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Surface Vessel Weapon System Mark-8 naval gun 4.45" (113mm) / 55 caliber |
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The 4.5 inch Mark 8 is a British naval gun system which currently
equips the Royal Navy's destroyers and frigates, and some British
destroyers and frigates sold to other countries. Background: The 4.5 inch gun has been the standard medium-gun calibre of the Royal Navy for use against surface, aircraft and shore targets since 1938. The current 55-calibre Mark 8 gun replaced the World War II era 45-calibre QF 4.5 inch Mk I - V naval guns. Like all British 4.5 inch naval guns, it has a calibre of 4.45 inches (113 mm). Design: A completely new type of 4.5 inch gun with a longer 55-calibre barrel, it was designed in the 1960s for the Royal Navy's new classes of frigates and destroyers. The new weapon, built by Vickers Ltd Armament Division, was developed by the Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment using the Ordnance, QF 105 mm L13 of the Abbot self-propelled gun as a starting point (it used electrical primers). The outer shell of the gunhouse is built from glass-reinforced plastic (GRP). The new weapon emphasised reliability and rapid response to fire first round from shutdown state (particularly for defence against missiles) over a high rate of fire, allowing a switch to a lighter, single barrel mounting and ammunition of a one-piece design. The gun system has a combination of electrical and hydraulic components and the full system penetrates up to three deck levels below the weather deck; deep magazine, gun control room and power room, gunbay and the gunhouse. The weapon is semi-automatic and can be operated by a smaller crew than its predecessors. With no personnel in the gunhouse, loading is supported by personnel in the gunbay to load the feed ring and in the deep-magazine to pass ammunition to the gunbay. The captain of the gun in the control room ensures continued weapon readiness and the gun controller in the operations room aims and fires the weapon. The gun has a rate of fire of about 25 rounds per minute and a range of 12 nm (22 km; 27.5 km with the newer High Explosive Extended Range round). The first recipient of the new gun and mount, the Mark 8, was the Iranian frigate Zaal in 1971. The gun entered Royal Navy service in 1973 on the new destroyer Bristol. These guns proved to be less reliable than the older 4.5 inch Mark V gun (redesignated Mark 6 gun mounting) during the Falklands War, being forced to cease fire on several occasions due to faults. The first major modification to the mounting, the Mod 1, was developed in 1998 in two tranches; replacing the gunhouse with a reduced radar cross section assembly and replacing the hydraulic loading mechanism with an all electric system. This particular gun has been nicknamed the "Kryten gun" by members of Royal Navy, after the odd shaped head of a robot from the British Sci-fi comedy series Red Dwarf. Babcock upgraded 13 guns to Mod.1 standard between 2005 and 2012. source: wikipedia Technical data: Caliber: 4.45 inches (113 mm) Barrel lenght: 244.75 inches (6.217 meters) = 55 calibres Shell: 113 x 700 mm fixed QF 46 ponds (21kg) HE Rate of fire: 25/min. Range: 14.8 NM (27.5 kilometers) used on: Royal Navy: Type 45 Daring-class Destroyer Type 23 Duke-class Frigate Type 22 Broadsword-class Frigate Type 21 Amazon-class Frigate Type 42 Sheffield-class Destroyer HMS Bristol (D 23) Niteroi class Frigate (Brazil) Inhauma class Corvette (Brazil) Alvand class Frigate (Iran) Dat Assawari Frigate (Libyan Navy) HTMS Makut Rajakumarn Frigate (Royal Thai Navy) KD Rahmat Frigate (Malaysian Navy) |
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Mark 8 Mod.1  Mark 8 Mod.1 gun aboard a Type 45 / Daring class Destroyer  Mark 8 Mod.1 gun aboard a Type 45 / Daring class Destroyer  Mark 8 Mod.1 gun aboard a Type 45 / Daring class Destroyer  Mark 8 Mod.1 gun aboard a Type 45 / Daring class Destroyer  Mark 8 Mod.1 gun aboard a Type 45 / Daring class Destroyer  Mark 8 Mod.1 gun aboard a Type 42 / Sheffield class Destroyer  Mark 8 Mod.1 gun aboard a Type 23 / Duke class Frigate  Mark 8 Mod.1 gun aboard a Type 23 / Duke class Frigate  Mark 8 Mod.1 gun aboard a Type 23 / Duke class Frigate  Mark 8 Mod.1 gun aboard a Type 23 / Duke class Frigate  Mark 8 Mod.1 gun aboard a Type 23 / Duke class Frigate  Mark 8 Mod.1 gun aboard a Type 23 / Duke class Frigate  Mark 8 Mod.1 gun aboard a Type 23 / Duke class Frigate  Mark 8 Mod.1 gun aboard a Type 23 / Duke class Frigate  Mark 8 gun aboard a Type 23 / Duke class Frigate Mark 8 Mod.0  Mark 8 Mod.0 gun aboard a Type 22 / Broadsword class Frigate  Mark 8/Mod.0 gun aboard HMS Avenger (F 185)  Mark 8 Mod.0 gun aboard a Type 23 / Duke class Frigate  Mark 8 Mod.0 gun aboard a Type 23 / Duke class Frigate  Mark 8 Mod.0 gun aboard a Type 42 / Sheffield class Destroyer  Mark 8 Mod.0 gun aboard a Type 42 / Sheffield class Destroyer  Mark 8 Mod.0 gun aboard a Type 42 / Sheffield class Destroyer  Mark 8 Mod.0 gun aboard a Type 42 / Sheffield class Destroyer |
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