Vickers 14 inch/45 naval gun

Vickers 14 inch 45-calibre naval gun
14"41st Year Type
14" 43rd Year Type
36 cm 41st Year Type

Gun being installed on Haruna, Kobe, October 1914
Type Naval gun
Service history
In service 1913 - 1945
Used by Japan
Wars World War I, World War II
Production history
Designer Vickers
Manufacturer Vickers
Kure Arsenal
Japan Steel Works
Specifications
Barrel length Bore 52 ft 6 in (16.002 m) (45 calibres)
Shell 673.5 kg (1,485 lb)[1]
Calibre 14-inch (355.6 mm)
Muzzle velocity 775 m/s (2,540 ft/s)[2]
Maximum firing range 35,450 m (38,770 yd)[3]

The Vickers 14 inch 45 calibre gun was designed and built by Vickers and initially installed on the battlecruiser Kongō which it was building for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Guns similar to this Vickers design were also later built in Japan to arm Kongō's sister ships and subsequent Japanese-constructed "super-dreadnoughts" which were all built in Japan.

History

The original design for the Kongō class featured 12-inch (304.8 mm) 50-caliber guns. Cdr Katô Hirohasu of the Imperial Japanese Navy pushed for the adoption of the new 14-inch gun that was currently under development. After trials of the new gun, which were witnessed by both the Japanese Navy and Royal Navy, the Japanese made the decision on 29 Nov 1911 to use the new gun in the Kongō despite her keel having already been laid down on the 17 January 1911, and the resulting need to quickly make a large number of alternations to the design, so as to not prolong the construction.[4]

This gun armed the following Japanese warships:

Japanese-built versions of the guns were designated 14 inch 41st Year Type, and from 1917 when the Navy went metric they were redesignated 36 cm 41st Year Type.

See also

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

Notes

  1. ↑ http://navalhistory.flixco.info/H/66230x53535/8330/a0.htm
  2. ↑ http://navalhistory.flixco.info/H/66230x53535/8330/a0.htm
  3. ↑ http://navalhistory.flixco.info/H/66230x53535/8330/a0.htm
  4. ↑ Lengerer. Page 142.

References

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