Modern ship cannons

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

From time immemorial, vessels with ship guns were considered the decisive force at sea. At the same time, their caliber played an important role: the larger it was, the more significant damage was inflicted on the enemy.

However, already in the 20th century, naval artillery was quietly pushed into the background by a new type of weapon - guided missiles. But it still did not come to the decommissioning of naval artillery. Moreover, it began to be modernized under the modern conditions of warfare at sea.

The birth of naval artillery

For a long time (until the 16th century) ships had only weapons for close combat - a ram, mechanisms for damaging the ship's hull, masts and oars. Boarding was the most common way to resolve conflict situations at sea.

The ground forces were more resourceful. On land at this time, all kinds of throwing mechanisms were already used. Later, similar weapons were used in naval battles.

The invention and distribution of gunpowder (smoky) radically changed the weapons of the army and navy. In Europe and Russia, gunpowder became known in the 14th century.

However, the use of firearms onthe sea did not delight the sailors. The gunpowder often became damp, and the gun misfired, which in battle conditions was fraught with serious consequences for the ship.

The 16th century was the beginning of a technical revolution in the context of the rapid growth of productive forces in Europe. This could not but affect the armament. The design of the guns changed, the first sighting devices appeared. The gun barrel became movable. The quality of gunpowder has improved. Ship cannons began to play a prominent role in naval battles.

17th century naval artillery

In the 16th and 17th centuries, artillery, including naval artillery, was further developed. The number of guns on ships increased due to their placement on several decks. Ships during this period were created based on artillery combat.

By the beginning of the 17th century, the type and caliber of ship cannons had already been determined, methods of firing from them were developed, taking into account the specifics of the sea. A new science has emerged - ballistics.

It should be noted that the ship's cannons of the 17th century had barrels of only 8-12 calibers. Such a short barrel was caused by the need to completely retract the gun into the ship for reloading, as well as the desire to lighten the gun.

In the 17th century, along with the improvement of ship guns, ammunition for them also developed. Incendiary and explosive shells appeared on the fleets, causing serious damage to the enemy ship and its crew. Russian sailors were the first to use explosive shells in 1696, during the assault on Azov.

18th century ship armament

The 18th century ship's cannon already had a flintlock. At the same time, her weight has not changed much since the last century and amounted to 12, 24 and 48 pounds. Of course, there were guns of other calibers, but they were not widely used.

Cannons were located throughout the ship: on the bow, stern, upper and lower decks. At the same time, the heaviest guns were on the lower deck.

It is worth noting that large-caliber naval guns were mounted on a carriage with wheels. Under these wheels in the deck, special grooves were made. After the shot, the gun was rolled back by the recoil energy and was again ready for loading. The process of loading the ship's cannons was a rather complicated and risky business.

The firing efficiency of such guns was within 300 m, although the shells reached 1500 m. The fact is that with distance the projectile lost kinetic energy. If in the 17th century the frigate was destroyed by 24-pound shells, then in the 18th century the battleship was not afraid of 48-pound shells either. To solve this problem, ships in England began to be armed with 60-108-pound guns with a caliber of up to 280 mm.

Why were the guns on ships not scrapped by history?

At first glance, rocket weapons of the 20th century were supposed to replace classical artillery, including in the navy, but this did not happen. Missiles could not completely replace the ship's guns. The reason lies in the fact that an artillery shell is not afraid of any kind of passive and active interference. It is less dependent on weather conditions than guided missiles. Salvo of naval gunsinvariably achieved its goal, unlike its modern brothers - cruise missiles.

It is also important that naval guns have a higher rate of fire and a larger ammunition load than rocket launchers. At the same time, it should be noted that the cost of ship guns is much lower than missile weapons.

Therefore, today, taking into account these features, special attention is paid to the development of ship artillery installations. The work is carried out in the strictest secrecy.

And yet today, the artillery installation on the ship, with all its advantages, plays more an auxiliary role in a naval battle than a decisive one.

The new role of naval artillery in modern conditions

The 20th century has made its own adjustments to the priorities that existed before in naval artillery. The development of naval aviation was the reason for this. Air raids posed a greater threat to the ship than enemy naval guns.

The Second World War showed that air defense had become a vital system in confrontation at sea. The era of a new type of weapon - guided missiles - began. Designers switched to rocket systems. At the same time, the development and production of main battery guns were stopped.

However, the new weapons could not completely displace artillery, including naval artillery. Guns, the caliber of which did not exceed 152 mm (calibers 76, 100, 114, 127 and 130 mm), still remained in the military fleets of the USSR (Russia), the USA, Great Britain, France and Italy. True, now more naval artillery was assignedsupporting role than percussion. Ship guns began to be used to support the landing force, to protect against enemy aircraft. Naval anti-aircraft artillery came to the fore. As you know, its most important indicator is the rate of fire. For this reason, the rapid-fire ship's gun has become the object of increased attention of the military and designers.

