IV. WEAPONS

The purpose of the weapons on the ships is to inflict damage in the balsa sides of the enemy ships causing them to sink if too much damage is taken. Weapons should not be operated in a manner that can cause harm to Captains, Bystanders, or other life forms. All safety rules are to be strictly adhered too!

A. GUNS
1. Guns can be armed according to the following chart.

Gun Caliber Scale Ordanance Fire Rate
3.0" to 4.6" (76mm to 116mm) 1/8 inch diameter 2 second fire rate
4.7" to 6.9" (117mm to 179mm) .170 inch diameter (BB) 3 second fire rate
7.0" to 10.9" (180mm to 279mm) 3/16 inch diameter 4 second fire rate
11.0" to 14.9" (280mm to 379mm) 7/32 inch diameter 6 second fire rate
15.0" and larger (380mm and larger) 1/4 inch diameter 8 second fire rate

2. Maximum gun depression is 10 degrees. Maximum elevation is no higher then level with the horizon.

3. Exept for the above rule (III.A.2), all guns shall operate from a scale turret in a scale manner and from the scale location.

4 . All types of automatic guns systems are allowed as long as they don't violate any safety rules or other club rules. While automatic guns systems may not have existed in WWII, the ships did have men to target and control the firing of the guns. If you develop a gun that can spot a boat and range the gun and shoot automatically this simulates having scale people on the ship performing this functions independant of the guy steering the ship


a. Any automatic guns systems need to have a circuit that monitors the receiver for glitches and shuts the system down when loss of control is detected. Such systems must be tested and approved by the safety officer. Automatic guns must also have a manual override to shut them down.

b.  All automatically firing guns needs a safeguard to prevent it from firing above the horizon (when the ship is listing). If a self leveling cannon is employed, a circuit to disable it if the cannon rises more then 5 degrees above the horizon. If this isn't employed, the ship should have a "sideways list detector" that detects 5 or more degrees of list and disables the offending cannons.

c.  A list detection system doesn't relieve the Captain of his responsibility to NOT fire cannons above the horizon. Such systems are safeguards. The Captain should turn off his gun systems when his ship starts to list.

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B. TORPEDOES
1. Torpedoes are 1/4" x 'scale length' rods cut or molded to resemble torpedoes. All other aspects of contruction of the torpedo are up to the captain. They can be of any material that is not harmful to the environment.

2. They must be fired from scale length topedoe tubes.

3. Torpedo tubes must be scale with regards to trajectory and elevation.

4. Torpedo propulsion can be CO2, compressed air, spring loaded, or electric.

. 5. Reload time for each torpedo tube is 5 minutes. This is to simulate the time it takes for the crew to move another torpedo into the tube and prepare it to fire. (Example: If a submarine has four bow tubes and two stern tubes, it may only make four bow shots and two stern shots within a five minute period). If the real ship had 'one shot' torpedo tubes that could only be reloaded in port (such as PT boats), then the captain may not reload during the battle.

6. If the captain has to manually reload, he must 'call five' and when his time is up, return to harbor and reload. He is not allowed to dump water from his boat while reloading This rule does not apply to 'one shot' torpedoes. They may only be reloaded between battles

7. You can use no more torpedoes in a battle then the real boat carried.

C. MINES
1. Floating mines can be 1" in diameter and up to 2" in lenght provided the length is vertical while the mine is floating in the water.

2. The mine should be a pressure sensitive device that activates small spikes (1/4" x 3/4" maximum) that penetrate the balsa when activated. Or mines may be activated by remote control

3. The Captain needs to have a safe way of retrieving the mines.
 
 
D. PLANES
1. Planes can be launched for Kamikaze/suicide attacks.
 
2.  Method of launch is up to the ship builder.  
 
3. Number of planes available to launch equals the number the ship carried. No manual reloading during battle.
 
4.  Planes should not rise in height about the water more then 6'.
 
5.  Captain must recover all planes after the battle.  Planes must float.
 
6.  Planes must be scale in regards to size, shape, locations, launch platform, etc...
 
E. OTHER WEAPONS
1. The above are currently the only sanctioned weapons.


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