12.7 cm/50 Type 3 naval gun

Description

The 50-caliber 12.7 cm Type 3 gun was of built-up construction, originally with three and later two layers with the usual breech ring and breech bush. It used a Welin interrupted screw breech and powder bags, unusual for guns of that caliber. The shell was fuzed manually on the loading tray before being rammed by hand and could only be loaded at elevations between 5° and 10°. All mounts used pusher-type shell hoists, but the powder bags were passed by hand.

Mountings

These guns were first used in the twin gun Model A turret on the revolutionary s. These were the first weatherproof, splinterproof and gas-proof enclosed gun turrets ever mounted on a destroyer. Guns in twin mounts were in individual cradles and could elevate separately. All twin gun mounts weighed approximately 32 t. All mounts could traverse at 6° per second and could elevate at a rate between 6° and 12° per second although speeds up to 27° per second have been reported.

The twin gun Model A mount was fitted with a 9 - gun shield. Its guns could depress −5° and elevate to +40°. These mounts were deployed on the first ten Fubuki-class destroyers. The twin gun Model B mount had its elevation increased to 75° and was fitted in the rest of the Fubuki-class as well as the destroyers.

The Type A single mount could depress −7° and elevate to +75°, but the Type B reduced the maximum elevation to 55°. Both mounts weighed approximately 18.5 t. The Type A was fitted on the Hatsuharu class and the Type B on the Shiratsuyu-class destroyers.

Ammunition

The gun normally fired a 23 kg high-explosive shell, an illumination shell or an incendiary shrapnel round (**) intended for anti-aircraft use. All of these shells weighed 23 kg and used 7.7 kg of 30 DC propellant. After 1943, a flat-nosed anti-submarine shell also became available. This had a minimum range of 800 m and a maximum range of 4300 m. A new, heavier, but more streamlined, high-explosive projectile with a range of 23025 m was under development when the war ended.

Notes

References

• OCLC 77257764

References

1. After the end of World War II, the gun was exported via the two Japanese destroyers ceded as war reparations to the [[Soviet Union]]On the Verniy (ex "[[Japanese destroyer Hibiki (1932). Hibiki]]), those guns then being replaced by the [[130 mm/50 B13 Pattern 1936]] Soviet guns.
2. On the Dan Yang (ex "[[Japanese destroyer Yukikaze (1939). Yukikaze]]), those guns then being replaced by the [[12.7 cm/40 Type 89 naval gun]] and [[10 cm/65 Type 98 naval gun]] Japanese dual-purpose guns.
3. Campbell, p. 192
4. Lengerer, p. 105
5. Whitley, pp. 192–93
6. Tony DiGiulian. (19 March 2009). "Japan 12.7 cm/50 (5") 3rd Year Type".