To increase the frequency of shots, automatic artillery systems began to be developed. At the same time, they relied on their versatility, that is, they must equally successfully protect the ship from enemy aircraft and fleets, as well as cause damage to coastal fortifications. The latter was caused by the changed tactics of the navy. Naval battles between fleets are almost a thing of the past. Now the ships have become more used for operations near the coastline as a means of destroying enemy ground targets. This concept is also reflected in modern developments of naval weapons.

Ship automatic artillery systems

In 1954, automatic systems of 76.2 mm caliber began to be developed in the USSR, and in 1967 they began to develop and produce automatic artillery systems of 100 and 130 mm calibers. The result of the work was the first automatic ship gun (57 mm) of the AK-725 double-barrel gun mount. Later, it was replaced by a single-barreled 76, 2-mm AK-176.

At the same time as the AK-176, the AK-630 30-mm rapid-fire mount was created, which has a rotating block of six barrels. In the 80syears, the fleet received an automatic installation AK-130, which is still in service with ships.

AK-130 and its characteristics

The 130-mm ship's gun became part of the A-218 double-barrel mount. Initially, a single-barreled version of the A-217 was developed, but then it was recognized that the double-barreled A-218 had a high rate of fire (up to 90 shots per two barrels), and preference was given to it.

But for this, the designers had to increase the mass of the installation. As a result, the weight of the entire complex amounted to 150 tons (the installation itself - 98 tons, the control system (CS) - 12 tons, the mechanized arsenal cellar - 40 tons).

Unlike previous developments, the ship's cannon (see photo below) had a number of innovations that increased its rate of fire.

First of all, this is a unitary cartridge, in the sleeve of which the primer, powder charge and projectile were combined.

Also, the A-218 had an automatic reload of ammunition, which made it possible to use the entire ammunition load without additional human commands.

SU "Lev-218" also does not require mandatory human intervention. The firing correction is made by the system itself, depending on the accuracy of the explosions of the falling shells.

The high rate of fire of the gun and the presence of specialized shots with remote and radar fuses allow the AK-130 to fire at air targets.

AK-630 and its characteristics

The AK-630 rapid-fire ship gun is designed to protect the ship from aircraft and lightenemy ships.

Has a 54 gauge barrel. The firing range of the gun depends on the target category: air targets are hit at a distance of up to 4 km, light surface vessels - up to 5 km.

The rate of fire of the installation reaches 4000-5000 thousand rounds per minute. In this case, the burst length can be 400 shots, after which a break of 5 seconds is required to cool the gun barrels. After a burst of 200 shots, a break of 1 second is sufficient.

The AK-630 ammunition load consists of two types of shots: OF-84 high-explosive fragmentation incendiary projectile and OR-84 fragmentation tracer.

US Navy Artillery

The US Navy has also changed its armament priorities. Rocket weapons were widely introduced, artillery was relegated to the background. However, in recent years, Americans have begun to pay attention to small-caliber artillery, which proved to be very effective against low-flying aircraft and missiles.

Attention is paid primarily to automatic artillery mounts 20-35 mm and 100-127 mm. The ship's automatic cannon occupies a worthy place in the armament of the ship.

Medium caliber is designed to hit all targets except underwater ones. Structurally, the units are made of light metals and reinforced fiberglass.

The development of active-reactive rounds for 127- and 203-mm gun mounts is also underway.

Currently, the Mk45 127 caliber universal mount is considered a typical mount for US ships.

From small-caliber weapons it is worth noting the six-barreled "Volcano-Phalanx".

Interesting facts

In 1983, a project of an unprecedented ship gun appeared in the USSR, outwardly resembling a chimney of a steamship of the 19-20th century with a diameter of 406 mm, but with the only difference that it could fly out … a guided anti-aircraft or conventional projectile, a cruise missile or nuclear depth bomb. The rate of fire of such a versatile weapon depended on the type of shot. For example, for guided missiles, this is 10 rounds per minute, and for a conventional projectile - 15-20.

Interestingly, such a "monster" could easily be installed even on small ships (2-3 thousand tons displacement). However, the command of the Navy did not know such a caliber, so the project was not destined to be realized.

Modern requirements for naval artillery

According to the head of the 19th test site Alexander Tozik, today's requirements for ship guns remain partially the same - this is the reliability and accuracy of the shot.

Besides this, modern naval guns must be light enough to be mounted on light warships. It is also required to make the gun inconspicuous for the enemy radar. A new generation of ammunition is expected, with a higher lethality and an increased firing range.