|
This weapon had a long development history. It started off when six 2-pdr Mark II guns were mounted on a common base on HMS Dragon during 1921-22. This was modestly successful, and as a result design work was begun by Vickers and Armstrong on various multiple-gun designs. Armstrong produced a design that allowed continuous fire while the Vickers design did not, but the Armstrong product was also a more complicated design. Vickers won the contract and presented an eight-gun mockup for examination in July 1923 at Vickers, Dartford. Lack of funding delayed proving ground firing trials out to 1927, with sea trials aboard HMS Tiger not being held until 1928. Service introduction was delayed to the end of 1930 and consisted of a single mounting installed on HMS Valiant. Satisfactory completion of trials on Valiant encouraged the Treasury to increase funding and during 1931 Nelson, Rodney and Revenge each received one mounting while Hood received two. The following year saw Furious and Royal Sovereign each receiving two mountings while Renown received one. At the time of its service introduction in 1930 this was a very advanced weapon, but by 1939 the rapid improvements in aircraft design had rendered it obsolete, as it had a low muzzle velocity, lacked a satisfactory explosive shell and no tracer ammunition was provided. Nonetheless, these guns were manufactured in large numbers throughout World War II, with total production being about twice the number of Bofors 40 mm guns used by the Royal Navy. Single and quad mountings for smaller ships were also produced after 1935, with the single mounting being widely used as a bow-chaser on coastal convoy escorts during the war. As originally introduced, this was a recoil operated, "controlled" (partially-automatic) weapon which used a manually turned crank to operate the firing gear. In 1939 provision was made to allow guns in the octuple and single mountings to fire in fully automatic mode by replacing the crank turner with an electric motor, but quadruple mountings were apparently supplied only in controlled versions throughout the war. A higher velocity projectile was introduced in 1938 which required a different breech mechanism and other changes. However, guns firing only the older low-velocity projectiles were still manufactured throughout World War II and the ammunition was not interchangeable. There were also several other variations, as shown in the data tables below. It should be noted that standardization was never a high priority in British ordnance thinking prior to the 1950s. The internal gun mechanisms were very complex and required much care and skilled maintenance to keep them in working condition. Jams and stoppages were frequent, although the linked ammunition proved to be more reliable in service than the older belt-fed guns. Constructed of monobloc barrel and the breech block moved parallel with the gun axis. The naval gun register lists a total of 6,691 guns produced in Britain, including 12 prototypes, 843 manufactured in Canada and 219 ex-land service (Army) which were scrapped in 1944-45. Vickers exported a variation of this gun to Japan during the 1930s where it was designated as the 40 mm/62 "HI" Shiki. Actual bore length was 39.37 calibers. |
2-pdr. in Mark VI Octuple Mount on HMS
Ark Royal in 1939
|
| .
|