3"/23 caliber gun

3 Inch / 23 Cal Gun

A 3"/23-caliber gun being fired aboard the United States Navy submarine chaser USS SC-291 sometime between 1918 and 1920.
Type Anti-aircraft gun
Place of origin United States
Service history
Used by US Navy
Wars World War I
Specifications
Weight 531 pounds (241 kg)
Barrel length 69 inches (1.8 m) bore (23 calibres)

Caliber 3-inch (76 mm)
Elevation 75 degrees
Muzzle velocity 1,650 feet per second (500 m/s)
Maximum firing range 10,100 yards (9,200 m)

The 3"/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" x 23 = 69" or 1.75 meters.)[1]

Description

Plan and left elevation diagrams

The built-up gun with vertical 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 10100 yards (9235 meters) at 45 degrees elevation.[2] Ceiling was 18000 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 and O-class submarines and a few others.

When World War II began, the 3"/23 caliber gun was outdated, and surviving United States destroyers built during the World War I era that were armed with the 3"/23 caliber were rearmed with dual-purpose 3"/50 caliber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 Two, 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:

Notes

  1. Fairfield 1921 p.156
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Campbell 1985 p.146
  3. "New American Aerial Weapons" Popular Mechanics, December 1911, p. 776.
  4. 1 2 3 Fahey 1939 p.14
  5. Lenton & Colledge 1968 pp.90–92

References

External links

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