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The BL 16 inch Mark I was a British naval gun introduced in the 1920s and used on the two ''Nelson''-class battleships. A breech loading gun, the barrel was 45 calibres long ("/45" in shorthand) meaning 45 times the bore (16 in) - long. ==Description== These wire-wound built-up guns had originally been planned for the cancelled G3-class battlecruiser design upon which the ''Nelson'' class drew. Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth & Company at Elswick, Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness, William Beardmore & Company at Dalmuir and the Royal Gun Factory at Woolwich made a total of 29 guns of which 18 would be required for both ships at any time. These guns broke with the example offered by the earlier 15 inch Mk I gun, which fired a heavy shell at a rather low muzzle velocity, and instead fired a rather light shell at a high muzzle velocity; this was not a success, as at the initial muzzle velocity the gun wore down rapidly and the accuracy was insatisfactory, so much that it was lowered. Furthermore, a heavier shell was proposed but not adopted because of stringent budget policies of the 1930s; therefore, this naval gun wasn't seen as particularly successful. An improved weapon, the BL 16 inch Mark II was designed for the ''Lion''-class battleship which was a successor to the ''King George V'' class taking advantage of the larger weapon allowed under the London Naval Treaty from March 1938. This "new design" of 16-inch gun fired a shell that weighed . Construction of first two ''Lion'' battleships - each of which was to have nine 16-inch guns - was halted at the start of the Second World War; only a few months after they were laid down.〔Brown ''Nelson to Vanguard'' 2000 Chatham Publishing p36〕 Work on the armament continued for a while but that was also stopped after only four guns and no turrets were produced. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「BL 16 inch Mk I naval gun」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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