The
BL 6-inch Mk XXII gun
[MK XXII = Mark 22. 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. This was the twenty-second model of British BL 6-inch gun was a British high-velocity 6-inch 50-
calibre
In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the finished bore match ...
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 ...
naval guns deployed on the
''Nelson''-class battleships from the 1920s to 1945.
Background
They were originally designed as secondary armament for the proposed
G3 class
The G3 battlecruisers were a class of battlecruisers planned by the Royal Navy after the end of World War I in response to naval expansion programmes by the United States and Japan. The four ships of this class would have been larger, faster an ...
battlecruiser
The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of attr ...
s. When the G3 class were cancelled after the
Washington Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was a treaty signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington Nav ...
the guns and mountings were later used as secondary armament on the two
''Nelson''-class battleships, serving throughout World War II. The Nelsons were the first British battleships since the of 1904 to carry their secondary armament in turrets rather than in broadside
casemates
A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" mean ...
. The Mk VIII gun mountings could elevate from +60 degrees to -5 degrees, while the telescopic power rammers for the gun loaded at a +5-degree fixed angle.
[Campbell, ''Naval Weapons of WWII'', p.37.] Although classified as a
dual-purpose gun
A dual-purpose gun is a naval artillery mounting designed to engage both surface and air targets.
Description
Second World War-era capital ships had four classes of artillery: the heavy main battery, intended to engage opposing battleships and ...
and capable of high-angle fire, their training and elevation speeds were too slow for the
anti-aircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
role and their main use was against surface targets.
Ammunition
The gun originally fired a shell, which had been the standard shell weight for six-inch guns since 1880. From 1942 the gun fired the same shell introduced for the later
Mk XXIII gun.
[DiGiulian] Figures in the table below are for the 100lb shell.
Shell trajectory
See also
Weapons of comparable role, performance and era
*
152 mm /53 Italian naval gun Models 1926 and 1929
The 152 mm /53 Model 1926–1929 were built for the Italian Navy in the years before World War II. These guns were used on all Condottieri-class light cruisers except the ''Duca degli Abruzzi-class''.
Construction
The Model 1926 was designe ...
approximate Italian equivalent deployed on light cruisers
*
6"/53 caliber gun
The 6"/53 caliber gun (spoken "six-inch-fifty-three-caliber") formed the main battery of some United States Navy light cruisers and three US submarines built during the 1920s.
Description
United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun fire ...
: roughly equivalent US gun deployed on light cruisers
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
* Tony DiGiulian
British 6"/50 (15.2 cm) BL Mark XXII
{{DEFAULTSORT:BL 06-inch Mk 22 gun
Naval guns of the United Kingdom
World War II naval weapons of the United Kingdom
152 mm artillery