Naval anti-aircraft guns include anti-aircraft guns specially designed or adapted for mounting on ships, and naval guns adapted for high-angle fire.
Naval anti-aircraft guns include anti-aircraft guns specially designed or adapted for mounting on ships, and naval guns adapted for high-angle fire.
Anti-aircraft warfare is the counter to aerial warfare and it includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action". It includes surface based, subsurface, and air-based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements, and passive measures. It may be used to protect naval, ground, and air forces in any location. However, for most countries, the main effort has tended to be homeland defence. Missile defence is an extension of air defence, as are initiatives to adapt air defence to the task of intercepting any projectile in flight.
The Atlanta-class cruisers were eight United States Navy light cruisers which were designed as fast scout cruisers or flotilla leaders but which proved to be effective anti-aircraft cruisers during World War II. They were also known as the Atlanta-Oakland class. The Atlanta class originally had 16 x 5-inch (127 mm)/38 caliber guns in eight two-gun turrets, arranged with three superfiring turrets forward, three more superfiring aft and two waist mounts, one port and one starboard, giving the first four Atlanta-class cruisers the heaviest anti-aircraft armament of any cruiser of World War II. The last four ships of the class, starting with Oakland, had a slightly revised armament with a reduced main gun battery - the waist turrets being deleted - as they were further optimized for anti-aircraft fire in light of war experience.
The Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60 is an anti-aircraft autocannon, designed in the 1930s by the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors. The gun was designed as an intermediate anti-aircraft gun, filling the gap between fast firing close-range small calibre anti-aircraft guns and slower firing long-range high calibre anti-aircraft guns. The Bofors 40 mm L/60 was for its time perfectly suited for this role and outperformed competing designs in the years leading up to World War II in both effectiveness and reliability.
The QF 4.5 inch gun has been the standard medium-calibre naval gun used by the Royal Navy as a medium-range weapon capable of use against surface, aircraft and shore targets since 1938. This article covers the early 45-calibre family of guns up to the 1970s. For the later unrelated 55-calibre Royal Navy gun, see 4.5 inch Mark 8 naval gun. Like all British nominally 4.5 inch naval guns, the QF Mk I has an actual calibre of 4.45 inches (113 mm).
The 2-pounder gun, officially the QF 2-pounder and universally known as the pom-pom, was a 40 mm (1.6 in) British autocannon, used as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy. The name came from the sound that the original models make when firing. This QF 2-pounder was not the same gun as the Ordnance QF 2-pounder, used by the British Army as an anti-tank gun and a tank gun, although they both fired 2 lb (0.91 kg), 40 mm (1.6 in) projectiles.
The Type 10 or 12 cm/45 10th Year Type naval gun was a Japanese 120 mm calibre dual purpose anti-aircraft and coastal defense gun used during the Second World War. It was derived from the 12 cm/45 3rd Year Type naval gun. The Type 10 number was designated for the year the gun was accepted, the 10th year of Emperor Taishō's reign, 1927 in the Gregorian calendar. It served as the secondary armament on a number of Japanese aircraft carriers and cruisers and as the main armament on smaller ships, in single or twin mountings.
The Type 96 25 mm gun was an automatic cannon used by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. A locally-built variant of the French Hotchkiss 25 mm anti-aircraft gun, it was designed as a dual-purpose weapon for use against armored vehicles and aircraft, but was primarily used as an anti-aircraft gun in fixed mounts with one to three guns.
The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models employed by both Allied and Axis forces during World War II. Many versions of the cannon are still used today.
The KPV heavy machine gun is a Soviet designed 14.5×114mm-caliber heavy machine gun, which first entered service as an infantry weapon in 1949. In the 1960s, the infantry version was taken out of production because it was too large and heavy. It was later redesigned for anti-aircraft use, as it showed excellent results as an AA gun against low flying aircraft, with a range of 3,000 m (9,800 ft) horizontally and 2,000 m (6,600 ft) vertically. It was used in the ZPU series of anti-aircraft guns. Its size and power also made it a useful light anti-armour weapon on the BTR series of vehicles and the BRDM-2 scout car.
