SAM-N-8 Zeus, also known as Zeus I, was a project by the
Naval Ordnance Laboratory
The Naval Ordnance Laboratory (NOL) was a facility in the White Oak, Maryland, White Oak area of Montgomery County, Maryland. The location is now used as the headquarters of the Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Or ...
of the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
to develop a guided
anti-aircraft artillery
Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface (Submarine#Armament, submarine-lau ...
shell for launch from guns. Tested in the late 1940s, it was overtaken by advances in guided missile technology.
Design and development
Development of the Gun Launched Guided Projectile - Arrow Shell was initiated by the U.S. Navy's Naval ordnance Laboratory (NOL) in June 1947,
[Friedman 1982, p. 72.] with the intent of developing a guided
subcaliber projectile capable of being fired from the
Mark 16 8"/55 caliber (203mm) guns mounted in the s. In 1948, the project was officially classed as a guided missile, the designation XSAM-N-8 and name Zeus I being applied to the project.
[Parsch 2003]
Zeus consisted of a shell, weighing ,
launched using a
sabot
Sabot may refer to:
* Sabot (firearms), disposable supportive device used in gunpowder ammunitions to fit/patch around a sub-caliber projectile
* Sabot (shoe), a type of wooden shoe
People
* Dick Sabot (1944–2005), American economist and bus ...
in the 8-inch gun;
[''Bulletin'' 1949, p. 21.] the shell was fitted with stabilizing fins and a small course-correction rocket; the guidance system involved a
radio command
Command guidance is a type of missile guidance in which a ground station or aircraft relay signals to a guided missile via radio control or through a wire connecting the missile to the launcher and tell the missile where to steer to intercept ...
being sent to trigger the deflection charge.
Muzzle velocity was expected to be in the vicinity of with the use of standard powder charges in the Mark 16 gun,
and a
single-shot probability of kill (SSPK) of 0.3 at was anticipated, with 0.025 SSPK, the value of a conventional AA round at 5,000 yards, being achievable at .
Operational history
Test firings of the XSAM-N-8 begun in 1948; by early 1950, when the project was transferred from the
Navy
A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...
's missile development office to a purely gun-development project and the XSAM-N-8 designation cancelled,
115 test shells had been fired. An improved Zeus II variant, with full guidance and a
sustainer rocket motor, was projected,
and there were proposals to complete the unfinished
battleship
A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...
as an anti-aircraft ship with
quadruple turrets of 8" (203mm) guns firing Zeus.
[Friedman 2013, p. 309.] However ordinary guided missiles were proving increasingly satisfactory, and when the U.S. Navy's missile programs were rationalized later that year the Zeus project was cancelled.
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
External links
Artist's impression of the USS ''Kentucky'' (BB-66) after conversion to an anti-aircraft ship on Deviant Arts
{{USN missiles
Abandoned military rocket and missile projects of the United States
Cannon-launched guided projectiles
SAM-N-08