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Old 03-25-2015, 01:48 PM   #21
Verjigorm
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Charlotte, North Caroline, United States of America, Earth?
Default Re: Weapon design - how much can you lighten an artillery barrel?

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Originally Posted by BraselC5048 View Post
A heavy cruiser also has 3 81mm mortars on board. They're pretty much identical to every other 81mm mortar ever made. A battleship also has a single pack howitzer on board. Since battleships don't really operate on their own, collectively they can field an artillery battery, manned by marines who never really got much training on that, and are likely not all that great at it.
Why wouldn't these expeditionary marines be very cross-trained? At the small numbers we're looking at, they shouldn't be the dregs of the force, and it only makes sense to have cross-training so they can operate on their own.
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Old 03-25-2015, 06:20 PM   #22
Nereidalbel
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Ellicott City, MD
Default Re: Weapon design - how much can you lighten an artillery barrel?

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Originally Posted by Verjigorm View Post
Why wouldn't these expeditionary marines be very cross-trained? At the small numbers we're looking at, they shouldn't be the dregs of the force, and it only makes sense to have cross-training so they can operate on their own.
It takes a limited number of people skilled in targeting artillery, while a monkey with enough ST could be trained to load them. Given that training to target artillery with wind and distance is a pain, those guys won't be the ones on the front lines.

That said, there will probably be at least minimal training for marines to get a mortar to hit in the general area of an enemy camp.
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Old 03-26-2015, 02:17 AM   #23
Verjigorm
 
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Default Re: Weapon design - how much can you lighten an artillery barrel?

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Originally Posted by Nereidalbel View Post
It takes a limited number of people skilled in targeting artillery, while a monkey with enough ST could be trained to load them. Given that training to target artillery with wind and distance is a pain, those guys won't be the ones on the front lines.

That said, there will probably be at least minimal training for marines to get a mortar to hit in the general area of an enemy camp.
It was customary for a long time for the marine detachment onboard to man a gun or weapon emplacement. Which makes perfect sense: these marines might be forward observers when on the ground, and being proficient with artillery helps. If we're talking spaceships, then there's no reason to rule out a laser range finder and targeting computer for any artillery, mortars or other crew served weapons, which helps a great deal to handle adjustments for range. So if there's any human-operated artillery on the space-ship, there's no reason why the marines can't be proficient with it.

This is going to matter depending on how long a marine detachment might see service on a ship at a time. I get the impression that the shipboard marines are split up across the fleet, which would imply long term habitation of a warship: Fleet Marines have a whole separate skill set they have to use on a daily basis than marines dirtside, and a lot of those are likely to overlap with spacer tasks and skills.

When those Fleet marines are on the ground, and they need to call for fire support from the battleships? Being familiar with the workings of the fire direction center for the battleship is an amazing boon when you need fire support. Knowing how to crew a weapon emplacement translates over well to using range-finders, targeting computers and optics for your crew served weaponry or howitzers. Being able to do damage control and operate in a vacuum or weightlessness is going to be essential for day to day life on a spaceship.

Rather than make them inept artillery, I would probably have them specialized in naval artillery.
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