The BL 4-inch gun Mk VIIMk VII = Mark 7. Britain used

Roman numerals Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...

to denote Marks (models) of ordnance until after World War II. Mark VII indicates this was the seventh model of BL 4-inch gun. was a British high-velocity naval gun introduced in 1908 as an anti-

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of se ...

gun in large ships, and in the main armament of smaller ships. Of the 600 produced, 482 were still available in 1939Campbell, ''Naval Weapons of WWII'', p. 43. for use as

coastal artillery Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of c ...

and as a defensive weapon on

Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships Defensively equipped merchant ship (DEMS) was an Admiralty Trade Division programme established in June 1939, to arm 5,500 British merchant ships with an adequate defence against enemy submarines and aircraft. The acronym DEMS was used to descri ...

(DEMS) during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Naval history

The guns armed the following warships : * s, laid down 1906 * s, laid down 1907 * scout cruisers, laid down 1907 * , laid down 1909 * battleships, laid down 1909 * s, laid down 1909 * s, laid down 1909 * s, laid down 1909 * ''Bristol''-class light cruisers, laid down 1909 * scout cruisers, laid down 1909 * scout cruisers, laid down 1910 * battleships, laid down 1911 BL 4-inch Mk VII gun DEM 1943 LAC 3394508

BL 4-inch Mk VII gun DEM 1943 LAC 3394508

The gun was succeeded in the "heavy" 4-inch class on new warships commissioned from 1914 onwards by the QF 4-inch Mk V. This new generation of warships were more heavily armed, and the BL Mk VII's role as secondary armament on

capital ship The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they are generally the larger ships when compared to other warships in their respective fleet. A capital ship is generally a leading or a primary ship in a naval fleet. Strategic im ...

s and primary armament on cruisers was taken over by the BL 6-inch Mk VII and BL 6-inch Mk XII while the 4-inch calibre became the secondary armament on cruisers and primary armament on destroyers. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

many guns were used to arm merchant ships.

World War I field gun service

A battery of 4 guns mounted on field carriages was first deployed with the South African Heavy Artillery in the

German South West Africa campaign The South West Africa campaign was the conquest and occupation of German South West Africa by forces from the Union of South Africa acting on behalf of the British imperial government at the beginning of the First World War. Background The ...

in 1915 and returned to England in September. They were then deployed in the East African Campaign from February 1916 with 11th Heavy Battery (renumbered 15th Battery from April 1916) manned by the Royal Marine Artillery.Farndale 1988, page 318

Surviving examples

4-inch gun from HMS New Zealand in front of the Auckland Museum in June 2012 2

2 Mk VII guns from HMS ''New Zealand''
outside the

Auckland War Memorial Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (or simply the Auckland Museum) is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Aucklan ...

Notes

References

Sources

HANDBOOK for the 4" Mark VII. and VIII. B.L. Guns 1913 (Corrected to September 1913.) ADMIRALTY Gunnery Branch, G.8652/13
* * DiGiulian, Tony

* Farndale, General Sir Martin
History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery : Forgotten Fronts and the Home Base 1914–18. London:The Royal Artillery Institution, 1988
* {{DEFAULTSORT:BL 04-inch Mk 07 gun Naval guns of the United Kingdom World War I naval weapons of the United Kingdom 100 mm artillery