QF 4 inch Mk XVI naval gun

Ordnance QF 4 inch gun Mk XVI
300px Twin Mk XVI on HMCS Haida
Type	Naval gun Heavy anti-aircraft gun
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
In service	1936-
Used by	Royal Navy Royal Canadian Navy Royal Australian Navy South African Navy
Wars	World War II
Specifications
Weight	Barrel & breech 4,495 lb (2,039 kg)
Barrel length	180 inches (4,572 mm) (45 cal))
Shell	Fixed QF 35 pounds (15.88 kg) HE 38.25 pounds (17.35 kg) SAP
Calibre	4-inch (101.6 mm)
Breech	vertical sliding block
Recoil	hydro - pneumatic 831 millimetres (33 in)
Elevation	mounting dependent (-10 to 80 deg on H.A. twin mark XIX mount)
Traverse	mounting dependent
Muzzle velocity	2,660 feet per second (811 m/s)
Filling weight	9 pounds (4.08 kg)

The QF 4 inch Mk XVI gun was the standard British Empire naval anti-aircraft and dual-purpose gun of World War II.

Service

File:HMAS Swan guns (079323).jpg

Twin guns of HMAS Swan bombarding shore positions in New Guinea, February 1945

File:HMAS Barcoo QF 4 inch Mk XVI single mount breech AWM 119466.jpg

Single Mk XX mounting on HMAS Barcoo, 1945

The Mk XVI superseded the earlier QF 4 inch Mk V naval gun on many Royal Naval ships during the late 1930s and early 1940s. These guns were usually mounted on HA/LA Mark XIX twin mountings, although several Australian frigates and corvettes had single-gun Mk XX mountings.

As secondary armament (list not complete):

• HMS Hood
• HMS Rodney
• HMS Barham, HMS Malaya, HMS Warspite
• Revenge class battleship
• County class cruiser
• HMS Exeter
• Swiftsure class cruiser
• Crown Colony class cruiser
• Edinburgh class cruiser
• Southampton class cruiser (Town)
• Arethusa class cruiser (1934)
• Perth class cruiser
• Leander class cruiser (1931)
• HMS Effingham
• HMS Danae (ORP Conrad)
• Tribal class destroyer (1936)

As main armament (list not complete):

• Aircraft carriers: HMS Furious, HMS Unicorn
• Escort carriers: Nairana class escort carrier, HMS Pretoria Castle, HMS HMS Activity
• C class cruiser (converted to anti-aircraft cruisers)
• Abdiel class minelayer
• L and M class destroyer (the first series L: HMS Gorham, Lance, Legion, Lively)
• HMS Petard (modified)
• Weapon class destroyer
• V and W class destroyer (after WAIR modification - 15 ships)
• HMS Wallace (after WAIR modification)
• Hunt class destroyer
• Black Swan class sloop
• Egret class sloop
• Bittern class sloop (modified)
• Grimsby class sloop (modified)
• Bay class frigate
• River class frigate (part of Canadian-built)
• 8 auxiliary AA defence ships
• some landing ships

Allied ships modified in the United Kingdom:

• ORP Błyskawica (Polish)
• Hr.Ms. Jacob van Heemskerck (Dutch)
• Hr.Ms. Isaac Sweers (Dutch)
• 4 French Elan class aviso and Chamois class aviso

The South African Navy Loch class frigates (SAS Good Hope, SAS Natal and SAS Transvaal) each had two of these guns mounted on a twin Mark XIX on their foredeck between 1944 and 1976.

Ammunition

• Gunners with 4 inch rounds HMS Vivien 1940 IWM A 1770.jpg

  Gunners of V class destroyer HMS Vivien displaying anti-aircraft rounds, 1940
• HMS Belfast - 4 inch guns - shell loading 1.jpg

  A round in a fuze setter on HMS Belfast (C35)

See also

• QF 4 inch Mk V naval gun
• List of naval anti-aircraft guns
• List of naval guns

Surviving examples

• On HMCS Haida, Hamilton, Ortario, Canada.
• Naval Museum of Alberta, Canada
• On HMS Belfast, London.
• On ORP Błyskawica, Gdynia (re-bored to 100 mm).
• A pair at South African National Museum of Military History, Johannesburg
• A pair in a turret from INS Haifa (K-38), at Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum, Haifa, Israel.

External links

• 12px Media related to QF 4 inch Mk XVI naval gun at Wikimedia Commons
• British 4"/45 (10.2 cm) QF HA Marks XVI, XVII, XVIII and XXI

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