Why aren't they here yet, /k/?
They're so impractical with their cost and how quickly they wear out. They just aren't feasible yet.
>>30107309
power supply issues. next thread please
>>30107309
They're getting there. The ships that the first generation of railguns are already undergoing sea trials.
>>30107325
Power isn't remotely a problem for Naval railguns, its barrel wear. The temerature shock of going from room temperature to having fuckhuge current passing through the system. You ever see a small prototype? You see the sparks coming out of the barrel? Thats not any kind of explosive, those sparks are literally the interior of the barrel flaking off and shooting out.
>>30107309
They more or less are 'here'. The USNS Trenton is due to receive on for 'testing'. Which mostly means testing, but the Spearhead ships are the kind of ships that could go missing for a while for 'testing', if it were deemed a good idea.
>>30107309
I've heard rumors that they're going to mount them on a Zumwalt later this year.
>>30108084
>>30107646
>>30108084
Aren't both due to happen this year?
9/10 USNS Trenton is only taking part in testing so it can be snuck around as a special warfare asset while Zumwalt is doing the real testing.
>>30108320
Railguns are able to multiply like rabbits. Expect them on every Burke and Tico this year too.
>>30108419
Natch.
5/10 then. If only because I really, really like the idea of a Spearpoint-class railgunboat.
>>30108432
If you think hard enough, anything is possible.
In your mind of course.
>>30109089
Yeah yeah, trust me I get it. But if pirate activities start dropping off immensely once the Trenton is on her way with the thing, come back here so I can gloat while we both get shitfaced.
what type of damage can a high velocity solid metal spike do?
yeah it can pierce through armoured ships and structures easily enough but can it destroy a spread out encampment like a good old fashion HE shell could do?
>>30107309
anyone find it funny that after 500 years of gunpowder, the next big thing is a magnetic driven ballista?
>>30109102
>deploying a secret prototype overseas on a car ferry
>hunting pirates with it
You must be shitfaced right now.
>>30109160
Considering it's only Monday, I should be set for several weeks. Sake, resin hits, and Seroquel is a very strange combo.
>>30109107
you don't just launch metal spikes.
>>30109189
As long as its not listerine, I'm fine with it.
>>30109189
How are you awake? I know Seroquel has different effects depending on dosage, but that shit knocks me out hard without help, as in, I literally take it as a sleep aid.
>>30107357
I wonder if keeping the rails and armature supercool so they would act as superconductors would help with rail wear? Maybe even figure out a way to keep the space in-between the rails a vacuum so even air resistance can't heat up the rails or armature. Do superconductors still generate normal magnetic fields, I would assume so since I'm pretty sure that's how MRIs work.
>>30109273
I have a naturally fast metabolism, I'm prescribed it for irritability and I burn through 300mg a day. If I've been a good boy, I hardly notice the CNS depression for more than an hour.
>>30109320
Intense. Any side effects?
>>30109315
with superconducting rails thermal shock becomes a nonissue, though you still have the challenge of the friction between the rails and armature, and no you don't really want to do a space gap since you want current flowing from the rail through the armature and into the other rail. Also, superconductors generate some really weird magnetic field effects, though that's mostly inside the superconductive material itself.
Again, you really don't want a space gap, especially not a vacuum, the whole point is to conduct current and putting a gap in there effectively gives you a huge capacitor. Huge field, no current, recipe for disaster.
>>30109413
I didn't mean to have rails and armature separated by an air gap. I was thinking more along the lines of not having air in contact with armature until the projectile left the rail gun. The few videos I've seen of rail guns showed the atmosphere basically catching fire because the projectile was travelling so fast.
Although I didn't even think about armature/rail friction. I guess depending on how large the contact area is between the rails and armature, you could have replaceable inserts, instead of having to replace the entire rail. I'm sure friction wear would only be a fraction compared to the rail breakdown from the massive currents they put through them at ambient temperature.
>>30109338
I can't sleep when I don't take it. Not sure if that counts.
>>30109569
Judging by the lack of (You)s it looks like we have at least 3 people on Seroquel here? Taking mine now, before bed. Whats the longest you've gone without sleep due to symptoms? Three nights without a wink here, though that was before I was taking anything for it, and my dosage is pretty low.
>>30109543
Like a conductive liner along the interior of both rails? That would work, effectively a hybrid between a superconductive, and non superconductive setup.
The challenge with any setup is the junction between superconducting and non-superconducting parts. Keeping a superconductor cool isn't too bad until things start moving. Cooling the armature to superconductivity straight up is not feasible. The problem is that where superconductor meets conductor, you have heat, and where you have heat your cooling loses effectiveness, which in turn kills superconductivity and goes into system damage.
A liner would prevent friction against the superconductive parts, but would become a source of thermal shock in and of itself. So, better than nothing at least.
>>30109866
About the same, three ish days. Any further than two days and I get delirious nightmares when I finally lie down, so I haven't really tried to push it. Like really, really illogical nightmares that make no fucking sense at all. Every time I half expect my heart to give out on me like some poor Starcraft gook's.
>>30109915
Yeah, prolonged sleep deprivation gets weird, and not in a good way. Towards the end I get so bizarre I don't trust myself to behave safely around other people, and just self-isolate while I try to ride it out, but when its been three days and I'm still riding that extra bit of desperation makes everything that much worse. Fortunately that particular incident was three years ago and haven't had anything quite as bad since.
Fuck bipolar, seriously. At least it makes the railguns work.
How much will they change naval combat if they get them working well?
The bigger ones have proposed ranges of 400km and guided munitions that let them shoot down planes, incoming missiles and ballistic missiles.
Will they be enough to justify building a nuclear railgun ship?
>>30110848
Using a railgun to plink at targets 400 km away or anything even close to that range sounds really retarded. Unless you're firing an explosive shell, I guess, in which case it's basically just artillery.
>>30107309
When will there be truckmounted ones or manportable ones?
>>30113910
Probably 50-100 years given they need a fuckhueg power supply, and the issue of the massive amount of heat they generate needing to be dissipated. We'd need some pretty big leaps to get to manportable.
But I wouldn't be surprised to see a tank with one in 20 years, or some sort of self-propelled artillery.
>>30107309
Because you touch yourself
