Recorded Books Inc. - Naval Weapons of World War One

In memory of John Campbell

FRONTISPIECE: The forward turret of HMAS Australia, one of three modified
Invincibles which retained the 12in/45 guns but had the two wing guns spread
more widely for better broadside fire. Initially an upgunned design (E) with
12in/50s was chosen for the 1907/8 programme, but by March 1908 the design
showed the earlier 12in/45, and the connection with the earlier series of designs
had been abandoned (the new Invincible offered to the Board in March 1908 was
Design A). The approval of Design E presumably accounts for the widespread
belief that these ships had 12in/50 guns.

Copyright Norman Friedman 2011

First published in Great Britain in 2011 by

Seaforth Publishing

An imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd

47 Church Street, Barnsley

S Yorkshire S70 2AS

www.seaforthpublishing.com

Email info@seaforthpublishing.com

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP data record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 84832 100 7

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
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The right of Norman Friedman to be identified as the author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Typeset and designed by Neil Sayer

Printed and bound in China by Regent Publishing Services Limited

AA = anti-aircraft

ADM = Admiral

AMC = Armed Merchant Cruiser

AP = armour-piercing

APC = Armour-Piercing Capped (shell)

ASW = anti-submarine warfare

BAG = Ballon-Abwehr Geschtze (anti-balloon gun)

BAK = Ballonabwehrkanone (anti-balloon cannon)

BIR = Board on Industrial Research

BL = breech-loading

BuOrd = Bureau of Ordnance (US)

CCP = Capped Common Pointed (shell)

Cdr = Commander

CI = cast iron

CINO = Chief Inspector of Naval Ordnance

CIW = Chief Inspector, Woolwich

CNO = Chief of Naval Operations (US)

Col = Colonel

COW = Coventry Ordnance Works

CPC = Common Armour-Piercing Capped (shell)

crh = calibre radius head

CSOF = Chief Superintendent RGF (q.v.)

CSP = Chillingworth Smokeless Powder

DAMS = Defensively-Armed Merchant Ship

DCB = Distance-Controlled Boat

DCT = Director Control Tower

DGD = Director Gunnery Division

DNA&T = Director of Naval Artillery and Torpedoes

DNC = Director of Naval Construction

DNI = Director of Naval Intelligence

DNO = Director of Naval Ordnance

DNP = dinitrophenyl

DOD = Director of Operations Division

DrL = Drilling Lafette (twin mount)

DTD = Director Trade Division

DTM = Director Torpedoes and Mines

EOC = Elswick Ordnance Company

FY = financial year

GDT = gyro director training

HA = high angle

HCP = hand-controlled power (gear)

HE = high explosive

K = Kanone (i.e. BL gun)

KC = Krupp Cemented (armour)

KMK = Kurze Marine Kanone (short naval gun)

KNC = Krupp Non-Cemented (armour)

Lt = Lieutenant

MGen = Major-General

ML = Motor Launch

ML = muzzle-loading

MLR = muzzle-loading rifle

MP = Mittelpivotlafette (centre pivot mount)

MTK = Morskoi Tekhnicheskii Komitet (Naval Technical Committee)

NGF = Naval Gun Factory (US)

NMM = National Maritime Museum, London

ONI = Office of Naval Intelligence (US)

OpNav = Office of Operations (US)

PDH = Portable Directional Hydrophones pdr(s) = pounder(s)

PGS = Portable General Service (hydrophone set)

QF = quick-firing

QFC = quick-firing converted

RADM = Rear Admiral

RAF = Royal Air Force

RAN = Royal Australian Navy

RAOAZ = Stock Society of Ordnance Plants (Russian acronym)

RCF = Royal Carriage Factory

RF = rapid fire (i.e QF gun: US)

RFC = Royal Flying Corps

RGF = Royal Gun Factory

RHA = Royal Horse Artillery

RKL = Ringkanone

RNAS = Royal Naval Air Service

RP = rohr-pulver (tube powder, i.e. German equivalent of Cordite)

SA = semi-automatic

SAP = semi armour-piercing

SAPC = semi armour-piercing capped (shell)

SC = solventless cordite

SF = submerged fire (pistol)

SK= Schnellade-Kanone (fast-loading gun, i.e. QF)

SL = side lug (torpedo)

STCAN = Service Technique Construction et Armes Navales

TAG = Torpedoabwehrkanone (anti-torpedo-boat cannon)

TR = tiro rapido (i.e. QF)

TW = Torpedo Werkstatte (German Navy Torpedo Factory)

VADM = Vice Admiral

VCP = Vavasseur Centre Pivot (mounting)

This book could not have been written without considerable assistance. I would like to thank, first, Cherry Campbell, who made the surviving parts of her late brothers manuscript available to me. W R Jurens drew several turrets specially for this book. Erwin Sieche, formerly editor of the Austrian journal Marine Gestern, Heute, provided his collection of transcribed Austro-Hungarian manuals for various guns, as well as other vital data. Stephen McLaughlin provided a great deal of Russian data and translated several articles from Russian. John A Roberts provided invaluable material from his collection of photographs and manuals. Ian Buxton generously allowed me to reproduce gun mounting drawings from his history of British monitors. As in my previous book on naval fire control, Naval Firepower, I have benefitted greatly from British official documents provided by Dr Nicholas Lambert and by Dr Jon Sumida. Christopher C Wright, editor of Warship International, generously provided material from his collection. Cdr Erminio Bagnasco and Dr Maurizio Brescia provided Italian photographs, and Achille Rastelli and Col. Filippo Cappellano provided some of the Italian gun data. Sivart Gustafsson, a volunteer at the Bofors archive, found vital data there. Capt Per Islander RSwN (ret) also provided Swedish data, and he obtained permission for me to use several official Swedish drawings he had previously published. Kent Crawford, who has long been interested in guns, was helpful in several ways, particularly in disentangling some German guns. I am also very grateful to Chris Carlson and to Christoph Kluxen for assistance with German data. Others whose assistance I much appreciate were A D Baker III, Alexandre Sheldon-Dupleix, Raymond Cheung, Dr Josef Strazcek, Wolfgang Legien, Richard Worth, Peter Schupita, Steve Roberts, Ray L Bean and Ted Hooton. I hope that the result justifies the assistance of all those who have helped.

This book is based largely on archival sources. For access to them, I would like to thank Jennie Wraight, the Admiralty Librarian, and Jeremy Michel and Andrew Choong of the Brass Foundry outstation of the National Maritime Museum, as well as the staff of the old Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum (which held the museums collection of Armstrong and Vickers handbooks and some other related material), the staffs of the Public Record Office, the US National Archives (both downtown and at College Park), the French Ministry of Defence archive at Vincennes, and the French DGA archive at Chtellerault. Dr Evelyn Cherpak very kindly helped me at her unique archive at the US Naval War College. This archive was particularly important because during the period of interest the war college functioned, in effect, as the think-tank of the US Navy in conjunction with its educational role. I am also grateful to the staff of the US Navy Department Library, which holds considerable operational and technical data relevant to this project.