RML 12 inch 25 ton gun

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Ordnance RML 12 inch 25 ton gun
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Gun in armoured turret on HMS Hotspur. A shell is suspended near the muzzle ready for loading
Type Naval gun
Coast defence gun
Service history
Used by Royal Navy
Production history
Designed 1864 - 1866
Manufacturer Royal Arsenal
Unit cost £1,715 13s.[1]
Produced 1866 - 187?
Variants Mk I, Mk II
Specifications
Weight Mk I : 23.5 long tons (23,900 kg)
Mk II : 25 long tons (25,000 kg)
Barrel length 145 inches (3.7 m) (bore + chamber)[2]
Shell 600 to 608.4 pounds (272.2 to 276.0 kg) (Palliser)
497 pounds (225.4 kg) (Common & Shrapnel)
Calibre 12-inch (304.8 mm)
Muzzle velocity 1,300 feet per second (400 m/s)[3]

The RML 12 inch 25 ton guns were large rifled muzzle-loading guns used as primary armament on British ironclad turret battleships and coastal monitors, and also ashore for coast defence. They were the shorter and less powerful of the two 12-inch British RML guns, the other being the 35-ton gun.

Design

File:RML 12 inch 25 ton gun diagrams.jpg
Mk I & II gun construction

Mark I

4 guns were first made in 1866 with a toughened mild steel tube surrounded by multiple wrought iron coils on the original Armstrong pattern.

Mark II

While strong, the multiple coils were considered too expensive for construction in quantity. From 1867 guns were built on the simplified and hence cheaper "Fraser" system involving fewer but larger coils similar to the 10-inch Mk II gun. The guns were not considered a success, with the rifling twist of 1 in 100 increasing to 1 in 50 considered insufficient for accuracy, and guns were retubed in 11-inch calibre when their bores wore out.[4]

Naval service

Guns were mounted on :

Ammunition

The gun's primary projectile was 600 to 608-pound "Palliser" armour-piercing shot, which were fired with a "Battering charge" of 85 pounds of "P" (gunpowder) or 67 pounds "R.L.G." (gunpowder) for maximum velocity and hence penetrating power. Shrapnel and Common (exploding) shells weighed 497 pounds and were fired with a "Full charge" of 55 pounds "P" or 50 pounds "R.L.G."[5].

See also

Surviving examples

Notes

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References

External links

Template:VictorianEraBritishNavalWeaponsde:RML 12 inch 25t gun
  1. ↑ Unit cost of £1,715 13 shillings 5 pence is quoted in "The British Navy" Volume II, 1882, by Sir Thomas Brassey. Page 38
  2. ↑ Treatise on Construction of Service Ordnance 1877, page 292
  3. ↑ MV of 1,300 feet/second firing 600-pound projectile with "Battering charge" of 85 pounds "P" (gunpowder) is quoted in "Treatise on Construction of Service Ordnance 1877", page 348. MV of 1,292 feet/second firing 608 lb 6 oz projectile with "Battering charge" of 85 pounds "P2" (gunpowder) is quoted in "Text Book of Gunnery 1887" Table XVI
  4. ↑ Treatise on Construction of Service Ordnance 1877, pages 92-94
  5. ↑ Treatise on Ammunition 1877, pages 191,194, 220
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