The comparison begins with Japan's much-discussed 18.1-inch anti-aircraft shell but notes that the U.S. Navy also adapted battleship main-battery ammunition for air defense. American 16-inch high-capacity shells could be fitted with radar proximity fuzes. Those fuzes allowed a shell to detonate near an aircraft instead of requiring a direct hit from the main battery. The example shows how fuze technology could turn an apparently extravagant use of a battleship gun into a more credible, if still unusual, anti-aircraft option.
Notable Point · 2:05:29-2:06:14
Sixteen-inch shells become anti-aircraft weapons
Radar proximity fuzes allowed U.S. 16-inch high-capacity shells to serve as enormous anti-aircraft rounds.