5" 38 Gun Operation on 13 September 1951 during the Siege of Wonsan; Korean War USS Floyd B. Parks 

First thing I noticed was the gun crew had no ear protection! My Uncle was a 17 year old gunners mate in WW2 on USS Astoria CL 90 5 inch forward twin mount. Astoria was involved in intense combat in the Pacific. My Uncle told me that the gun crews would stuff cigarette buts in their ears. In my Uncles case that didnt really work. He suffered almost complete hearing loss in his left ear and diminished hearing in his right. RIP Unc and the Greatest generation

I used to do that job. 5"/38 Gunner's mate from 1984 -1988. USS Bradley ff1041

I was a hot caseman on my DD in 1967 off Viet Nam.We fired about 4,500 rounds while there.Interesting times.

Finally a video of these guns from inside the mount. Worked on these guns aboard USS NEW JERSEY BB-62. 1983-1987. I always regretted not filming during a gunshot.

Always wondered how those 5" guns worked.

Having never seen this operation before on DD878 it was certainly interesting to see the action that goes on inside the gun turret. only viewed the firing from the outside.

First time I got to see a 5"/38 firing from the inside! Plenty of text-based info, diagrams and even still photos around describing the process, but few live vids. Nice, steady rhythm though not nearly as intense as vets described when fighting off IJN attacks (as others have mentioned, 1 round every 3-4 seconds - as this crew later achieves towards the end, but sustained - plus gun elevation constantly changing). One thing that immediately struck me was how casually the projectile man drops the shell on the loading tray, until it literally bounces (@0:20). They must have great confidence in the bore safety of the fuze O_o.

The Captain of the Sammy B said his two gun crews were firing a shell every 5-10 seconds during the legendary stand of Taffy 3. Thanks for this video bc it helps me closely understand what that actually meant. Those guys were absolute beasts in the face of certain death. God bless those men.

Boy...that brings back memories!!!! Forward officers qrtrs was just below and slightly back from the 5" turret...the first night of gunfire with the powder casings hitting the deck from the back of the turret had me thinking that I'd never get any sleep...oddly, I fell asleep and slept through night fire missions thereafter. 5"38 ...a wicked gun!

Very cool. Ty for posting.

Brings back memories. Had one of those on the US Coast Guard Cutter Ingham. Crazy how that video instantly brings back the smell of that gun firing.

That was my father’s job on the USS Laffey 1954 - 1957. He used to put the powder on the tray before it was rammed into the gun.

33k views. I think half of them are mine. Its just awesome. I love the old mechanized Navy

notice after 3:31 the gunner has the firing key held down because the gun fires as soon as the breach closes

My dad was a gunners mate on the U.S.S. Ammen DD527 1956 to 1960. He was a loader on the 3"/50 and the 5"/38.

I have heard the Japanese pilots thought the 5/38's were automatic as the rate or fire was so rapid.

My 93 year old father was on your sister ship. USS ORLECK DD-886. He sends his greetings to all those that served. God Bless 🇺🇸

good weapon served the navy well former gunners mate 5th div USS Oriskany 74 76

Where can I get one of these? Seems like a great home defense gun. Can this be modified to fire full auto?

Really interesting to watch what the gunners are doing inside the turrets. With a good drill in place these fellows could really put a lot of rounds on target!

At Atterbury Reserve Forces Training Center located in Central Indiana there once was a 5 inch Navy Gun range with 4 of these guns set up on concrete pads. They sat there for years after the Navy quit using them. 3 were later moved to the impact area, but the forth remained. To my knowledge it was never "De-milled" though 50+ years of Indiana weather probably rendered it useless. I saw it last in 2001.

How you all doing up at Battleship Park. USS Orleck still on hold, ready to go to the shipyard.

Que nostalgia, alcancé a ser mecánico en DD portales y sus cañones 5/38 en Chile.😢😢😢

was this music playing for the Gunners Mates too ???? :)

the look you get when your gonna clean the entire gun. 1:47

These guys are a little too rough loading both the projectile and powder case

It's interesting that there's very little difference between the MK45 and an older, traditional 5 inch mount (besides the automation, of course). I figured that the propellant case was an expedience for the modern MK45 but I guess not.

My father was in mount 2 on the light cruiser USS Atlanta cl 51 which was sunk during the naval battle of Guadalcanal Nov 13 1942

What is the name of that song

Watch the video on the USS Salem..the fastest loading ever for a 8" naval gun..about 9 rounds a minute times 9...automatic

Send it!!

so does the rammer pull the shell out or is it just the extractor that throws it out?

Bet it was LOUD in that gunhouse.

The 5"/38 gun had a quite fast reloading cycle as well seen on this very interesting footage. The only question I have isn't there danger of sagging the barrel after some quickfire of rounds?

So…. Clark Gable was a gunners mate ?

1:49...Rammer pump not on?

5" 38 machine gun😁

GREAT MUSIC

Watch your fingers!

Wow, those poor guys, I wonder if any of them could hear when they went back to civilian life?

The GM at 1:48 looks like Clark Gable,

That gunner must have lost his hearing. No ear defense.

From what I've come to understand this type of weapon was used to great efficacy by USN during WWII. Eh?

No ear protection? They are deaf today

Wish we could have one in our farm for the feral pigs that Would be the best farm implement we could invest in..we do have a mini gun a t f approved.plus we do offer helo shoots 2hrs of flight time rifles or your own 2ooo $and up.our service members and their families get head of line perks and a texas size discount .handicap.vets..no.charge..from us to you a big thankyou

And everyone without ear protection probably lost their hearing after the first shot....? As loud as the guns are outside, how is it that within the enclosure, the sound didn't melt their brains from the volume & concussive effects?

Man who needs a gym!

This is fascinating, because it totally puts the lie to the notion that these guns fired every four seconds. That's the mythical 15rpm firing rate that encyclopedic works always quote. That's the 'mechanical' potential RoF, not the practical RoF. One of the things always talked about with the fabled 5/38 was the incredible firing rate vs the Japanese weapons. As this video shows, the sustained loading cycle was really eleven to seven seconds (5.5 - 8.5 rpm). But this is not what the legend tells us. Even retellings of Samar seem to suggest that the '15rpm' gun was "firing flat-out", but as one of our other commenters points out, USS Samuel B Roberts' gunners were obtaining firing rates of 6-12 rpm. And it's very clear that 12rpm would be impossible to maintain for long, before exhaustion or the attendant misfire brought it back down again. Even a 'mad minute' at 12 rpm would be unsustainable. And yes, I've done manual handballing before.

Nice tutorial, I'll make sure I'm gonna do the same at home. Lol