BL 6 inch MK XXIII
| BL 6 inch MK XXIII | |
|---|---|
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| General Information | |
| Military designation: | BL 6 inch Mk XXIII |
| Manufacturer country: |
 United Kingdom Australia New Zealand 
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| Production time: | 1931 to 1985 |
| Number of pieces: | 469 |
| Weapon Category: | Ship gun |
| Technical specifications | |
| Pipe length: | 7.6 m |
| Caliber : |
152.4 mm |
| Caliber length : | 50 |
| Weight ready for use: | 7000 kg |
| Cadence : | 8 rounds / min |
| Elevation range: | -5 to 60 degrees |
| Furnishing | |
| Charging principle: | Breech loader |
| Ammunition supply: | manually |
| Drive: | manually |
| Range: | 14,000 m at 13 ° 23,300 m at 45 ° |
| Bullet speed: | 840 m / s |
| Bullet weight: | 112 pounds ~ 51 kg |
| Propellant weight: | 14 kg |
The BL 6 Inch Mk XXIII was a British main battery gun that was mainly used on light cruisers during the Second World War and the Korean War from the 1930s . It is a solid breech gun with a caliber of 6 inches (152 mm) and a gauge length of 50 mm. It replaced the BL 8-inch MK VIII guns .
description
The development of the weapon was still under the influence of the Washington Naval Conference , at which various limitations for warships were decided and should make ships below the new capital ships more effective with a weight comparable to that of their predecessor. In particular, ships that were assigned to the 'light cruisers' category had an upper caliber limit for the main armament of 155 mm.
The result was a manually loaded cannon with a caliber of 6 inches, which, with a propellant charge weight of 14 kg, could fire a 51 kg projectile up to 23.3 km. With a trained crew, 8 rounds per minute were usually achieved and the service life of a tube (effective full charges) was between 1100 and 2200 rounds, depending on the type of propellant charge.
The weapon was usually installed in turrets with two or three tubes that could be loaded up to an angle of attack of 12.5 °. Due to the elevation range of a maximum (depending on the turret design) 45 ° or 60 °, it was only suitable for air defense to a very limited extent .
Operation of the BL 6 "in a MK XXIII tower on board the HMS Jamaica , 1943
Bolt and grenade on the loading bench on board HMS Belfast , 2006
use
(incomplete)
- Leander-class light cruisers
- Arethusa-class light cruisers
- Crown Colony class light cruiser
- Town-class light cruisers
- Minotaur-class light cruisers
Existing copies
- Y-tower of the HMNZS Achilles , later INS Delhi (1948), on display at the entrance to the Devonport Naval Base , Auckland , New Zealand .
- Another tower of INS Delhi is on the grounds of the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun .
- 12 guns and four turrets are preserved on board the museum ship HMS Belfast in London , United Kingdom .
Web links
- Tony DiGiulian, Britain 6 "/ 50 (15.2 cm) BL Mark XXIII on Naveweaps.com
literature
- Geoffrey Brooke: Alert Starboard! Cambridge: Stevens, 1982, ISBN 0-85059-578-9 .
- John Campbell: Naval Weapons of World War Two . Naval Institute Press, 1985, ISBN 0-87021-459-4 .
- HT Lenton, JJ Colledge: British and Dominion Warships of World War Two . Doubleday and Company, 1968.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d John Campbell: Naval Weapons of World War Two . Naval Institute Press, 1985, ISBN 0-87021-459-4 , pp. 34-36 .
- ↑ a b O.U. 6359A, Handbook for 6-Inch, BL, Mark XXIII Guns on Triple, Mark XXII Mounting, 1937, page 8. Retrieved March 12, 2020 .
