6 inch 45 caliber Canet gun 1892

152mm 45 caliber Pattern 1892
Twin gun turret aboard the cruiser Oleg
Type	Naval gun Coastal artillery Railway artillery
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1897 - 2003
Used by	Russian Empire Soviet Union Finland Japan Romania
Wars	Boxer Rebellion Russo-Japanese War World War I Russian Civil War Winter War World War II
Production history
Designer	Canet
Designed	1891
Manufacturer	Obukhov Perm
Produced	1897
No. built	351
Variants	1897-1901 1909-1918
Specifications
Weight	5.8–6.3 t (6.4–6.9 short tons)
Length	6.8 m (22 ft 4 in)
Barrel length	5.3 m (17 ft 5 in)
Shell	Separate loading cased charge and projectile
Shell weight	41.4 kg (91 lb)
Caliber	152 mm (6.0 in) 45 caliber
Elevation	-6° to +25°
Rate of fire	2-7 rpm
Muzzle velocity	792 m/s (2,600 ft/s)
Maximum firing range	15.5 km (9.6 mi) at +25°

The 152mm 45 caliber Pattern 1892 was a Russian naval gun developed in the years before the Russo-Japanese War that armed a variety of warships of the Imperial Russian Navy during the Russo-Japanese War and World War I. Guns salvaged from scrapped ships found a second life on river gunboats of the Soviet Navy during the Russian Civil War and as coastal artillery and railway artillery during World War II. In 1941 It was estimated that there were 196 guns (82 in the Baltic, 70 in the Pacific, 37 in the Black sea and 7 in the Northern fleet) still in use as coastal artillery. After independence in 1917 Finland was estimated to have inherited 100 guns and some remained in use until the 1980s. The last was decommissioned in 2003.

In 1891 a Russian naval delegation was shown three guns designed by the French designer Canet. One was a 75/50 gun caliber gun, one was a 120/45 gun, and the last was a 152/45 gun. All three guns used fixed QF ammunition which produced a rate of fire of 15 rpm for the 75/50 gun, 12 rpm for the 120/45 gun and 10 rpm for the 152/45 gun. The Russians were impressed and in 1892 they negotiated a production license for all three guns. In practice the rate of fire of 10 rpm was hard to achieve due to difficulties with ammunition handling. The practical rate of fire varied by class of ship from a low of 2 rpm in the Petropavlovsk-class battleships, to a high of 7 rpm in single deck mounted guns. In 1901 the fixed ammunition was changed to separate loading QF cased charge and projectile.