The Canon de 130 mm Modèle 1932 and 1935 were medium-caliber
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 ...
s used as the primary armament on a number of
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
destroyers and as
dual-purpose secondary armament on battleships during
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 ...
.
Description
The Canon de 130 mm Modèle 1932 and 1935 were built with an
autofretted barrel and a breech ring. A vertical
sliding breech block was used for the M1932 in dual-purpose mountings, a horizontal one was used for the M1935 in low-angle mountings. Useful life expectancy was 900
effective full charges (EFC) per barrel. These guns were carried in dual-purpose double or quadruple
turrets aboard battleships and low-angle double turrets on destroyers. The dual-purpose quadruple turrets had cast steel cradles with two M1932 guns per cradle and the two pairs of guns could be elevated or depressed independently. The dual-purpose double turrets were basically one half of a quadruple turret with two M1932 guns on a single cradle. The low-angle double turrets used on destroyers had a separate cradle for each M1935 gun and they could be elevated or depressed independently. All three turret types had mechanical problems with their ammunition handling and the heavy weight of their shells strained crews and slowed their rate of fire.
Ammunition
Ammunition was of
Fixed QF type.
The gun was able to fire:
*
Semi Armour-Piercing
Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate either body armour or vehicle armour.
From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armour carried on many warsh ...
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*
High Explosive
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...
-
*
Illumination - Unknown
Naval service
Ship classes that carried the Canon de 130 mm Modèle 1932 and 1935 guns include:
*
''Dunkerque''-class battleships
*
''Le Hardi''-class destroyers
Notes
References
*
External links
*http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNFR_51-45_m1932.php
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canon de 130 mm Modele 1932 and 1935
Naval guns of France
130 mm artillery
World War II naval weapons