Eli5 how the guns on large navy ships actually work? They are just shooting really large bullets at other ships in the sea? Like, does it use combustion to accelerate the projectile?

Question

Eli5 how the guns on large navy ships actually work? They are just shooting really large bullets at other ships in the sea? Like, does it use combustion to accelerate the projectile?

In: 9

Answer 1

Yes but two main differences:

* due to the larger size you can fit explosives into naval shells, the larger the shell, the more of it is explosives
* past a certain small size (ie, 5 inch guns), naval guns use bagged powder and a projectile with no casing to eject