12 cm/12 short naval gun

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12 cm/12 short naval gun
12 cm short naval gun.jpg
Type Naval gun
Coastal artillery
Anti-aircraft gun
Anti-submarine gun
Place of originMerchant flag of Japan (1870).svg  Empire of Japan
Service history
In service1941-45
Used byNaval ensign of the Empire of Japan.svg  Imperial Japanese Navy
Wars World War II
Production history
Designer Kure Naval Arsenal
Designed1941
Manufacturer Yokosuka Naval Arsenal [1]
No. built550 [2]
Specifications
MassTotal: 1,890 kg (4,170 lb)
Barrel: 218 kg (481 lb)
Length1.5 m (4 ft 11 in)
Barrel  length1.4 m (4 ft 7 in) L/12 [2]

Shell Fixed QF ammunition 120 x 284R [3]
Shell weight13 kg (28 lb 10 oz)
Caliber 120 mm (4.7 in)
Action Manual
Breech Interrupted screw
Recoil Hydro-spring
Carriage Center pivot H/A L/A [4]
Elevation -15° to +75°
Traverse 360°
Rate of fire 8 rounds per minute [2]
Muzzle velocity 290 m/s (950 ft/s)
Effective firing range2,800 m (9,200 ft) at +75° AA
Maximum firing range5.3 km (3.3 mi) Horizontal [4]

The 12 cm/12 short naval gun was a naval gun used by the Imperial Japanese Navy to defend merchant ships and land bases during World War II.

Contents

History

Since Japan is an island nation with relatively few resources it relied upon a large merchant fleet to import the resources needed for its industry and economy. As Japanese shipping losses mounted during World War II the Japanese began to organize their shipping into escorted convoys and they began arming their merchant ships to defend against attacks from Allied surface combatants, submarines and carrier-based aircraft. The 12cm/12 short naval gun was a multi-purpose gun introduced during 1941 which combined the roles of naval gun, anti-aircraft gun, coastal defense gun, and anti-submarine gun. [4]

Design

The 12 cm/12 short naval gun was an autofretted monobloc gun with an interrupted screw breech that fired fixed QF ammunition. The trunnioned gun barrel had a hydro-spring recoil mechanism above and below the barrel and was mounted on a center pivot HA/LA gun mount. [4] The gun was normally mounted on merchant ships below 5,000 GRT and also saw use on land as a coastal defense gun on hills overlooking Japanese harbors and installations or as an anti-aircraft gun. It was described as being a light and easy to handle hand trained weapon that could be loaded at any angle by inexperienced gun crews. [2] However, its rate of elevation/traverse 13° a second was considered too slow for effective anti-aircraft use. [1]

Ammunition

Similar weapons

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References

  1. 1 2 "The Japanese short-barrelled 12cm and 20cm dual purpose naval guns. Their technical details, war-time distribution and surviving examples". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2019-03-28.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Campbell, John (1985). Naval weapons of World War Two . Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. p.  199. ISBN   0870214594. OCLC   13085151.
  3. "106". www.quarryhs.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2019-03-28.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Japanese Artillery Weapons. United States Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas. 1945-07-01. p. 42. OCLC   51837610.
  5. Mobile Explosives Investigation Unit, No.4 (January 19, 1945). Japanese Projectiles & Fuzes. United States Navy. pp. 128a. OCLC   220671983.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

Bibliography