A main battery is the primary weapon or group of weapons around which a warship is designed. As such, a main battery was historically a gun or group of guns, as in the broadsides of cannon on a ship of the line. Later, this came to be turreted groups of similar large-caliber naval rifles. With the evolution of technology the term has come to encompass guided missiles as a vessel's principal offensive weapon, deployed both on surface ships and submarines.
The 1.1"/75 caliber gun was an American anti-aircraft weapon of World War II, used by the United States Navy. The name means that it had a bore diameter of 1.1 in (28 mm) and barrel caliber of 75. The gun was designed to replace the M2 Browning and four barrels were required to duplicate the rate of fire.
The Hotchkiss 13.2 mm machine gun, also known as the Hotchkiss M1929 machine gun, was a heavy machine gun, primarily intended for anti-aircraft use, designed and manufactured by French arms manufacturer Hotchkiss et Cie from the late 1920s until World War II, which saw service with various nations' forces, including Italy and Japan where the gun was built under license.
The QF 3-inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft gun became the standard anti-aircraft gun used in the home defence of the United Kingdom against German Zeppelins airships and bombers and on the Western Front in World War I. It was also common on British warships in World War I and submarines in World War II. 20 cwt referred to the weight of the barrel and breech, to differentiate it from other 3-inch guns. While other AA guns also had a bore of 3 inches (76 mm), the term 3-inch was only ever used to identify this gun in the World War I era, and hence this is what writers are usually referring to by 3-inch AA gun.
The 12 pounder 12 cwt anti-aircraft gun was a British anti-aircraft gun of the First World War, The guns were QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval guns taken from coast defence positions with the addition of a modified cradle for higher elevation, a retaining catch for the cartridge, and an additional spring recuperator above the barrel and high-angle sights. Writers commonly refer to it simply as "12 pounder anti-aircraft gun". 12 cwt referred to the weight of the barrel and breech - 1,344 lb (610 kg) - to differentiate it from other 12-pounder guns.
The QF 4 inch Mk V gun was a Royal Navy gun of World War I which was adapted on HA mountings to the heavy anti-aircraft role both at sea and on land, and was also used as a coast defence gun.
The COW 37 mm gun was a British automatic cannon that was developed during First World War as a large-calibre aircraft weapon. It was tested in several installations and specified for the Westland C.O.W. Gun Fighter for attacking bombers. The tests did not yield satisfactory results and the weapon did not enter general service except on a few flying boats. The design was later adapted as the basis of the Vickers S, which saw some service during the Second World War as an anti-armour weapon.
The QF 1 pounder, universally known as the pom-pom due to the sound of its discharge, was a 37 mm British autocannon, the first of its type in the world. It was used by several countries initially as an infantry gun and later as a light anti-aircraft gun.
The QF 4 inch Mk XVI gun was the standard British Commonwealth naval anti-aircraft and dual-purpose gun of World War II.
The 45 mm anti-aircraft gun (21-K) was a Soviet design adapted from the 45 mm anti-tank gun M1932 (19-K). This was a copy of a 3.7 cm (1.5 in) German weapon designed by Rheinmetall that was sold to the Soviets before Hitler came to power in 1933 that had been enlarged to 45 mm (1.8 in) to reuse a large stock of old 47mm ammunition. It was used by the Soviet Navy to equip almost all of their ships from 1934 as its primary light anti-aircraft gun until replaced by the fully automatic 37 mm 70-K gun from 1942 to 1943. It was used in World War II and during the Cold War as the Soviets exported their World War II-era ships to their friends and allies. However it was not very effective as its slow rate of fire and lack of a time fuze required a direct hit to damage targets.
The 12.7 cm/40 Type 89 naval gun was a Japanese anti-aircraft (AA) gun introduced before World War II. It was the Imperial Japanese Navy's standard heavy AA gun during the war.
