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Hi everyone, Ever since the Samuel Chase released (though this also applies to 5-inch/38 guns on the recently released Essex), the 3-inch/50 and 5-inch/38 guns only fire time-fused projectiles. This is appropriate to aircraft, but not to surface/land-targets, especially hard ones - where frequent airbursts are observed, which have little-to-no effect. As such these guns should also have a point-detonating shell (common shell type with AA, but with a different fuse) or an armour-piercing/semi-armour piercing round available. The AI, at least for some ground vehicles, already seems to select ammunition more-or-less appropriately for whatever target they're engaging. In the track below, while the target was eventually sunk, many of the rounds airburst short of the target. It's only when the round impacts before the time-fuse goes off when significant damage is done. Another issue seen in the track below is that the 3-inch/50 guns do not track or engage the target at all, despite it being well within their range. I would also recommend visiting this thread for dual-purpose naval guns more generally - IMO it's plenty relevant now (with nearly every naval gun with a calibre ≥76 mm/3 inch only engaging surface targets with only a point detonating/impact-fused shell available - lacking a proximity or time-fused shell). SamuelChase_AirburstAgainstST.trk

Hi everyone, Despite the following being in the changelog: I am still experiencing issues with 5-inch/38 calibre guns, as fitted to the USS Samuel Chase and Essex-class. In the below tracks I have a single aircraft approaching the USS Samuel Chase from the starboard rear-quarter. Wind is calm, the ship is not in motion and I've set the weather to clear skies. In both cases the aircraft approaches from the same direction and remains in level flight, the only difference between the 2 tracks is the altitude the aircraft flies at. While the 3-inch/50 guns engage more-or-less as expected (when the aircraft briefly exits their engagement zone, they cease tracking and reset to their default positions instead of attempting to continue tracking the target - so far only the KS-19 appears to do this) in the 6kft track the 5-inch gun never engages, despite doing so in the 2kft track. 6000 ft should be more than within the capability of 5-inch gun (in-fact it outranges and has a higher ceiling than the 3-inch guns - compare this table (5"/38) with this table (3"/50)). With the Essex (which I've separately reported here) the guns track the target in both cases (the directors though do not), but only in the 2kft track do they actually engage. However, even so, they take a long time to commence firing (the Bofors 40 mm actually opening fire first) and they only get a single salvo off before resetting(-ish) and no 5-inch gun further attempts to engage the aircraft. In the 6kft track, they track the target, but never engage and simply reset, pretty much exactly mirroring this bug report for ground-based AAA - where so far only the KS-19 behaves as expected. SamuelChase_5-inch38_Engage_2kft.trk SamuelChase_5-inch38_NoEngage_6kft.trk Essex_5-inch38_Engage-ish_2kft.trk Essex_5-inch38_NoEngage_6kft.trk

Hi everyone, The 5" mounts on the Essex appear to track aircraft but, in the majority of tests I've run, only actually engage below 2500 ft. In the tracks below I have a single Ju 88 A-4 at various altitudes that should be well within the engagement envelope of the guns. The only track where the guns engage reliably is the 2.4k ft track. The other thing is the range at which the guns start firing - according to the linked trajectory chart, the upper-limit of the range should be around 15000 yards (~13.7 km) for a target flying at 10,000 ft and around 16000-17000 yards (~14.5-15.5 km) maximum for a target at 2500 ft. In DCS however, the guns first start firing at around 1.5 nautical miles (or about 3000 yards or about 2.8 km) and only get a single salvo off (and even then, not all the mounts engage) before the carrier is overflown. Each gun should be able to fire at a rate of 15-22 rounds per minute (or 30-44 rounds per Mk 32 mount, as used on the Essex). Part of the range issue may be down to the directors (Mk 37 GFCS), whose radar ranges (for the Mark 12) are half of what they should be (they also are defined with the wrong frequency range). In Essex_Class_Carrier_1944.lua, the director's "distanceMax" is set to 25 km. The Mark 12 radar (the rectangular antenna on top of the director, mark 22 is the elliptical antenna beside it) should be able to track bomber-sized targets out to ~41 km [source] Suffice to say, these issues drastically limit the effectiveness of these guns. Essex_5-inch38_Engage_2.4kft.trk Essex_5-inch38_NoEngage_2.5kft.trk Essex_5-inch38_NoEngage_5kft.trk Essex_5-inch38_NoEngage_10kft.trk

