Big Guns, USS Missouri – Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

No doubt, the defining characteristic of a battleship is its big guns. I was on the bow of the USS Missouri looking back. Here we see the forward main batteries. Six 16 inch 50 caliber guns. There are also three big guns on the stern.

Each of the guns could fire a 2,700-pound shell to a range of 23 miles. The 16-in/50 caliber Mark 7 gun could elevate from -5 to +45 degrees. The turrets could rotate about 300 degrees.

I used the Fuji 15mm – 45mm kit lens on an X-E3. Looking at the EXIF (shooting details) when making the post. I realized that the first picture was at its maximum 45mm (67.5mm equivalent) telephoto setting. Conversely, the second picture was at its widest at 15mm (22.5mm equivalent). The difference in focal length made sense for the composition, of course. Just an interesting observation after the fact.

You can also see the effect of the two focal lengths. There is telephoto compression with the two sets of guns appearing close together along with the ship’s bridge. The wide-angle increases the spaces in between.

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