20.3 cm/45 Type 41 naval gun

World War II Japanese naval gun Type 41 203 mm 45 caliber naval gun Takasago 8 inch gun centre pivot right elevation.jpg Right elevation diagram of an 8-inch center pivot mounting for Japanese cruiser Takasago. Japan Naval gunCoastal artillery yes yes 1908–1945 Imperial Japanese Navy World War IWorld War II Elswick Ordnance Company 18.75 – 19.4 t LT 9.487 m ft 0 on 9.114 m ft 0 on bore 203 mm in on Manual 2 rpm 760 m/s ft/s on 18000 m yd on at +30° Single motion interrupted screw -5° to +30° +/- 150° The 20.3 cm/45 Type 41 naval gun was a Japanese naval and coast-defense gun used on cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy from the Russo-Japanese War through the end of World War II. Design and development The 20.3 cm/45 Type 41 naval gun was a designation applied to existing foreign produced EOC 8 inch 45 caliber Pattern S, U, W guns which had been produced by Armstrong of Great Britain and Ansaldo of Italy and a license-produced Japanese variant. Licensed production of Japanese guns based on Pattern S drawings began in 1902 and in 1908 a modified version with a different rifling pattern and a resized propellant chamber was produced. Ships produced before 1902 in foreign shipyards most likely had Pattern S, U, W guns. While ships produced or refit after 1902 in Japanese shipyards most likely have Japanese-built guns. These weapons were officially designated as Type 41 on 25 December 1908, and re-designated again on 5 October 1917 in centimeters.Friedman, pp. 74–75 The first ship armed with these guns was the protected cruiser Japanese cruiser Takasago 2 completed in 1898 by Armstrong and armed with Pattern S guns.Friedman, p. 275 The last ships armed with these guns were probably the Ibuki-class armored cruisers built between 1905 and 1911. This series of guns also armed the armored cruisers Japanese cruiser Asama 2, Japanese cruiser Azuma 2, Japanese cruiser Iwate 2, Japanese cruiser Izumo 2, Japanese cruiser Kasuga 2, Japanese cruiser Nisshin 2, Japanese cruiser Tokiwa 2 and Japanese cruiser Yakumo 2. Many of these ships were disarmed under the conditions of the Washington Naval Treaty or subsequent London Naval Treaty and their guns converted into coastal artillery batteries, including installations at Tokyo Bay, Tarawa and later at Wake Island during World War II. Gallery Notes References Bishop, Chris (eds) The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II. Barnes & Nobel. 1998. 0-7607-1022-8 Naval Weapons of World War Two Campbell, John Naval Institute Press 1985 0-87021-459-4 Friedman Norman Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations; An Illustrated Directory Seaforth Publishing Barnsley, UK 2011 978-1-84832-100-7 Norman Friedman Friedman External links DiGiulian Tony http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNJAP_8-45_EOC.htm Japanese 20.3 cm/45 Type 41 NavWeaps.com June 2017 Category:Naval guns of Japan Category:203 mm artillery