14"/45 caliber gun

The 14"/45 caliber gun, (spoken "fourteen-inch-forty-five-caliber"), whose variations were known initially as the Mark 1, 2, 3, and 5, and later as the Mark 8, 9, 10, and 12, were the first 14-inch (356 mm) guns to be employed with the United States Navy, and were for over a year the most powerful naval ordnance afloat. They were installed aboard the United States Navy's New York-class, Nevada-class, and Pennsylvania-class battleships as the primary armament for each battleship in the class. The gun also saw service in the British Royal Navy, where it was designated the BL 14 inch gun Mk II.

History

The design of the 14-inch/45 caliber dates to about 1910, and they entered service in 1914 aboard Texas, and then New York shortly after. At the time of their introduction they were intended to fire 1,400 lb (640 kg) armor-piercing (AP) projectiles containing a bursting charge of explosive D.^[1] Propellant charge was four silk bags of smokeless powder, each of which weighed 105 lb (48 kg).^[2] At a 15 degree angle, the guns could fire a shell out to 23,000 yd (21,000 m). Each individual gun weighed 140,670 lb (63,810 kg) without the breech and measured 642.5 in (16,320 mm) in length.^[3]

Each of the original Mark 1 built-up guns consisted of a tube without liner, jacket, eight hoops and a screw box liner. To compensate for the problem of gun drooping, four hoop-locking rings were added to the guns. The Mark 3 added three hoop locking rings and contained a longer slide, while the Mark 5 had five hoops total. Owing to the interchangeability of the guns, the battleships fitted with the 14-inch/45 caliber guns often had guns of various Marks installed on each turret.^[3]

In the 1930s, the Mark 1, 2, 3, and 5 were upgraded to allow for increased charges and muzzle velocities, resulting in the Mark 8, 9, 10, and 12, respectively. All guns employed a Welin breech block and used a Smith-Asbury mechanism, and in the case of the Mark 12 chromium plating was introduced to prolong barrel life. These improvements enabled the guns to fire heavier 1,500 lb (680 kg) shells, and increasing the gun mount elevation to 30 degrees^[2] extended the range of the guns to 36,000 yd (33,000 m). The New York-class did not have their turrets mondernized because their shell hoists could not accomidate the longer AP and HC shells, instead, a shorter version of shells with windshields were produced for them.^[4]

Naval action

United States Navy

14"/45 caliber guns aboard the battleship Nevada fire at Utah Beach during Operation Overlord in 1944.

The guns on the two ships of the New York-class battleships, New York and Texas, the first ship of the Nevada-class battleship Nevada and the first ship of the Pennsylvania-class battleship, Pennsylvania, saw service in World War II in the role of shore bombardment. New York bombarded North Africa during landings in 1942, Pennsylvania took part in the Aleutian Islands Campaign and Texas and Nevada shelled Normandy during Operation Overlord in 1944. Throughout 1944 and 1945, Pennsylvania hit many different Pacific islands during their invasions,^[5] while New York, Texas and Nevada all took part in the invasion of Iwo Jima and the invasion of Okinawa in 1945.^[6][7][8]

Due to the attack on Pearl Harbor, both Oklahoma and Arizona never fired their main batteries in anger. However, the 14-inch/45 caliber guns salvaged from the number 2 turret aboard Arizona were removed and installed aboard Nevada in the fall of 1944.^[4] The aft turrets from Arizona (numbers 3 and 4) were moved to become United States Army Coast Artillery Corps Battery Arizona on the west coast of Oahu and Battery Pennsylvania on Mokapu Point.^[9][10]

Royal Navy

14-inch (356 mm) gun turret of a British Abercrombie-class monitor during World War I. It mounted two guns, designated BL 14-inch Mark II guns in Royal Navy service.

Eight US Navy standard 14-inch/45 caliber guns, complete with mountings, built by Bethlehem Steel, were supplied to the United Kingdom in World War I. They were mounted on Abercrombie-class monitors under the British service designation BL 14 inch gun Mk II.^[11]

Naval service

See also

• 14"/50 caliber gun - later 14" gun (American)
• BL 14 inch Mk VII naval gun - for British Royal Navy King George V-class battleships (1939)
• Greek battleship Salamis

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

• EOC 14 inch /45 naval gun contemporaneous British equivalent
• Vickers 14 inch/45 naval gun contemporaneous Vickers-designed Japanese equivalent

Surviving examples

• On USS Texas (BB-35) at San Jacinto Battleground, near Houston
• Pennsylvania Military Museum, Boalsburg, Pennsylvania

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 14"/45 caliber naval gun.

Bluejackets Manual, 1917, 4th revision: US Navy 14-inch Mark 1 gun