4.5 inch (114 mm) Mark 8 naval gun

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The 4.5 inch (114 mm) Mark 8 is a British naval gun system. 4.5 inch has been the standard medium-gun calibre of the Royal Navy for use against surface, aircraft and shore targets since 1938. The current weapon replaced the earlier lineage of 4.5 inch guns. Like all British 4.5 inch guns, it actually has a calibre of 4.45 inches (113 mm).

[edit] Design

A completely new type of 4.5 inch gun was designed in the 1960s for the Royal Navy's new classes of frigates and destroyers. The new weapons, built by Vickers, was developed by the Royal Armament Research and Development Corporation using the 105 mm gun-howitzer of the Abbot self-propelled gun as a starting point. The outer shell of the gunhouse is built from glass reinforced plastic.

The new weapon emphasised reliability over a high rate of fire, allowing a switch to a lighter, single barrel mounting. The ammunition is also of a new one-piece design. The weapon is semi-automatic and therefore needs fewer people than traditional weapons to operate. There are no personnel in the gunhouse, and only a few in the gunbay to load the feed ring, in addition to the magazine crew. The weapon has a rate of fire of about 20 rounds per minute and a range of 12 nm (22 km).

The first recipient of the new gun and mount, the Mark 8, was the Iranian frigate Zaal in 1971. It entered Royal Navy service on the new destroyer Bristol in 1973.

[edit] Usage

• Type 45 Daring-class guided missile destroyer
• Type 23 Duke-class frigate
• Type 22 Broadsword-class frigate
• Type 21 Amazon-class frigate
• Type 42 Sheffield-class guided missile destroyer
• Type 82 destroyer, Bristol

• Niteroi class (Brazil)
• Inhauma class (Brazil)
• Alvand class (Iran)

[edit] External links

• Page from Navweapons on Mk8