BL 15 inch Mk I naval gun
| BL 15 inch Mark I | |
|---|---|
| File:Animated gun turret.gif An animation representing the loading cycle of the Mark I turret for the BL 15 inch Mark I. | |
| Type | naval gun |
| Place of origin | UK |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1913-1959 |
| Used by | UK |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1912 |
| Manufacturer | see text |
| Produced | 1912-1918 |
| Number built | 186 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 100 long tons (100 t)[1] |
| Length | 650.4 inches (16.52 m)[1] |
| | |
| Shell | separate charges and shell |
| Calibre | 15 in (381 mm) |
| Recoil | 46 inches (1.2 m)[1] |
| Rate of fire | 2 rounds per minute |
| Maximum range | 32,500 yards (29,720 m): 30° elevation, streamlined shell |
The BL 15 inch Mark I was the first British 15 inch (381 mm) gun design and the most widely used and longest lasting of any British designs. The barrel was 42 calibres long (i.e., 15 in x 42 = 630 in) and was referred to as "15 inch/42". The built-up gun fired a 1920 lb (871 kg) shell at a muzzle velocity of 2,575 ft/s (785 m/s). Maximum range in shipboard mountings was 32,500 yards (29,720 m) (30 degrees elevation) but coastal artillery mounting with higher elevations could reach 44,150 yards (40,370 m). Two coastal guns (Clem and Jane) were mounted near Wanstone Farm in Kent in the 1940s. Five guns were mounted in Singapore in the 1930s. The firing life of a 15 inch gun was approximately 335 full charge firings, after which it had to be re-lined.[2]
Contents
Usage
These guns were used on several classes of battleships from 1915 until HMS Vanguard, the last battleship to be built for the Royal Navy, completed in 1946.
Warships with the BL 15 inch Mark I gun:
- Queen Elizabeth class battleships (Five ships with eight guns each)
- Revenge class battleships (Five ships with eight guns each)
- Renown class battlecruisers (Two ships with six guns each)
- HMS Hood - battlecruiser (Eight guns)
- Glorious class large light cruisers (Two ships with four guns each)
- Erebus class monitors (Two ships with two guns each)
- Marshal Ney class monitors (Two ships with two guns each)
- Roberts class monitors (Two ships with two guns each)
- HMS Vanguard - battleship (Eight guns in mountings taken from Courageous and Glorious)
Production
186 guns were manufactured between 1912 and 1918.[3] They were removed from ships, refurbished, and rotated back into other ships over their lifetime.
- Elswick Ordnance Company, Elswick, Newcastle: 34
- Armstrong, Whitworth, Openshaw, Manchester: 12.
- William Beardmore & Company, Parkhead, Glasgow: 37
- Coventry Ordnance Works, Coventry: 19
- Royal Gun Factory, Woolwich: 33
- Vickers, Son and Maxim, Sheffield: 49
Two guns, one formerly from HMS Ramillies (left gun) and one from HMS Resolution (right gun), are mounted outside the Imperial War Museum in London.
World War II ammunition
See also
- 12px Media related to BL 15 inch Mk I naval gun at Wikimedia Commons
- List of naval guns
- Langer Max - German Counterpart
Notes
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- Buxton, Ian Lyon (1978). Big Gun Monitors. Tynemouth: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-06-1.
- Roskill, Captain Stephen Wentworth (1974). H.M.S. Warspite: The Story of a Famous Battleship. London: Futura Publications. ISBN 0860071723.
External links
- Images from the Vickers Photographic Archives
- Information at Naval Weapons website
- HMS Vanguard site
- The IWM guns
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