Leisure reading on a Saturday. Well its not the 15 inch guns of the Bismarck or the 18 inch guns of the Yamato which could fire up to 40 kilometers away. The shells they fired was about the weight of a Volkswagen. That was over 80 years ago during the Second World War.
Today radar and computerised fire control provides much higher accuracy. Plus new artillery-shell technologies can hit a target up to 100 km away. Today's naval gun turrets are fully automated and do not need sailors to load, aim and fire the gun. The rate of fire is also rapid and a 6 inch naval gun can be fired at the speed of a hand bolted rifle.
Both the US and Russian navies are refurbishing some of their old battle-wagons to fire naval guns again. Firing naval guns is much cheaper than shooting missiles (over the same distances) because missiles can cost millions of US Dollars a piece whereas naval shells cost tens of thousands of Dollars. Longer range shells can cost more but they are still much cheaper than a missile.
Now the Chinese have come in with the improved, more efficient and much cheaper version. They have developed a naval gun that fires standard 155 mm (6.1 inch) artillery shells - used by land armies all over the world. The standard Chinese 155 mm artillery shell costs between US1,000 - US3,000 each.
Here is some copy paste:
155 mm artillery shells are the NATO and Western standard because they offer an optimal balance between range, destructive power, and portability, weighing roughly 45 kg or 100 pounds. Originating from a 19th-century French design, this caliber is highly versatile, easy to manufacture via hot forging, and compatible with widely used, mobile, long-range howitzers
The 155 mm artillery shell is the established 'gold standard'. The Chinese have decided to fire the 155 mm shell (6.1 inch) from naval guns. This is super cost efficient because they can use their standards stocks of 155 mm artillery shells.
This video here says the Chinese can fire this shell up to 100 km away. That would be rocket assisted shells or packed with higher explosive charges. Here is a brief video.
