4.5-Inch BBR Old Faithful
The purpose of the 4.5-Inch BBR (Beach Barrage Rocket), nicknamed Old Faithful, was to provide naval landing craft a means to attack coastal positions in the time between naval gunfire and aerial bombardment, and the time when the troops actually landed on the beach. The rocket was developed by a CalTech (California Institute of Technology) team for the Navy within a short time in summer 1942. A 2.25-inch MK 3 rocket motor of the Mousetrap anti-submarine rocket was fitted with a standard 9 kg (20 lb) general purpose bomb. The resulting rocket first flew on 24 June 1942, and the first combat use of the Old Faithful occurred in November 1942 during the North Africa campaign.
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| Photo: via ORDATA Website |
| 4.5-Inch BBR Old Faithful |
The 4.5-Inch BBR consisted of a 2.25" solid-propellant rocket motor, a 4.5" warhead with 3 kg (6.5 lb) of high explosive, a nose-mounted impact fuze, and a circular fin assembly for stabilization. With a burnout speed of only 390 km/h (242 mph) the rocket was relatively slow, and therefore had a rather large dispersion. Nevertheless, it was extensively used as a ship-to-shore bombardment rocket, and a total of about 1.6 million rounds were produced. On some occasions, Old Faithful was even employed as a ship-to-ship or land-based ground-to-ground rocket. There was also a slightly longer variant of the rocket, which used a MK 9 motor. In the final phase of the war, the 4.5" BBR was gradually replaced in the beach bombardment role by the more accurate and powerful spin-stabilized 5-Inch HVSR rockets.
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| Photo: via ORDATA Website |
| 4.5-Inch BBR Old Faithful (with MK 9 motor) |
Specifications
Note: Data given by several sources show slight variations. Figures given below may therefore be inaccurate!
Data for 4.5-Inch BBR:
| Length | 76.2 cm (30 in) |
| Diameter | 11.4 cm (4.5 in) |
| Weight | 13 kg (28.7 lb) |
| Speed | 390 km/h (242 mph) |
| Range | 1000 m (1100 yds) |
| Propulsion | 2.25" MK 3 solid-fueled rocket |
| Warhead | 3 kg (6.5 lb) high explosive |
Main Sources
[1] Norman Friedman: "US Naval Weapons", Conway Maritime Press, 1983
[2] Norman J. Bowman: "The Handbook of Rockets and Guided Missiles", Perastadion Press, 1963
[3] Frederick I. Ordway III, Ronald C. Wakeford: "International Missile and Spacecraft Guide", McGraw-Hill, 1960
[4] ORDATA Online Website
Back to Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles, Appendix 4
Last Updated: 1 February 2006