BL 9.2 inch gun Mk IX - X

Infobox Weapon
name= Ordnance BL 9.2 inch gun Mk IX, Mk X


caption=Mk Xx made by Elswick in 1901, on Rottnest Island, Western Australia
origin= United Kingdom
type= Naval gun
Coast defence gun
is_ranged=YES
is_bladed=
is_explosive=
is_artillery=YES
is_vehicle=
is_UK=YES
service=1899 - 1950s
used_by=Royal Navy
wars=
designer=
design_date=
manufacturer=Elswick Ordnance Company
Vickers
production_date=
number=
variants=Mk IX, Mk X
weight=Mk IX : 27 tons barrel & breech; Mk X : 28 tonsText Book of Gunnery 1902, Table XII Page 336]
length=
part_length=Mk IX : convert|430|in|mm|sigfig=5; Mk X : convert|429.3|in|mm|sigfig=5
width=
height=
crew=
cartridge= convert|380|lb|kg
caliber=convert|9.2|in|mm|sing=on|sigfig=4
action=
rate=
velocity=convert|2643|ft/s|m/s|sigfig=3 [380 lb shell, with 103 lb cordite Mk I propellant size 44 (originally) (Text Book of Gunnery 1902), or 120 lb cordite MD size 37 (1914 onwards). Hogg & Thurston 1972, page 165]
range=
max_range= convert|29200|yd|m [Hogg & Thurston 1972, page 165]
feed=
sights=
breech=
recoil=
carriage=
elevation=
traverse=The BL 9.2 inch naval guns Mk IX and Mk X were British 46-calibres naval and coast defence guns in service from 1899 to the 1950s.

History

Mk IX was designed as a coast defence gun, with a 3-motion breech. Only 14 were built, and Mk X introduced in 1900 incorporated a single-motion breech and changed rifling.

The original propellant charge was 100 lb cordite size 44 for Mk IX gun, then 103 lb cordite size 44 together with size 3¾ for Mk X. The cordite size used was found to be too large for satisfactory service, and was replaced by 1914 by a larger 120 lb charge of cordite MD, of the smaller size 37.

Naval service

Mk X was mounted on armoured cruiser classes Cressy, Drake, Duke of Edinburgh, King Edward VII class battleships and from 1915 on M15 class monitors M15, M16, M17, M18.

Coast defence gun

These guns, together with the 6-inch Mk VII, provided the main heavy gun defence of the United Kingdom in World War I. 3 Mk IX and 53 Mk X guns were in place as at April 1918 [Farndale 1988, page 404] .

Many Mk X guns were emplaced to defend harbours and ports around the British Empire until the 1950s, including Australia at La Perouse, NSW and Rottnest Island, WA.

Railway gun

In 1916 Elswick adapted a small number of Mk X guns, and 2 Mk X variants originally intended for coast defence in Australia, and mounted them on Mk 3 railway truck mountings for service on the Western Front in France and Belgium. [Hogg & thurston 1972, page 168-169]

ee also

*List of artillery#Naval guns

Ammunition up to World War I

Notes

References

* [http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/u?/p4013coll11,230 Text Book of Gunnery, 1902. LONDON : PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE]
*General Sir Martin Farndale, [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1870114051 History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery : Forgotten Fronts and the Home Base 1914-18. London:The Royal Artillery Institution, 1988]
* Hogg, I.V. and Thurston, L.F. (1972). British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914-1918. Ian Allan, London. ISBN 7110 0381 5
* Tony DiGiulian, [http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_92-47_mk9.htm British 9.2"/47 (23.4 cm) Mark IX]
* Tony DiGiulian, [http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_92-47_mk10.htm British 9.2"/47 (23.4 cm) Mark X]

External Links