Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50 (full English name: Bofors 120 mm Automatic Gun L/50 In Naval Twin Turret), also known as Bofors 120 mm gun model 1950 and the like, was a Swedish twin-barreled caliber

fully automatic An automatic firearm is an auto-loading firearm that continuously chambers and fires rounds when the trigger mechanism is actuated. The action of an automatic firearm is capable of harvesting the excess energy released from a previous discharge ...

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

turret system designed by

Bofors AB Bofors ( , , ) is a former Swedish arms manufacturer which today is part of the British arms concern BAE Systems. The name has been associated with the iron industry and artillery manufacturing for more than 350 years. History Located in ...

from the end of the 1940s to the early 1950s to meet a request from the

Dutch Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy ( nl, Koninklijke Marine, links=no) is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) was one of the most powerful naval forces in the world an ...

. Besides the Dutch Navy, the weapon was also adopted by the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

and the

Colombian Navy ) , colors= , march= ''"Viva Colombia, soy marinero"'' , mascot= , battles= Battle of Lake MaracaiboThousand Days War (Civil war) Colombia-Peru War World War II Korean War Colombian Armed Conflict Operation Atalanta , notable_commanders=José Prud ...

Use in the Dutch Navy

The Dutch were the initial users of the Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50. As part of rebuilding the Dutch Navy post WWII, the Dutch Navy had requested several naval gun systems to be developed by

for their next generation of naval-vessels, one being a twin-barreled 120 mm dual-purpose gun for the planned ''Holland''-class destroyers. This request led to the creation of the Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50. File:Overdracht onderzeebootjager Hr. Ms. Holland bij Rotterdamse droogdokmij., Bestanddeelnr 906-9202 (cropped).jpg, Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50 from the back onboard the stern of the ''Holland''-class destroyer HNLMS Holland (D808). File:Overdracht onderzeebootjager Noord Brabant Vlissingen, Bestanddeelnr 907-1640 (cropped).jpg, Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50 from the back left onboard the stern of the ''Holland''-class destroyer HNLMS Noord-Brabant (D810). File:Indienststelling onderzeebootjager Gelderland Rotterdam, Bestanddeelnr 907-2819 (cropped).jpg, Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50 from the front left onboard the stern of the ''Holland''-class destroyer

HNLMS Gelderland (D811) HNLMS ''Gelderland'' (D811) ( nl, Hr. Ms. Gelderland) was a destroyer of the . The ship was in service with the Royal Netherlands Navy from 1955 to 1973. The destroyer was named after the Dutch province of Gelderland and was the twenty-first shi ...

. The gun entered active service with the Dutch Navy in 1954 mounted on the ''Holland''-class destroyers. Even before the first ''Holland''-class destroyer had been completed the Dutch Navy decided to order yet another class of destroyer armed with the Bofors 120 mm L/50, the ''Friesland''-class destroyer. The Dutch really liked the design and decided in the mid 1970s to save two turrets from the ''Holland''-class destroyer

when she was decommissioned in 1973, and then fit them to the new ''Tromp''-class frigates under construction.

Use in the Swedish Navy

Following the Dutch example, the Swedish Navy decided to acquire the new 120 mm system being developed for them and fit it to a new generation of destroyers in 1950. In Swedish service the weapon was fitted to the ''Halland''-class destroyers HSwMS Halland (J18) and

HSwMS Småland (J19) HSwMS ''Småland'' (J19) is a Swedish . She and were the only ones built of their class. Two more ships were ordered but they were never completed. She was decommissioned in 1979, and since 1987 has been a museum ship at Maritiman in Gothenbur ...

, both of which entered service in 1956. The weapon was initially designated ''12 cm automatkanon m/50'' (''12 cm akan m/50''), "12 cm autocannon m/50", but around 1970 the weapon was redesignated to ''12 cm torndubbelautomatpjäs m/50'' (''12 cm tdblapjäs m/50''), "12 cm turret double automatic piece m/50". The gun was in use until the Halland-class destroyers were taken out of service. File:HMS Halland (J18) 1966 001 (cropped).jpg, Swedish ''12 cm akan m/50'' stern-turret on Destroyer HSwMS Halland (J18) 1960's. File:Bofors 12 cm akan m50.png, Swedish ''12 cm akan m/50'' bow-turret on Destroyer

1960's. File:12 cm akan M50.jpg, Swedish ''12 cm akan m/50'' bow-turret on Destroyer

2010.

Use in the Colombian Navy

In Colombian service the Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50 was fitted to the destroyers and , both of which were Swedish built ''Halland''-class destroyers. Unlike the Swedish ''Halland''-class destroyers, the Colombian version carried three Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50 turrets instead of two.

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