Britain
4"/45 (10.2 cm) BL Marks IX and X
Updated 19 May 2012
Admiral Fisher had always objected to heavy secondary batteries on capital ships, so at his insistence, the 4" (10.2 cm) caliber was chosen for the secondary weapons on the battlecruisers of the Repulse and Courageous classes.  Initially, either the 4" (10.2 cm) QF Mark V or the 4" (10.2 cm) BL Mark VIII were to have been installed, but the first weapon was difficult to arrange for director firing and the second had a low rate of fire.  The best features of both, the Mark V body and the Mark VIII breech mechanism, were combined to create the Mark IX.

The battlecruisers used both single and triple mountings, with the latter having the guns individually sleeved, an unusual feature for a secondary weapon.  This mounting required a very large crew of 32 and, as it lacked power assist, proved to be quite cumbersome.

During World War II, this weapon was used in single mountings on many corvettes as well as on numerous smaller ships.

Mark IX was of wire wound construction with tapered inner A tube and jacket.  Mark IX* differed in having no inner A tube.  Mark IX** had no inner A tube, a B tube and overlapping short jacket and an old-style wire-winding method.  All had Welin breech blocks with Vickers mechanisms.  Some 2,382 were built.  Actual bore length was 44.35 calibers.

The Mark X was originally built for the Norwegian Nidaros class coastal defense ships which were taken over at the start of World War I and became the HMS Glatton class.  These guns were of Elswick Pattern T and were partly wire wound with coned breech block.  A total of fifteen guns were built and these were used only on DAMS.

The data that follows is specifically for the Mark IX, but the ballistics for the Mark X were similar.
WNBR_4-45_mk9_Sherbrooke_pic.jpg

4"/45 (10.2 cm) gun on HMCS Sherbrooke
WO Gerald P.B. Murison / Canada Department of National Defence
Library and Archives Canada Photograph PA-184185
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Click here for additional pictures
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Gun Characteristics
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Designation 4"/45 (10.2 cm) BL Mark IX and Mark X
Ship Class Used On Mark IX
   World War I
      Renown and Courageous classes
      Inflexible as rearmed
      Erebus and Marshal Ney classes
      Sir John Moore and M.27

   World War II
      Flower Corvettes, Bathurst Minesweepers and a variety of smaller ships
 

Mark X
   DAMS
Date Of Design About 1913
Date In Service 1916
Gun Weight Without Breech Mechanism:  4,620 lbs. (2,096 kg)
With Breech Mechanism:  4,749 lbs. (2,154 kg)
Gun Length oa 184.6 in (4.689 m)
Bore Length 177.4 in (4.506 m)
Rifling Length 149.4 in (3.795 m)
Grooves (32) 0.037 in deep x 0.270 (0.94 x 6.86 mm)
Lands 0.1227 in (3.117 mm)
Twist Uniform RH 1 in 30
Chamber Volume 470.3 in3 (7.707 dm3)
Rate Of Fire 10 - 12 rounds per minute
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Ammunition
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Type Bag
Projectile Types and Weights HE 1920 - 22 lbs. (10 kg)
HE 1940 - 31 lbs. (14.1 kg)
SAP - N/A
Bursting Charge N/A
Projectile Length N/A
Propellant Charge World War I:  7.7 lbs. (3.5 kg) MD16
World War II:  7.9 lbs. (3.59 kg) SC103 or 9.39 lbs. (4.3 kg) NF/S164-048
Muzzle Velocity 2,625 fps (800 mps)
Working Pressure 18.5 tons/in2 (2,910 kg/cm2)
Approximate Barrel Life 3,600 rounds
Ammunition stowage per gun Monitors - 400 rounds
Others - N/A
Notes:

1) SAP was 3crh.

2) Outfits included up to 100 star shells per ship.

3) Monitor outfit was 250 HE and 150 SAP per barrel plus 50 starshell per ship.
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Range
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Elevation With 22 lbs. (10 kg) HE Shell
Range @ 30 degrees 13,500 yards (12,344 m)
Elevation With 31 lbs. (14.1 kg) HE Shell
Range @ 30 degrees 13,840 yards (12,660 m)
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Mount / Turret Data
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Designation
(see Note 2)		 Triple Mount
   Renown (5), Courageous (6) and M27 (1):  T.I. Mark I

Single Mount
   Renown (2):  CPI
   Marshal Ney (8), Erebus (8) and Sir John Moore (4):  CPI
   Smaller ships (1):  CPI
Weight  T.I. Mark I (less shield):  17.475 tons (17.755 mt)
T.I. Mark I (with shield):  18.5 tons (18.8 mt)

CPI:  4.721 tons (4.797 mt)
Elevation T.I. Mark I:  -10 / +30 degrees

CPI:  -10 / +30 degrees
Elevation Rate Manually operated, only
Train 360 degrees
Train Rate Manually operated, only
Gun recoil N/A
Notes:

1) As mentioned above, the triple mount was a clumsy design.  Quoting from "The Loss of Repulse and Prince of Wales" by A.E. Jacobs:  "The triple mountings were always extremely difficult to train, and the general procedure when moving through a large arc was for the two trainers at the 'normal' and 'director' training wheels to be assisted by the remainder of the crew pushing on the breeches or muzzles."

2) The Monitors had many armament changes during their careers.  The quantities shown above represent the maximum number of guns carried at any time.
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Data from
"British Battleships 1919 - 1939" (revised edition) by R.A. Burt
"Big Gun Monitors:  The History of the Design, Construction and Operation of the Royal Navy's Monitors" by Ian Buxton
"Naval Weapons of World War Two" and "British Naval Guns 1880-1945 No 17" article in "Warship Volume X" both by John Campbell
"British Battleships of World War Two" by Alan Raven and John Roberts
Page History

19 July 2006 - Benchmark
28 February 2009 - Added information about monitors
03 January 2010 - Added picture of Sherbrooke
25 January 2010 - Created Additional Pictures Page
19 May 2012 - Added reference