BL 6 inch naval guns Mk XIII - XVIII
| BL 6-inch gun | |
|---|---|
| Type | Naval gun |
| Place of origin | United Kingdom |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1914 - 1940s |
| Wars | World War I World War II |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Mk XIII, XVII, XVIII : EOC Mk XIV, XV, XVI : Vickers |
| Variants | Mk XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII |
| Specifications | |
| Barrel length | 300 inches (7.620 m) bore (50 cal) |
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| Shell | 100 pounds (45.36 kg) |
| Calibre | 6 inches (152.4 mm) |
| Muzzle velocity | Mk XIII : 2,770 feet per second (840 m/s) Mk XIV & XV : 2,900 feet per second (880 m/s) Mk XVI : 3,000 feet per second (910 m/s) Mk XVII : 2,905 feet per second (885 m/s) Mk XVIII : 2,874 feet per second (876 m/s) |
By taking on ships being built for foreign navies in British shipyards, a number of British-built 6-inch 50-calibre naval guns found their way into British service in World War I. Their specifications and performance differed from standard Royal Navy 6-inch guns but in British service they fired standard service 100-pound projectiles.
When World War I began, Armstrong-Whitworth were completing the battleship Sultan Osman I for the Ottoman Empire; it had originally begun as Rio de Janeiro for Brazil. Its secondary armament consisted of 20 of Armstrong-Whitworth's 6-inch 50 calibre guns, which were similar in design and characteristics to the 6-inch Mk XI gun in British service and used the same ammunition. To avoid the ship being used by Britain's enemies the battleship was seized and subsequently completed for the RN as HMS Agincourt and served in the Royal Navy in World War I. Its 6-inch guns were designated BL 6 inch Mk XIII.
Superfluous at the end of the war, Agincourt was decommissioned in 1921 and her 6-inch guns removed and used for coastal defence, and in 1939 the First World War era British gunboats Aphis and Ladybird each had their two 6-inch Mk VII guns replaced with 2 MK XIII guns, in which capacity they served in World War II.
When World War I began, the Royal Navy had just taken possession of three river monitors originally built by Vickers for Brazil but which Brazil could not pay for. These were each equipped with two Vickers 6-inch 50-calibre guns in a twin turret, and became the Humber-class monitors. These guns were very similar to the British service Mk XI gun, and in UK service they were designated BL 6 inch Mk XIV for the right-hand gun in the mounting, with breech opening to the right and BL 6 inch Mk XV for the left-hand gun, with its breech opening to the left. The guns of HMS Severn and HMS Mersey wore out early in the war from continuous use first bombarding the Belgian coast and later in East Africa, and were replaced by standard 6-inch Mk VII guns, while HMS Humber continued to use various refurbished Mk XIV and XV guns throughout the war for coastal bombardment.
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Wikipedia