The Canon de 138 mm Modèle 1927 was a medium-calibre naval artillery, gun of the French Navy used during World War II. It was derived from a German World War I design. It was used on the destroyers of the Aigle-class destroyer, ''Aigle'' and Vauquelin-class destroyer, ''Vauquelin'' classes and the Bougainville-class sloop, ''Bougainville''-class sloops.

Description

The 40-Caliber#Caliber as measurement of length, calibre ''Mle 1927'' was derived from the German World War I ''15 cm L/45 UToF'' gun as mounted on the large torpedo boat SMS S113 received by France as war reparations. It copied the German gun's semi-automatic action and its horizontal Rifled breech loader#The sliding block, sliding-block breech. It had an Autofrettage, autofretted, monobloc barrel. It used of powder to push a shell to a muzzle velocity of .Campbell, p. 298

Mounting

The ''Mle 1927'' was used in single centre-pivot mountings that weighed approximately that were fitted with a thick gun shield. The mount could depress -10° and elevate to +28° which gave it a maximum range of . The gun had a firing cycle of 4 or 5 seconds with its automatic spring rammer, but the dredger hoists transporting the shells and cartridge cases slowed the rate of fire down to 8-10 rounds per minute.

Notes

References

* Campbell, John. ''Naval Weapons of World War Two''. London: Conway Maritime Press, 2002

External links

PIECES MOYENNES : 120 à 239

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canon de 138 mm Modele 1927 World War II naval weapons Naval guns of France 138 mm artillery Military equipment introduced in the 1920s