while common, are not used exclusively. Examples of non-superfiring designs include but are not limited to the '' Gangut'', '' Imperatritsa Mariya'', and '' Imperator Nikolai'' classes of battleships built for the Imperial Russian navy, as well as modern ships such as the ''Zumwalt''-class destroyers. In addition, many ships, such as the ''New York''-class battleships, used combinations of superfiring and non-superfiring arrangements. Exclusively non-superfiring arrangements also remained common on destroyers.

Notes

References

{{reflist Battleships