The EOC 10 inch 40 caliber guns were a family of related guns designed by the

Elswick Ordnance Company The Elswick Ordnance Company (sometimes referred to as Elswick Ordnance Works, but usually as "EOC") was a British armaments manufacturing company of the late 19th and early 20th century History Originally created in 1859 to separate William A ...

and produced by

Armstrong Whitworth Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles and a ...

in the 1890s for export customers. EOC 10 inch 40 caliber guns were the primary armament of

armored cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship and fast eno ...

ironclads An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. Th ...

and pre-dreadnought battleships built or refit during the 1890s. These guns and their licensed derivatives armed ships of the

Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; es, Armada de la República Argentina). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the ...

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

Regia Marina The ''Regia Marina'' (; ) was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy (''Regno d'Italia'') from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the Italian constitutional referendum, 1946, birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the ''Regia Marina'' ch ...

and

Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy or officially, the Armada, is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation, ...

. They served in the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War ( tr, Trablusgarp Savaşı, "Tripolitanian War", it, Guerra di Libia, "War of Libya") was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911, to 18 October 1912. As a result o ...

and

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 ...

History

Development of the 10 inch 40 caliber guns began in the early 1890s at the Elswick Ordnance Company located at

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, England. They were developed for export customers and had the EOC designations of ''Pattern P'', ''Pattern P1'' and ''Pattern R''. They were

built-up gun A built-up gun is artillery with a specially reinforced barrel. An inner tube of metal stretches within its elastic limit under the pressure of confined powder gases to transmit stress to outer cylinders that are under tension.Fairfield (1921) p.1 ...

s with an A tube and reinforced with two rows of

hoops Hoop or Hoops may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * Hoops (TV series), ''Hoops'' (TV series), an American animated series Music * Hoops (band), an American indie pop band * Hoops (album), ''Hoops'' (album), a 2015 albu ...

. Originally they had a semi-automatic screw breech mechanism, which opened the breech as the gun recoiled. However, this was found unsatisfactory and was replaced by a hand worked breech. The Italian designation for the EOC 10 inch guns was ''Cannone da 254/40 A Modello 1893'' and ''Cannone da 254/40 A Modello 1899''. The ''Modello 1893'' version was a trunnion-less gun, while the ''Modello 1899'' had trunnions. Italian single gun mounts were electrically powered, while twin mounts were hydraulically powered. In addition to guns imported from England licensed versions were produced by the (Armstrong factory) at

Pozzuoli Pozzuoli (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean Peninsula. History Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of ''Dicaearchia'' ( el, Δικα� ...

, Italy. In 1908 the Japanese designated EOC 10 inch guns as ''10 inch 40 caliber Type 41.'' Later in 1917, they were re-designated in centimeter as ''25 cm 40 caliber Type 41''. In addition to guns imported from England and Italy, four licensed versions were produced at the

Kure Naval Arsenal was one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy. History The Kure Naval District was established at Kure, Hiroshima in 1889, as the second of the naval districts responsible for the defense of the J ...

beginning in 1908. The Kure guns differed from their English and Italian counterparts by using different rifling.

Naval use

Argentine Navy

Giuseppe Garibaldi-class cruiser The ''Giuseppe Garibaldi''-class cruisers were a class of ten armoured cruisers built in Italy in the 1890s and the first decade of the 20th century. The ships were built for both the Royal Italian Navy (''Regia Marina'') and for export. With th ...

s - Three of the four ships of this class purchased by Argentina had a primary armament of two Pattern P guns in single

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...

s fore and aft of the

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

Italian Navy

Ammiraglio di Saint Bon-class battleship The ''Ammiraglio di Saint Bon'' class was a pair of pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Italian Navy ( it, Regia Marina) during the 1890s. The class comprised two ships: , the lead ship, and . They were armed with a main battery of four ...

s - The two ships of this class had a primary armament of four 254/40 A guns in twin turrets fore and aft of the superstructure. Both ships saw action during the

. * Giuseppe Garibaldi-class cruisers - The three ships of this class purchased by Italy had a mixed primary armament of one 254/40 A gun in a single turret fore and two

EOC 8 inch 45 caliber The EOC 8 inch 45 caliber were a family of related 45 caliber naval guns designed by the Elswick Ordnance Company and manufactured by Armstrong for export customers before World War I. In addition to being produced in the United Kingdom licensed ...

guns in a twin turret aft of the superstructure. All three ships saw action during the Italo-Turkish War and

. *

Italian ironclad Enrico Dandolo ''Enrico Dandolo'' was the second of two turret ships built for the Italian ''Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy) in the 1870s. They were fitted with the largest guns available, rifled, muzzle-loading guns, and were the largest, fastest and most po ...

- This ship had a primary armament of four 254/40 A guns in twin turrets ''en echelon''

amidships This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water (mostly though not necessarily on the sea). Some remain current, while many date from the 17th t ...

after an 1895-1898 refit.

