Quote:
Originally Posted by sheepherder
The History Channel had a special on the wreck of the Bismarck, showing it lying on the bottom, with its turrets lying as much as a mile away. They said the turrets weren't physically attached to the ship; they just sort of sat on their tracks. When the ship sank and turned over, the turrets just fell out...  |
Yeah, I believe they are held in place by gravity only, running on some kind of wheel and track system. They don't really need to be bolted in, they are so heavy that you (obviously) have to turn the whole ship upside down to remove them.
I'm not entirely sure, but I suspect some tanks are made in a similar fashion. There's probably not much holding them anyway, if you look at pictures from battlefields it's not unusual to see them blown off.