Working the Anti-aircraft guns aboard a ship in DCS can be a lot of fun. What we had in DCS to date was crude and inaccurate aboard the USS Samuel Chase, attack transport ship. And manning those guns no longer seems possible in DCS. Since ED is producing the F6F Hellcat, which fits in with the Marianas Map and an Essex class carrier of about the 1943 to 1945 time period, I think these gun systems of this era should be modeled in DCS, and fully VR compatible. And I'd like to emphasize the DCS player would man the gun director, not the gun mount ...except for the 20mm mount. When manning a gun director or 20mm mount, AI would operate the remaining guns of that ship, not occupied by players, as well as those of the other ships. I would like to focus my request on the Secondary Battery Guns used for Air Defense by Aircraft Carriers and those ships escorting Aircraft Carriers. This set of Secondary guns were standard on most Battleships, Aircraft Carriers, Cruisers and Destroyers of the 1943-1945 timeframe. So, once simulated in DCS, these guns could be used on most all US Navy combat ships, both in Pacific Theater and Atlantic Theater. There were primarily three types of guns used for air defense in the US Navy. They are: 5-inch/38 These mounts were generally aimed by the Mk 37 Director mount, with range detecting radar. The director would automatically adjust one or more 5-inch mounts in azimuth and elevation to the target with compensation for lead-angle, ballistic drop, pitch and roll of ship and parallax between gun mounts and director positions on the ship. In DCS, a single player could operate the Director. 40mm These mounts were generally aimed by the Mk 51 Director Mount with a mounted Mk 14 Optical Lead-Computing Gyro Sight. The Director would be manned by two director-sight operators, one to steer the sight in azimuth and elevation by handlebars to keep the sight reticle on the target while firing and the other to set the range to target by estimation and relation of tracers to the target. The gun mount crew would then make sure the guns were fed with ammunition. The Mk 51 director is remote from the gun mount, by usually a distance of around 30 feet or so. In DCS, a single player could operate the Director. 20mm These mounts also had a Mk 14 Optical Lead-Computing Gyro Sight directly mounted and were aimed directly by the gunner, with an assistant to help spot targets and set the range to target by estimation and relation of tracers to the target. One or more additional gun crew would attach fresh ammunition magazines as needed. In DCS, a single player could operate the gun mount. I suggest the following classes of ships be modeled in DCS to carry these guns, at least initially... Cleveland Class Light Cruiser - numbers of guns varied from ship to ship, but I would suggest modeling a common arrangement of 6 dual 5-inch directed by 2 Mk 37 Directors; 4 quad 40mm mounts and 4 dual 40mm mounts, each with its own Mk 51 director; and 21 single 20mm mounts. Sumner Class Destroyer - again, numbers of guns varied, but I would suggest modeling 3 dual 5-inch mounts with one Mk 37 Director; 2 quad 40mm mounts and 2 dual 40mm mounts with their Mk 51 Directors; and ten 20mm mounts. Fletcher Class Destroyer - I suggest modeling 5 single 5-inch mounts with one Mk 37 Director; 5 dual 40mm mounts with their Mk 51 Directors; and seven 20mm mounts. There are several more classes of cruisers I like to see modeled, eventually, and of course battleships and carriers. But for now, I think these three (or even one) will be enough to start to escort the carrier(s) in DCS. I only avoid the battleships because the large number of guns (ten dual 5" mounts, 15+ quad 40mm mounts and 50+ 20mm mounts) might swamp our PCs. Also, there would need to be IJN ships and AI aircraft.