Its a shame Obama has issued an executive order to have Phalanx systems removed from all Navy ships.

I hope Sandy chimes in...but the affectionate name I knew CIWS by was "R2D2 With a Hard-On"

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1460757657.jpg

The article says he stalled it.

I remember seeing film of the mini guns on Goony Birds? or maybe Puff the Magic Dragon? back in the70's. The tracers were coming out so fast that the bullet stream looked like a laser. That CIWS looks waaay bigger and badder than the minis.

Why waste the bullets...just let a flock of Canadian geese go off the deck and craputzky. We've got extras for you here in Alberta

I chuckled.

I remember seeing them in person and thinking how great they were. I don't remember the percentage but they aren't all tracers, like you said, they fired so fast they looked like a solid line snaking toward the earth.

About 4500 rounds/minute, and the ratio is about four or five regular rounds per tracer round. At 75 rounds per second, your eye would see 15 or more tracer rounds in that second, and I could see how that would look like a solid line.

They don't need tracers.
One radar tracks the target.
Another tracks the rounds and adjusts until the difference is zero.
Fully automatic with no issues from incompetent equal opportunity fire control officers.

That's an Arleigh Burke class destroyer with the aegis combat system. There is no "missile lock". The days of painting the target with a fire control continuous wave illumination are long gone. There is no warning as the missile uplink codes are embedded in the SPY search radar transmissions. That is a lethal machine that lets the little gnats buzz around. That destroyer has many tools at its fingertips. Phalanx is almost the least of that pilots concerns.

I don't know about that but the tracers help the friendly on the ground.

Had a couple of ET buddies on the Kidd😀

I was on the Enterprise during Mantis. We were launching heavy A6s. Being in the Comms Div. allowed us to hear a lot of the traffic over the course of the day. Still remember the tension as our Cap. Came over the 1MC to tell us of the Roberts.

Heard a lot of stories from the CTs about the CIWS accuracy. Still have 4 dummy rounds with the interlocking tracks

It was capable of putting at least one bullet per square inch into a football field size area in just seconds.

One of my friends that was a Marine on the ground in Vietnam said they always gave any Air Force guys hell at a bar. He said they were totally pinned down on a battle and they had "Puff the magic dragon" show up and turned the enemies into fertilizer. He said they actually were buying the Air Force crew beer the next time he saw them. They still gave them hell, but they appreciated the backup.

When fired FROM Puff or an AC-130 they help the guys in the plane and the friendlies on the ground and can be terrifying to the enemy on the receiving end. For the CIWS on the ships there is no need for tracers and the CIWS is only for when al the other defensive systems fail. There was an interesting story about the Wisconsin during the first gulf war and the ships protecting it. I will post it if I find it again.

"You don't get to kill people just because they're being annoying. "
~~~~~~~~`
I heard that one also. The attitude of being bothered by a pesky fly.
The attitude of knowing one's power.

I always liked the Navy Pilots, they seemed to be a little more flamboyant, I knew one, carrier based, that was shot down twice in VN. His back was a mess, he said all the takeoffs and landings on the carrier and of course his two ejections had a lot to do with it.