RML 11-inch 25-ton gun
Ordnance RML 11 inch 25 ton gun | |
---|---|
Type | Naval gun Coast defence gun |
Service history | |
In service | 1867-190? |
Used by | Royal Navy |
Production history | |
Manufacturer | Royal Arsenal |
Specifications | |
Mass | 25 long tons (25,000 kg) |
Barrel length | 145 inches (3.7 m) (bore + chamber)[1] |
Shell | 536 pounds (243.1 kg) Palliser, Common, Shrapnel |
Calibre | 11-inch (279.4 mm) |
Muzzle velocity | 1,390 feet per second (420 m/s)[2] |
RML 11 inch 25 ton guns were large rifled muzzle-loading guns used as primary armament on British battleships. They were effectively the same gun as the RML 12 inch 25 ton gun, bored to 11 inches instead of 12.
Design
Mk I was introduced in 1867. Mk II was introduced in 1871 using the simpler and cheaper "Fraser" gun construction method which had proved successful with the RML 9 inch 12 ton Mk IV gun. [3]
Naval service
Guns were mounted on :
- HMS_Alexandra commissioned 1877
- HMS Temeraire commissioned 1877
Ammunition
The gun's primary projectile was 536-pound "Palliser" armour-piercing shot, which were fired with a "Battering charge" of 85 pounds of "P" (gunpowder) or 70 pounds of "R.L.G." (gunpowder) for maximum velocity and hence penetrating power. Shrapnel and Common (exploding) shells weighed 532 - 536 pounds and were fired with a "Full charge" of 60 pounds "P" or 50 pounds "R.L.G."[4].
See also
Media related to RML 12 inch naval gun at Wikimedia Commons
Surviving examples
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Notes
- ^ Treatise on Construction of Service Ordnance 1877, page 292
- ^ MV of 1,390 feet/second firing 706-pound 12-oz projectile with "Battering charge" of 110 pounds "P2" (gunpowder) is quoted in "Text Book of Gunnery 1887" Table XVI. 110 pounds "P" "Battering charge" is quoted in Treatise on Ammunition 1877, page 220
- ^ Treatise on Construction of Service Ordnance, 1879, page 281-282
- ^ Treatise on Ammunition 1877, pages 191,194, 205, 220
References
- Treatise on Ammunition. War Office, UK, 1877
- Treatise on the Construction and Manufacture of Ordnance in the British service. War Office, UK, 1877
- Treatise on the Construction and Manufacture of Ordnance in the British Service. War Office, UK, 1879
- Text Book of Gunnery, 1887. LONDON : PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE
- Sir Thomas Brassey, The British Navy, Volume II. London: Longmans, Green and Co. 1882
External links