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During the Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1914 HMS Arethusa lost the use of all of her 4" (10.2 cm) guns for a time due to problems with the cartridge ejectors. Her crew was eventually able to restore all but two of these guns to action. Up until the late 1930s the Mark V was the main British long-range AA weapon and was fitted in a majority of capital ships and cruisers. Most ships fired fixed ammunition, but the World War I cruisers and "V" and "W" class destroyers fired separate ammunition. Still used in large numbers during World War II with many new guns being manufactured. Guns removed from capital ships and cruisers in the 1930s were reused on many warships during World War II, including all eight "P" and four "O" class destroyers. Also issued as star-shell guns in some Dido class cruisers and early "Battle" class destroyers. The original Mark V was constructed of a tapered inner A tube, A tube, taper wound wire, full-length jacket and breech ring. Used a horizontal sliding breech block, opening to the right, with semi-automatic action. Mark V* had no inner A tube. An "A" added to either Mark V or Mark V* indicated a strengthened bolt actuating. Mark V** had a heavy autofretted loose liner with a muzzle bush on the jacket and a removable breech ring. This mod was used for repairing guns in 1937. Mark V*** differed in detail and had a sealing ring instead of a muzzle bush, and its liner could be changed on board. The Mark VB was the intended new loose liner gun, but none appear to have been completed. The final version, the Mark VC built during World War II, had a loose barrel, changeable on board, a shorter jacket, removable breech ring and sealing collar. Altogether 283 Mark VC and 554 earlier types were made for the Navy with about 107 additional guns being manufactured for the Army, where they were used as AA and coastal defense guns during World War I. Of these, 83 were later transferred to the Navy. Of the 637 earlier guns in naval service, 601 remained in 1939. The Mark V or a close variation was also used on the Argentine training cruiser La Argentina. The Mark XV was an experimental weapon with the same performance characteristics as the Mark V but with a vertically sliding breech block. Two Mark V guns were modified to use this breech mechanism and these were used in the prototype of the between decks (BD) twin mounting which was installed on HMS Resolution for trials in 1931. Six new Mark XV guns were manufactured, with four being installed in two new BD twin mountings on HMS Repulse in 1936. However, these guns proved to have an unacceptably low rate of fire and the mountings were removed from Repulse in 1938. The BD concept was further developed and was later successfully used with 4.5" (11.4 cm) guns. The data that follows below is for the Mark V unless otherwise stated, but the Mark XV should have had similar performance as the fixed ammunition Mark V. |
HMAS Vampire ca. 1938
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