3-inch/23-caliber gun

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The 3-inch/23-caliber gun (spoken "three-inch-twenty-three-caliber") was the standard anti-aircraft gun for United States destroyers through World War I and the 1920s. United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun fired a projectile 3 inches (76 mm) in diameter, and the barrel was 23 calibers long (barrel length is 3" × 23 = 69" or 1.75 meters.)[1]

Description

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The built-up gun with horizontal sliding breech block weighed about 531 pounds (241 kg) and used fixed ammunition (case and projectile handled as a single assembled unit) with a 13-pound (6 kg) projectile at a velocity of 1650 feet per second (500 m/s).[2] Range was 10,100 yards (9235 meters) at 45 degrees elevation.[2] Ceiling was 18,000 feet (5500 meters) at the maximum elevation of 75 degrees.[2]

History

The 3"/23-caliber cannon was the first purposely designed anti-aircraft cannon to reach operational service in the US military, and was a further development of a 1-pounder cannon concept designed by Admiral Twining to meet the possible threat from airships being built by various navies.[3]

A partially retractable version was mounted as a deck gun on the US L-class, Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities"., Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities"., and O-class submarines.

When World War II began, the 3"/23-caliber gun was outdated, and surviving United States destroyers built during the World War I era that were armed with the 3"/23-caliber were rearmed with dual-purpose 3"/50-caliber guns. Where there was no air threat during World War II, the 3"/23-caliber gun was employed in the surface-to-surface role for use against submarines, and was mounted on submarine chasers, armed yachts, and various auxiliaries.[2] Some major warships carried 3"/23-caliber guns temporarily while awaiting installation of quad 1.1"/75-caliber guns.[2]

The 3"/23-caliber gun was mounted on:

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  • Dubuque-class gunboats
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Notes

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  1. ↑ Fairfield 1921 p.156
  2. ↑ a b c d e Campbell 1985 p.146
  3. ↑ "New American Aerial Weapons" Popular Mechanics, December 1911, p. 776.
  4. ↑ a b c Fahey 1939 p.14

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References

External links

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