130 mm/55 B7 Pattern 1913

Last updated
130mm/55 Pattern 1913 naval gun B7
Stamsund - Canon.jpg
Type Naval gun
Place of originRussian
Service history
In service1914–1945?
Used byRussia; Soviet Union
Wars World War I, World War II
Production history
Designed1912
Manufacturer Obukhov State Plant, Vickers Ltd.
Produced1913 - 1925
No. built571
Specifications (Pattern 1913)
Mass17,169 kilograms (37,900 lb)
Length7,150 mm (281 in)
Barrel  length7,019 mm (276 in)

Shell HE mod 1911
Shell weight36.86 kilograms (81.3 lb)
Caliber 130 mm (5.12 in)
Breech Welin breech block
Recoil Hydro-spring
Elevation -5° / + 30°
Traverse 360°
Rate of fire 5-8 shots/minute
Muzzle velocity 861 m/s (2,820 ft/s)
Maximum firing range20,300 m (22,200 yd)

The 130mm/55 B7 Pattern 1913 naval gun was a 5.1-inch naval gun used predominantly on ships of the Imperial Russian Navy and later by the Soviet Navy. It was manufactured mainly by the Obukhov State Plant (OSP) in St. Petersburg, as well as under licence by Vickers Limited in Great Britain. The gun was used as medium artillery on several Russian dreadnoughts and as main artillery on cruisers, as well as coastal artillery. It was succeeded by the 130 mm/50 B13 Pattern 1936 naval gun, which became the standard destroyer gun of the Soviet Navy during World War II.

Imperial Russian Navy navy of the Russian Empire

The Imperial Russian Navy was the navy of the Russian Empire. It was formally established in 1696 and lasted until being dissolved during the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from a smaller force that had existed prior to Czar Peter the Great's founding the regular Russian Navy during the Second Azov campaign. It was expanded in the second half of the 18th century and by the early part of the 19th century, it reached its peak strength, behind only the British and French fleets in terms of size.

Soviet Navy naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces

The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy was a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic plan in the event of a conflict with opposing super power, the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), or another conflict related to the Warsaw Pact of Eastern Europe. The influence of the Soviet Navy played a large role in the Cold War (1945-1991), as the majority of conflicts centered on naval forces.

Obukhov State Plant is a major Russian metallurgy and heavy machine-building plant in St. Petersburg, Russia.

History

In 1911 OSP received an order to design a semi-automatic 130 mm/60 caliber naval gun for the Main Shipping Administration. The order asked for two prototypes, one for cartridges, one for rounds. On 12 July 1912 the cartridge-version with a 55 caliber barrel was approved. In September 1912 it was decided to go with the hydro-spring rather than the hydro-pneumatic recoil system. Earlier an OSP designed semi-automatic breech mechanism was rejected in favor of a Vickers design.

Welin breech block

The Welin breech block was a revolutionary stepped, interrupted thread design for locking artillery breeches, invented by Axel Welin in 1889 or 1890. Shortly after, Vickers acquired the British patents. Welin breech blocks provide obturation for artillery pieces which use separate loading bagged charges and projectiles. In this system the projectile is loaded first and then followed by cloth bags of propellant.

In 1913 an initial order of 471 guns was placed with OSP. By 1 January 1917 143 guns had been delivered, with 96 due until the end of that year. The remaining 282 guns were supposed to be delivered in 1918. The first charge of guns was used to equipped the cruiser Svetlana and the Imperatritsa Mariya-class battleships of the Black Sea Fleet.

<i>Imperatritsa Mariya</i>-class battleship

The Imperatritsa Mariya-class battleships were the first dreadnoughts built for the Black Sea Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy. All three ships were built in Nikolayev during World War I; two of the ships were built by the Rossud Dockyard and the third was built by the Associated Factories and Shipyards of Nikolayev. Two ships were delivered in 1915 and saw some combat against ex-German warships that had been 'gifted' to the Ottoman Empire, but the third was not completed until 1917 and saw no combat due to the disorder in the navy after the February Revolution earlier that year.

Black Sea Fleet regional command of the Russian (and former Soviet) Navy

The Black Sea Fleet is the fleet of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Mediterranean Sea.

Another order of 100 guns was placed in 1913 with Vickers Ltd., of which 24 were ready for delivery by 16 September 1914. Of these 7 were shipped to Arkhangelsk in October 1914. A further 12 guns destined for Russian cruiser Varyag were delivered to Russia on the same route as the repairs of Varyag were delayed, where they were put to the defense of Saaremaa island.

Arkhangelsk City in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia

Arkhangelsk, also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, in the north of European Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea. The city spreads for over 40 kilometers (25 mi) along the banks of the river and numerous islands of its delta. Arkhangelsk was the chief seaport of medieval and early modern Russia until 1703. A 1,133-kilometer-long (704 mi) railway runs from Arkhangelsk to Moscow via Vologda and Yaroslavl, and air travel is served by the Talagi Airport and a smaller Vaskovo Airport. As of the 2010 Census, the city's population was 348,783, down from 356,051 recorded in the 2002 Census, and further down from 415,921 recorded in the 1989 Census.

Russian cruiser <i>Varyag</i> (1899) Russian protected cruiser

Varyag was a Russian protected cruiser. Varyag became famous for her crew's stoicism at the Battle of Chemulpo Bay.

Saaremaa island in Estonia

Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring 2,673 km2 (1,032 sq mi). The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island and west of Muhu island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago. The capital of the island is Kuressaare, which in January 2018 had 13,276 inhabitants. The whole island had a recorded population in January 2017 of 31,357.

The Soviet Navy retained the 130mm/55 Pattern 1913 naval gun and produced additional guns under the designation B-7, as the OSP had been renamed Works No. 232 "Bolshevik" in 1922.

In 1923, 12 guns had been placed in four coastal batteries, one in Odessa and three along the Caucasian coast.

Odessa Place in Odessa Oblast, Ukraine

Odessa is the third most populous city of Ukraine and a major tourism center, seaport and transport hub located on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. It is also the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast and a multiethnic cultural center. Odessa is sometimes called the "pearl of the Black Sea", the "South Capital", and "Southern Palmyra". Before the Tsarist establishment of Odessa, an ancient Greek settlement existed at its location as elsewhere along the northwestern Black Sea coast. A more recent Tatar settlement was also founded at the location by Hacı I Giray, the Khan of Crimea in 1440 that was named after him as "Hacıbey". After a period of Lithuanian Grand Duchy control, Hacibey and surroundings became part of the domain of the Ottomans in 1529 and remained there until the empire's defeat in the Russo-Turkish War of 1792.

In 1930 a minor modernizations were made to a few guns at the "Bolshevik" works, improving the loading mechanism and enhancing elevation to +40°.

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