BL 4-inch Mk VII naval gun

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Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". The BL 4-inch gun Mk VII[note 1] was a British high-velocity naval gun introduced in 1908 as an anti-torpedo boat gun in large ships, and in the main armament of smaller ships.[1] Of the 600 produced, 482 were still available in 1939[2] for use as coastal artillery and as a defensive weapon on Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships (DEMS) during the Second World War.[3]

Naval history

The guns armed the following warships :

  • Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".s, laid down 1906
  • Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".s, laid down 1907
  • Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". scout cruisers, laid down 1907
  • Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities"., laid down 1909
  • Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". battleships, laid down 1909
  • Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".s, laid down 1909
  • Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".s, laid down 1909
  • Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".s, laid down 1909
  • Bristol-class light cruisers, laid down 1909
  • Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". scout cruisers, laid down 1909
  • Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". scout cruisers, laid down 1910
  • Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". battleships, laid down 1911
File:BL 4-inch Mk VII gun DEM 1943 LAC 3394508.jpg
An example on a "DEMS" (defensively equipped merchant ship), 1943

The gun was succeeded in the "heavy" 4-inch class on new warships commissioned from 1914 onwards by the QF 4-inch Mk V. This new generation of warships were more heavily armed, and the BL Mk VII's role as secondary armament on capital ships and primary armament on cruisers was taken over by the BL 6-inch Mk VII and BL 6-inch Mk XII while the 4-inch calibre became the secondary armament on cruisers and primary armament on destroyers.

In World War II many guns were used to arm merchant ships.

World War I field gun service

File:BL 4-inch Mk VII gun East Africa WWI.jpg
An example in East Africa, World War I.

A battery of 4 guns mounted on field carriages was first deployed with the South African Heavy Artillery in the German South West Africa campaign in 1915 and returned to England in September. They were then deployed in the East African Campaign from February 1916 with 11th Heavy Battery (renumbered 15th Battery from April 1916) manned by the Royal Marine Artillery.[4]

Surviving examples

File:4-inch gun from HMS New Zealand in front of the Auckland Museum in June 2012 2.jpg
Gun from Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". outside the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

See also

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

Notes

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  1. ↑ Mk VII = Mark 7. Britain used Roman numerals to denote Marks (models) of ordnance until after World War II. Mark VII indicates this was the seventh model of BL 4-inch gun.

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References

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  1. ↑ Cite error: Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".
  2. ↑ Campbell, Naval Weapons of WWII, p. 43.
  3. ↑ Cite error: Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".
  4. ↑ Farndale 1988, page 318

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Sources

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Template:GreatWarBritishNavalWeapons Template:GreatWarBritishWeapons

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