VIDEO: OTO Melara 76 Super Rapid all purpose Naval gun

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VIDEO: OTO Melara 76 Super Rapid all purpose Naval gun

Post by Editor » Tue Jul 22, 2025 10:49 am

Here's the story of one of OTO Melara's best naval guns, considered by many as the best-engineered naval gun ever. The gun can be used in a multitude of roles including land-warfare in the anti-tank role as well as being an effective surface-to-air gun. The Marina Militare recently used the gun aboard the destroyer Caio Duilio as part of a EU Naval Protection Force in the Red Sea to shot down and destroy Houthi drones/missiles, instead of employing more costly surface-to-air missiles - a cost-effective weapon obviously. The weapon as been adopted by 60+ navies around the globe including the US Navy and by all the major Western European Navies (except the Royal Navy).

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Editor
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Re: VIDEO: OTO Melara 76 Super Rapid all purpose Naval gun

Post by Editor » Sat Aug 02, 2025 7:03 am

Here's a video of an (early) OTO Melara 76mm gun (the original "Compact" variant with rounded cupola) aboard the USS Halyburton during live firing of single, double, triple and quadruple salvos. Skip to 1:20min of the video when the tests begin - firing continues till 2:20mins. Note the water jacket and the sounds of the auto-(re)loader. 80 round magazine. The maximum range of these guns is 16-40km. The drones/missiles shot down in the Red Sea were at 4km.

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