Japanese Navy

* Giuseppe Garibaldi-class cruisers - One of the two ships of this class purchased by Japan the

Kasuga may refer to: Places * Kasuga, Fukuoka, a city in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan ** Kasuga Station (Fukuoka), on the Kagoshima Main Line * Kasuga, Hyogo, a former town in Hyōgo Prefecture * Kasuga, Gifu, a former village in Gifu Prefecture * Kas ...

had a mixed primary armament of one Pattern R gun in a single turret fore and two EOC 8 inch 45 caliber guns in a twin turret aft of the superstructure. The other ship the Nisshin had two EOC 8 inch 45 caliber guns in twin turrets fore and aft of the superstructure. Both ships participated in the

Battle of the Yellow Sea The Battle of the Yellow Sea ( ja, 黄海海戦, Kōkai kaisen; russian: Бой в Жёлтом море) was a major naval battle of the Russo-Japanese War, fought on 10 August 1904. In the Russian Navy, it was referred to as the Battle of 10 A ...

and the

Battle of Tsushima The Battle of Tsushima (Japanese:対馬沖海戦, Tsushimaoki''-Kaisen'', russian: Цусимское сражение, ''Tsusimskoye srazheniye''), also known as the Battle of Tsushima Strait and the Naval Battle of Sea of Japan (Japanese: 日 ...

during the

Spanish Navy

* Giuseppe Garibaldi-class cruisers - The single ship of this class purchased by Spain the

Cristóbal Colón Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

was designed to carry two Pattern R guns, but the Spanish Ministry of Marine rejected them and she had to rely on ten

casemated 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 ...

6-inch guns. Cristóbal Colón was sunk at the battle of

Battle of Santiago de Cuba The Battle of Santiago de Cuba was a decisive naval engagement that occurred on July 3, 1898 between an American fleet, led by William T. Sampson and Winfield Scott Schley, against a Spanish fleet led by Pascual Cervera y Topete, which occurred ...

during the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

Army Use

As the

First World War 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 ...

settled into

trench warfare Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. Trench warfare became a ...

on the Italian Front, the light field guns that the combatants went to war with were beginning to show their limitations when facing an enemy who was now dug into prepared Alpine positions.

Indirect fire Indirect fire is aiming and firing a projectile without relying on a direct line of sight between the gun and its target, as in the case of direct fire. Aiming is performed by calculating azimuth and inclination, and may include correcting aim by ...

interdiction Interdiction is a military term for the act of delaying, disrupting, or destroying enemy forces or supplies en route to the battle area. A distinction is often made between strategic and tactical interdiction. The former refers to operations whose e ...

and

counter-battery fire Counter-battery fire (sometimes called counter-fire) is a battlefield tactic employed to defeat the enemy's indirect fire elements (multiple rocket launchers, artillery and mortars), including their target acquisition, as well as their command an ...

emphasized the importance of long-range heavy artillery. In order to address the Italian Army's lack of long-range heavy artillery, surplus 254B, 254/40, 305/17, 305/40, and 305/46

naval guns A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

were converted to land use. These guns were mounted on the same "De Stefano" carriage for land use and the resulting guns were classified by their size in millimeters 254, their length in calibers 40 and lastly by their carriage type DS which stood for De Stefano or 254/40 DS. The De Stefano carriage was a clever, but strange looking monstrosity which looked something like a child's 4-wheeled toy-horse when the gun barrel was elevated. The carriage was a large 4-wheeled box-trail design with two non-steerable wheels on the front and two

caster A caster (or castor) is an undriven wheel that is designed to be attached to the bottom of a larger object (the "vehicle") to enable that object to be moved. Casters are used in numerous applications, including shopping carts, office chairs, t ...

ing wheels at the rear. The wheels were fitted with detachable

grouser Grousers are devices intended to increase the traction of continuous tracks, especially in loose material such as soil or snow. This is done by increasing contact with the ground with protrusions, similar to conventional tire treads, and analog ...

s designed by Major Crispino Bonagente for traction on soft ground and was towed in one piece by a Pavesi-Tolotti

artillery tractor An artillery tractor, also referred to as a gun tractor, is a specialized heavy-duty form of tractor unit used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibres. It may be 6x6, wheeled, continuous track, tracked, or half-tracked. Trac ...

. When not on the move the grousers were removed and the steel wheels rode on an inclined set of steel rails when in firing position. The steel rails were mounted on a firing platform made of wooden beams which allowed the gun 360° of traverse. When the gun fired recoil which was not absorbed by the recoil mechanism was transmitted to the wheels and the carriage rolled up the inclined rails and then rolled back into firing position. The box trail carriage was tall and wide enough that the breech of the gun was accessible at high angles of elevation without a pit being dug and the gun crew had a bucket and hoist for ammunition handling.

Ammunition

Ammunition was of separate loading bagged charge and projectile type. The bagged

ballistite Ballistite is a smokeless propellant made from two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. It was developed and patented by Alfred Nobel in the late 19th century. Military adoption Alfred Nobel patented https://www.nobelprize.org/alf ...

charge weighed and projectiles weighed between . The gun was able to fire: *

Armor 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 ...

* Armor Piercing capped *

Common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

Photo gallery

File:Garibaldi NH 88672.jpg, ARA Garibaldi File:St Bon 10 inch gun turret plan.jpg, Top view of a twin 10-inch gun turret File:Erbeutete_Kanone_bei_Cervignano_22.11.17._(BildID_15611297).jpg, A 254/40 gun on a De Stefano carriage. File:Trient. Italienische 254mm Kanone. (BildID 15640641).jpg, A 254/40 gun in traveling position showing its castering rear wheels and Bonagente grousers. File:Itl.Küstengeschütz.Cervignano, (Mitte Mai 1918.) (BildID 15664915).jpg File:Erbeutete Geschütze in Cervignano 26.11.17. (BildID 15611458).jpg File:Erbeutete Geschütze in Cervignano 12.11.17. (BildID 15610757).jpg

Footnotes

References

* *

External links

* http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNJAP_10-40_EOC.php * http://www.historicaleye.it/pozzuoli-dai-cantieri-armstrong-alla-breda-sofer/ * http://oldbritishguns.com/elswick-ordnance-co {{DEFAULTSORT:EOC 10 inch 40 caliber World War I naval weapons Naval guns of Argentina Naval guns of Italy Naval guns of Japan Russo-Japanese war weapons of Japan 254 mm artillery