RML_8_inch_9_ton_gun

RML 8-inch 9-ton gun

RML 8-inch 9-ton gun

Naval gun

The British RML 8-inch 9-ton guns Mark I – Mark III[5] were medium rifled muzzle-loading guns used to arm smaller ironclad warships and coast defence batteries in the later 19th century.

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Design

In common with other Royal Ordnance RML designs of the 1860s, Mark I used the strong but expensive Armstrong system of a steel tube surrounded by a complex system of multiple wrought-iron coils, which was progressively simplified in Marks II and III to reduce costs : Mark III consisted only of A tube, B tube, breech coil and cascabel screw.

Rifling was of the "Woolwich" pattern of a small number of broad shallow grooves: 4 grooves with twist increasing from 0 to 1 turn in 40 calibres (i.e. in 320 in (810 cm)) at the muzzle.

Ammunition

The ammunition was mainly studded, with the studs engaging in the Woolwich rifling grooves. However, a studless pointed common shell with automatic gas-check also became available later in the gun's life.[6]

See also

Surviving examples

Notes and references

  1. [1]
    Unit cost of £567 12 shillings 10 pence is quoted in "The British Navy" Volume II, 1882, by Sir Thomas Brassey. Page 38
  2. [2]
    Text Book of Gunnery 1887 Table XVI page 313
  3. [3]
    174 lb 12 oz projectile. Text Book of Gunnery 1887 Table XVI page 313
  4. [4]
    1,420 feet/second firing 174-pound 12-oz projectile . Text Book of Gunnery 1887 Table XVI page 313
  5. [5]
    Mark I – Mark III = Mark 1 through to Mark 3. Britain used Roman numerals to denote Marks (models) of ordnance until after World War II. Hence this article describes the three models of RML 8-inch guns.
  6. [6]
    Gas-checks in British RML heavy guns

Bibliography

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