BL 9.2 inch gun Mk IX – X
| Ordnance BL 9.2 inch gun Mk IX, Mk X | |
|---|---|
| 300px Mk Xx made by Elswick in 1901, on Rottnest Island, Western Australia. It has the distinctive box-shaped gunhouse widely used with it in World War II | |
| Type | Naval gun Coast defence gun |
| Place of origin | United Kingdom |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1899 - 1950s |
| Used by | Royal Garrison Artillery, Royal Artillery from 1922 |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | Elswick Ordnance Company Vickers Beardmores[1] |
| Variants | Mk IX, Mk X, Mk XIV |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | Mk IX : 27 tons barrel & breech; Mk X : 28 tons[2] |
| Barrel length | Mk IX : 430 inches (10,922 mm) Mk X : 429.3 inches (10,904 mm) bore (46.7 cal)[2] |
| | |
| Shell | 380 pounds (170 kg)[2] |
| Calibre | 9.2-inch (233.7 mm) |
| Muzzle velocity | 2,643 feet per second (806 m/s)[3] |
| Maximum range | 29,200 yards (26,700 m)[4] |
The BL 9.2 inch guns Mk IX and Mk X were British 46.7 calibres naval and coast defence guns in service from 1899 to the 1950s. They had possibly the longest, most varied and successful service history of any British heavy ordnance.
Contents
History
Mk IX was designed as a coast defence gun, with a 3-motion breech. Only 14 were built, and Mk X introduced in 1900 incorporated a single-motion breech and changed rifling.
Mark X guns were mounted on :
- Cressy class armoured cruisers commissioned from 1901
- Drake class armoured cruisers commissioned from 1902
- Duke of Edinburgh class armoured cruisers commissioned from 1906
- King Edward VII class battleships commissioned from 1905
- M15 class monitors M15, M16, M17, M18 from 1915
British Empire coast defence gun
These guns were 'counter-bombardment' guns designed to defeat ships up to heavy cruisers armed with 8-inch guns. They were deployed in the fixed defences of major defended ports. Normally deployed in batteries of two or three guns, a major port would have several batteries positioned miles apart. There were several marks of mountings and a battery had extensive underground facilities in addition to the guns visble in their individual gun-pits. Together with the 6-inch Mk VII, provided the main heavy gun defence of the United Kingdom in World War I. 3 Mk IX and 53 Mk X guns were in place as at April 1918[5].
Many Mk X guns were emplaced to defend ports around the British Empire until the 1950s, including Australia at Newcastle, La Perouse and Port Kembla, NSW and Rottnest Island, WA.
World War I deployment on Belgian coast
From 1917 several Mk X guns were deployed ashore on the section of the Belgian coast still held by the Allies, near Nieuport. They were part of the "Royal Naval Siege Guns" under the command of Admiral Sir Reginald Bacon, and were used for attacking German heavy gun batteries.
British railway gun
In 1916 Elswick adapted a small number of Mk X guns, 2 Mk X variants originally intended for coast defence in Australia, and 4 45-calibre Vickers export guns (under the designation 9.2 inch gun Mk XIV) and mounted them on Mk 3 railway truck mountings for service on the Western Front in France and Belgium.[6]
British ammunition up to World War I
4 guns of 45 calibres (414 inches) bore produced by Elswick Ordnance Company[7] were mounted in 2 twin turrets on the Greek cruiser Georgios Averof in 1910, instead of the 10-inch guns mounted on her sisters of the Pisa class in Italian service. These were similar to the 4 Vickers 45 calibre export model guns used by Britain as railway artillery on the Western Front in World War I under the designation BL 9.2 inch gun Mark XIV. They fired the same 380-pound shell using the same 120-pound cordite charge as the British service Mk X gun, and it may be assumed that its performance was very similar.
Surviving examples
- Mk X guns at Lord Airey's Battery and O'Hara's Battery, Gibraltar
- Mk X gun on Rottnest Island, Western Australia
- The De Waal Battery on Robben Island, South Africa
- On Greek cruiser Georgios Averof in Faliron Bay near Athens, Greece.
See also
- 12px Media related to BL 9.2 inch Mk IX - X naval gun at Wikimedia Commons
- List of naval guns
- List of coastal artillery
Notes
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<references />, or <references group="..." />References
- Text Book of Gunnery, 1902. LONDON : PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE
- General Sir Martin Farndale, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery : Forgotten Fronts and the Home Base 1914-18. London:The Royal Artillery Institution, 1988
- Hogg, I.V. and Thurston, L.F. (1972). British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914-1918. Ian Allan, London. ISBN 7110 0381 5
- Tony DiGiulian, British 9.2"/47 (23.4 cm) Mark IX
- Tony DiGiulian, British 9.2"/47 (23.4 cm) Mark X
Template:GreatWarBritishNavalWeapons
Template:GreatWarBritishWeapons- ↑ Official History of the Ministry of Munitions 1922, Volume X, Part 1, page 73. Facsimile reprint by Imperial War Museum and Naval & Military Press 2008. ISBN 1 847348 84 X
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Text Book of Gunnery 1902, Table XII Page 336
- ↑ 380 lb shell, with 103 lb cordite Mk I propellant size 44 (originally) (Text Book of Gunnery 1902), or 120 lb cordite MD size 37 (1914 onwards). Hogg & Thurston 1972, page 165
- ↑ Hogg & Thurston 1972, page 165
- ↑ Farndale 1988, page 404
- ↑ Hogg & thurston 1972, page 168-169
- ↑ DiGiulian
