The Mark 16 mounting aimed at eight rounds per barrel per minute, roughly twice the sustained rate associated with many earlier heavy cruisers. The Des Moines class could therefore combine eight-inch shell effect with a volume of fire approaching smaller cruiser weapons. With about 150 rounds per gun in the figure discussed, maximum-rate endurance was substantial but still under twenty minutes. Its 450-ton turrets made the ships costly and large, and ammunition endurance remained finite at the maximum rate. The completed ships supplied a working proof of concept for rapid heavy-caliber cruiser fire.
Chapter · 1:42:40-1:49:37
The Des Moines class and its automatic eight-inch guns
The Des Moines class doubled the sustained rate of earlier eight-inch cruisers and demonstrated the fighting potential of automatic heavy guns.