Naval History Forums

This is sort of silly gee wiz question, and it may have been addressed on this site before. However I poked around the search engine and couldn’t find what I was looking for.

I am interested in what folks here have found in their research or casual reading regarding what may have been the longest range naval engagement – or even coastal artillery shoots. Is it 25km, or 30km or 40km or what? I guess I am more interested in direct line of sight shoots between belligerents using shot and shell – not so much interested in missiles and such.

Thanks for any insights

Best Regards
Marty

Off the top of my head, I'd say the longest ship-v-ship gunnery range was 39,000 yards when Iowa and New Jersey fired on a desperately fleeing Nowaki off Truk in 1944.

Thanks. Was either ship able to secure any hits?

Nope, just straddles.

Hej marty1

If you look at sheer range you probably get better with costal batteries. The German H-Class 16” battleship guns in shore use could achieve ranges of up to 56.ooo m. I think in Norway there were some emplacements; 'Batterie Dietl', Vestfjord, I think and 'Batterie Trondness' in Vaagsfjord.

But I think neither was ever engaged in anything other than false alarms.

Ciao,
Ufo

The longest range hit achieved by a battleship is reportedly that of Scharnhorst on Glorious in June 1940. It was circa 25000 m range.

Ciao Marcelo and all,

you are right :

The first hit from Scharnhorst with her third salvo reached HMS Glorious from 24.175 meters (26.450 yards), which is the longest gunfire hit on any enemy warship ever achieved.

But after that hit,...Scharnhorst only wasted a lot of ammunitions,.. while Gneisenau did the job, .. including a fantastic run that allowed Gneisenau to surpass Scharnhorst full speed

You can read all the events on my battle re-construction made 2 years ago here in :

http://www.scharnhorst-class.dk/scharnh ... njuno.html

Ciao Antonio

Antonio, you are always in the detail some of us just bypass.

So, it was a lucky shot? Which is then the longest range naval battle at which multiple hits were achieved?

Ciao Marcelo and all,

unfortunately according to my info's was by HMS Warspite against the Italian Regia Marina battleship RN Giulio Cesare.

The battle was the Punta Stilo ( Calabria ) engagement :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Calabria


despite what everybody thinks, that was a courageous engagement by 2 old WW 1 ( renewed on 1936 ) Italian battleships ( Cavour and Cesare ) armed with 320 mm guns against 3 Royal Navy ones ( Warspite, Malaya and Royal Sovereign ) armed with 380 mm ones, plus many other ships including the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle .

Admiral Campioni moved in and placed his 2 battleship on line of battle against far superior forces, .. once ben hit ( Cesare by Warspite ) he overestimated the damages and disengaged.

Anyway, not a 'coward' retreat as many only depict, .. initally surely a courageous move, .. than you have to take necessary decisions, .... if they hit you and they are superior in forces.

Just my opinion of course.

Ciao Antonio

Which was the distance and how many hits were acheived?

Ciao Marcelo and all,

here you can find photos and data :

http://www.regiamarina.net/battles/punt ... ilo_us.htm

http://www.regiamarina.net/battles/punt ... he%20fight

http://www.regiamarina.it/photogorizia.htm

http://members.tripod.com/fireonthewate ... 0Stilo.pdf

http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-006.htm


Ciao Antonio

Thanks for the replies. Special thanks to Antonio. Looks like form the web site you posted the range was 26400m:

From Part II

"At 15:52 the Cesare finally opened fire against the Warspite at a range of 26,400 meters. The Italian followed a capital ruled learned from the reports following the battle of the Jutlund and each battleship was assigned a single target. The Cesare would engage the Warspite while the Cavour would aim at the incoming Malaya and eventually the Royal Sovereign. Following the battle, many would critique this strategy claiming that a combined fire from both Italian battleships against the Warspite would have had a better chance of scoring a hit. Unfortunately, these critics forget that during a combined action it is difficult for the firing control personnel to identify their own shells and therefore make the necessary adjustment.

At 15:53 the Warspite began firing without realizing that only the Cesare was engaging her. Fire was split in what is commonly known as volley firing with the aft turrets trained at the Cesare and the stern ones at the Cavour. During this exchange a "long" shot from the Cesare overshot the Warspite and landed (in the water, of course…) near the destroyers Hareward and Decoy, causing some minor damage. These fortuitous hits were also confirmed by Cunningham, but the fact that repair work was not completed until the end of August might suggest that damage might have been a bit more than just "minor".

Regards
Marty

Hello everyone,

You may want to check this old thread too:

Longest distance for gunfire hit
http://kbismarck.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27

Scharnhorst hit Glorious at 26, 465 yards.

That is a tie with Warspite for the longest hit on a MOVING target

During the Battle of Casablanca, Massachusetts scored a hit at long range. I am not sure what the range was, but it was between 24,000 and 30,000 yards, probably nearer the former. This was a hit on a destroyer.