Mark 71 lightweight gun
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The Mark 71 lightweight gun was an experimental 203 mm naval gun designed for the United States Navy .
history
With the withdrawal of the cruiser of Cleveland and Baltimore class , the US Navy possessed on their ships only about guns in the caliber of 127 mm (5 inches). However, these guns were unable to provide the necessary fire support for landing troops during an amphibious landing operation and to destroy heavily fortified positions. To remedy this situation, the "Medium Caliber Light Weight Gun" project was launched at the end of the sixties, in which a gun with a caliber of 203 mm (8 inches) was to be developed for the planned new destroyers of the Spruance class . After several years of development, the weapon was ready for use in 1975 and was then extensively tested on the destroyer USS Hull . However, shortly before the Mk-71 gun could be installed on board the new classes of ship, the Carter government stopped the project in 1978 for financial reasons.
technology
The system had a total weight of 78 tons, the gun itself weighed 19 tons. The gun barrel was 11.17 meters long, the rate of fire was 12 rounds per minute. Only one person was needed to operate the fully automatic gun, which resulted in considerable savings in personnel compared to the old systems. The range was 29 kilometers, with rocket-propelled guided missiles much greater ranges would have been possible.
Planned mission
- Spruance class
- Ticonderoga class
- USS Long Beach after being converted to an AEGIS cruiser
- Whidbey Island class
Web links
- Mk 71 at navweaps.com (Engl.)
Individual evidence
- ^ Stefan Terzibaschitsch : Kampfsysteme der US Navy , Koehler Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg, 2001, ISBN 3-7822-0806-4 , p. 12