The BL 12-inch Mark VIII naval gunMark VIII = Mark 8. Britain used Roman numerals to denote marks (models, abbreviated Mk) of ordnance until after World War II. Hence this was the 8th model of British 12-inch breech-loading naval guns, was one of the first large British rifled breech-loading

naval gun Naval artillery is artillery mounted on a warship, originally used only for naval warfare and then subsequently used for shore bombardment and anti-aircraft roles. The term generally refers to tube-launched projectile-firing weapons and excludes ...

s designed for the higher pressures generated by the new

cordite Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom since 1889 to replace black powder as a military propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burn ...

propellant of the 1890s, and Britain's first large

wire-wound This article explains terms used for the British Armed Forces' ordnance (i.e.: weapons) and also ammunition. The terms may have slightly different meanings in the military of other countries. BD Between decks: applies to a naval gun mounting in ...

gun. It represented a major advance compared to previous British guns.

Naval service

The gun was installed on the ''Majestic''-class battleships from 1895 and on the ''Canopus''-class battleships from 1899. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

guns removed from the obsolete ''Majestic'' class were mounted in ''Lord Clive''-class monitors for shore bombardment.

Land service

From 1921 to 1926 two guns from the decommissioned battleship HMS ''Illustrious'' were in service in the

Tyne Turrets The Tyne Turrets were two 12-inch Mk VIII guns from the battleship HMS ''Illustrious'', installed in Roberts Battery at Hartley, near Seaton Sluice north of the Tyne, and Kitchener Battery in Marsden near Lizard Point south of the river. The b ...

for coast defence, north and south of the mouth of the River Tyne in the northeast of England.

Problems in service

During bombardment service when mounted in the ''Lord Clive''-class monitors deposition of

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

from the projectile

driving band Russian 122 mm shrapnel shell, which has been fired, showing rifling marks on the copper driving band around its base and the steel bourrelet nearer the front A driving band or rotating band is a band of soft metal near the base of an artillery ...

s needed frequent removal. However, problems with the inner liners were more serious. The continual drag of the driving bands caused the liner to be gradually stretched forward. The resulting protrusion at the muzzle could simply be cut off, but in addition the liner began to form a ridge in the barrel near the shoulders of the outer ‘A’ tube, where the inner ‘A’ tube was keyed to the outer. The ridge accumulated copper from the driving bands, which could give sufficient retardation to the projectile to start the fuze, which resulted in a premature detonation either within the bore, or soon after leaving the muzzle. This happened several times during bombardment service, including an occasion when ''Lord Clive'' showered pieces of

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...

over the French destroyer ''Aventurier''. The ‘steel choke’ restriction could be temporarily removed by rubbing down with an emery-covered block pulled back and forth in the bore, but the only permanent cure was to fit new guns with a modified design of liner, which had a different arrangement of internal shoulders.

Images

File:HMS Hannibal Y turret IWM Q 039023.jpg, Y turret (aft) guns of HMS ''Hannibal''. File:HMS Ocean (Canopus-class battleship) forward guns.jpg, Forward guns of HMS ''Ocean'' File:HMS Canopus bombarding Turkish forts March 1915.jpg, HMS ''Canopus'' bombarding Turkish forts,

Dardanelles The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

March 1915. Photo by Ernest Brooks. File:HMS Illustrious (1896) firing guns.jpg, The battleship HMS ''Illustrious'' fires her Mark VIII guns during gunnery practice. File:HMS Illustrious (1896) 12-inch gun.jpg, The starboard Mark VIII gun in one of the turrets aboard the battleship HMS ''Illustrious''. The guns breech is open. File:HMS Caesar (1896) 12-inch gun.jpg, The starboard Mark VIII gun in one of the turrets aboard the British battleship HMS ''Caesar''. The guns breech is closed.

Notes

References

Bibliography

''Text Book of Gunnery''
, 1902. London: Printed for His Majesty's Stationery Office, by Harrison and Sons, St. Martin's Lane * I. V. Hogg & L. F. Thurston, ''British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914–1918''. London: Ian Allan, 1972. * Tony DiGiulian
British 12"/35 (30.5 cm) Mark VIII

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:BL 12-inch Mk 08 gun Naval guns of the United Kingdom 305 mm artillery Coastal artillery Victorian-era weapons of the United Kingdom World War I naval weapons of the United Kingdom