Guest gumbirsingpun Posted 17 May , 2006 Share Posted 17 May , 2006 deal friends, can any one point me in the direction of where i can get abit of info on british 15 inch (381 mm) naval guns?? tuna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikB Posted 17 May , 2006 Share Posted 17 May , 2006 deal friends, can any one point me in the direction of where i can get abit of info on british 15 inch (381 mm) naval guns?? tuna There's a book called "The Big Gun" - can't remember the author and I'm not at home at present - which I got for about 12 quid (IIRC) from Amazon.co.uk or somebody supplying them. The 15" Mk.I mounting is obviously one of that writer's personal favourites (and indeed it did serve extremely well for over 30 years) and he describes the entire assembly in considerable detail. Try doing a search for the book title. Regards, MikB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 17 May , 2006 Share Posted 17 May , 2006 Wikipedia has basic info and links to slightly more technical articles. If you want seriously technical info, Fort Nelson (Royal Armouries) at Portsmouth has specifications, 'user manuals', etc, for most naval guns. They were very helpful to me a few years ago, but alas I can't find the name of the chap who dug out the information for me. 'Explosion', the Museum of Naval Firepower at Priddy's Hard (Gosport, Portsmouth) would probably point you to Fort Nelson too - but 'Explosion' owns all the surviving gun logs, which it keeps at the Records Office in Winchester (unless by now they have built conservation-standard archive facilities of their own). There are two 15" Mk 1s outside the front entrance of the IWM - one originally mounted in Ramillies, the other in Resolution. regards Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter B Posted 17 May , 2006 Share Posted 17 May , 2006 Picture of 15 inch shell outside IWM, my son is 1.4m tall to give you some idea of the size of the shell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gumbirsingpun Posted 17 May , 2006 Share Posted 17 May , 2006 thanks for the pic, peter i have got many pics which give me the impression of what they used to look like in 1915 here is ane of them, the pic wis taken in gallipoli last year tuna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gumbirsingpun Posted 17 May , 2006 Share Posted 17 May , 2006 mick and mikB, thank you so much for the information you have provided for me regards tuna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 17 May , 2006 Share Posted 17 May , 2006 Tuna, I got my info from Fort Nelson via e-mail, followed up by a mailing of copies from technical data in their collection, but I've just noticed that several Pals living in the Pompey area are discussing a forthcoming meet-up at Fort Nelson. If they are regular visitors, one of them may know who the big guns expert is there. Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FAAAEd Posted 17 May , 2006 Share Posted 17 May , 2006 Tuna, I got my info from Fort Nelson via e-mail, followed up by a mailing of copies from technical data in their collection, but I've just noticed that several Pals living in the Pompey area are discussing a forthcoming meet-up at Fort Nelson. If they are regular visitors, one of them may know who the big guns expert is there. Mick I'll make some enquiries if I get there at the end of the month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ionia Posted 17 May , 2006 Share Posted 17 May , 2006 deal friends, can any one point me in the direction of where i can get abit of info on british 15 inch (381 mm) naval guns?? tuna The origins of this gun, probably the most successful of all heavy naval guns, go back to 1911. In its various sub-marks it survived through to HMS VANGUARD. It was a wire-wound gun 186 were made.The gun armed the five ships of the QUEEN ELIZABETH Class, the five ships of the "R" Class, the battlecruisers HOOD, RENOWN and REPULSE, the COURAGEOUS Class and plus the monitors TERROR, EREBUS, ROBERTS, ABERCROMBIE and MARSHALL SOULT. Five were mounted at Singapore for coast defence and two at Dover. Weight: 100 tons. Length (oa): 650.4". Projectile Weight: 1938 lbs. Muzzle Velocity: 2458. Range: 26650 yds at 20 deg. elevation and 33550 yds at 30 deg. (Note: thiese figures could be increased with supercharge). The coast defence guns could range out to 44150 yds with a greater elevation. Ref: "Naval Weapons of World War 2", John Campbell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Roberts Posted 17 May , 2006 Share Posted 17 May , 2006 There are two 15" Mk 1s outside the front entrance of the IWM - one originally mounted in Ramillies, the other in Resolution. Don't take the mounting seriously though! But I would think its true to say that these are the only 15 inch guns left in existence (other than some at the bottom of the sea). Having said that there is a very large gun mounted on a Railway Wagon outside the Royal Artillery Barracks in Ha-Ha Road Woolwich - I'm not sure of the calibre but it must be either a 15" or a 13.5". Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gumbirsingpun Posted 18 May , 2006 Share Posted 18 May , 2006 m greatly indepted to you all for the information regards tuna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 18 May , 2006 Share Posted 18 May , 2006 Five were mounted at Singapore for coast defence and two at Dover. The coast defence guns could range out to 44150 yds with a greater elevation. Ref: "Naval Weapons of World War 2", John Campbell. The two Dover guns were called Winnie (after WSC) and Pooh, and 44,150 yards is 25 miles - more than the width of the Channel at that point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikB Posted 18 May , 2006 Share Posted 18 May , 2006 It was one of these guns on board HMS Warspite that scored the record hit between moving ships at sea against the Italian battleship Giulio Cesare in 1940 at 26,400 yards (15 miles). Regards, MikB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 18 May , 2006 Share Posted 18 May , 2006 It was one of these guns on board HMS Warspite that scored the record hit between moving ships at sea against the Italian battleship Giulio Cesare in 1940 at 26,400 yards (15 miles). Et tu Brute ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikB Posted 18 May , 2006 Share Posted 18 May , 2006 Et tu Brute ! Well, Caesar didn't quite fall, but he had to slow down and evacuate his boiler room... Regards, MikB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob H Posted 18 May , 2006 Share Posted 18 May , 2006 This site gives many details of this gun: Naval Weapons The book MikB recommended 'The Big Gun' is by Peter Hodges ISBN 0 85177 144 0 Regards Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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