| Is Missile: | yes |
| SAM-N-8 Zeus | |
| Origin: | United States |
| Type: | Guided anti-aircraft artillery shell |
| Used By: | United States Navy |
| Manufacturer: | Naval Ordnance Laboratory |
| Spec Label: | XSAM-N-8 Zeus I |
| Engine: | Course-correction solid-propellant rocket |
| Weight: | 72lb |
| Diameter: | 4inches |
| Speed: | 3150ft/s muzzle velocity |
| Vehicle Range: | 15000yd effective |
| Filling: | High explosive |
| Guidance: | Radio command guidance |
| Detonation: | proximity fuse |
| Ref: | Parsch 2003 |
SAM-N-8 Zeus, also known as Zeus I, was a project by the Naval Ordnance Laboratory of the United States Navy to develop a guided anti-aircraft artillery shell for launch from 8inches guns. Tested in the late 1940s, it was overtaken by advances in guided missile technology.
Development of the Gun Launched Guided Projectile - Arrow Shell was initiated by the U.S. Navy's Naval ordnance Laboratory (NOL) in June 1947,[1] 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.[2]
Zeus consisted of a 4inches shell, weighing,[1] launched using a sabot in the 8-inch gun;[3] the shell was fitted with stabilizing fins and a small course-correction rocket; the guidance system involved a radio command being sent to trigger the deflection charge.[3] Muzzle velocity was expected to be in the vicinity of with the use of standard powder charges in the Mark 16 gun,[2] and a single-shot probability of kill (SSPK) of 0.3 at was anticipated, with 0.025 SSPK, the value of a conventional 5inches AA round at 5,000 yards, being achievable at .[1]
Test firings of the XSAM-N-8 begun in 1948; by early 1950, when the project was transferred from the Navy's missile development office to a purely gun-development project and the XSAM-N-8 designation cancelled,[1] 115 test shells had been fired. An improved Zeus II variant, with full guidance and a sustainer rocket motor, was projected,[1] and there were proposals to complete the unfinished battleship as an anti-aircraft ship with quadruple turrets of 8" (203mm) guns firing Zeus.[4] 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.[2]
. Norman Friedman. U.S. Naval Weapons: every gun, missile, mine, and torpedo used by the U.S. Navy from 1883 to the present day. 1982. Naval Institute Press. Annapolis, MD. 978-0-87021-735-7.