The 14"/45 caliber gun, (spoken "fourteen-inch-forty-five-caliber"), whose variations were known initially as the Mark 1, 2, 3, and 5, and, when upgraded in the 1930s, were redesignated as the Mark 8, 9, 10, and 12. They were the first guns to be employed with the United States Navy. The 14-inch/45 caliber guns were installed as the primary armament aboard all of the United States Navy's , , and s. The gun also saw service in the British Royal Navy, where it was designated the BL 14 inch gun Mk II.
History
The design of the 14-inch/45 caliber dates to about 1910. They entered service in 1914 aboard and her sister ship shortly after. At the time of their introduction they were intended to fire armor-piercing (AP) projectiles containing a bursting charge of explosive D. Propellant charge was four silk bags of smokeless powder, each of which weighed . At a 15-degree angle, the guns could fire a shell out to . Each individual gun weighed with the breech and measured in length.
Each of the original Mark 1 built-up guns consisted of a tube without liner, jacket, eight hoops and a screw box liner. To compensate for the problem of gun drooping, four hoop-locking rings were added to the guns. The Mark 3 added three hoop locking rings and contained a longer slide, while the Mark 5 had five hoops total. Owing to the interchangeability of the guns, the battleships fitted with the 14-inch/45 caliber guns often had guns of various Marks installed on each turret.
In the 1930s, the Mark 1, 2, 3, and 5 were upgraded to allow for increased charges and muzzle velocities, resulting in the Mark 8, 9, 10, and 12, respectively. All guns employed a Welin breech block and used a Smith-Asbury mechanism, and, in the case of the Mark 12, chromium plating was introduced to prolong barrel life. These improvements enabled the guns to fire heavier shells, and increasing the gun mount elevation to 30 degrees extended the range of the guns to . The New York-class did not have their turrets modernized because their shell hoists could not accommodate the longer AP and HC shells; instead, a shorter version of shells with windshields were produced for them.
Naval action
United States Navy
The guns on the two battleships of the New York-class, and , the first ship of the Nevada-class, and the first ship of the Pennsylvania-class, , saw service in World War II in the role of shore bombardment. New York and Texas bombarded North Africa during landings in 1942, Pennsylvania took part in the Aleutian Islands Campaign and Texas and Nevada shelled Normandy during Operation Overlord in 1944. Throughout 1944 and 1945, Pennsylvania hit many different Pacific islands during their invasions, while New York, Texas and Nevada all took part in the invasion of Iwo Jima and the invasion of Okinawa in 1945.
Due to the attack on Pearl Harbor, both and never fired their main batteries in anger. However, three 14-inch/45 caliber guns formerly on Arizona and in the relining process at the time of Pearl Harbor were installed aboard Nevada in the fall of 1944 and were used in several shore bombardments in the Pacific. The aft turrets from Arizona (numbers 3 and 4) were moved to become United States Army Coast Artillery Corps Battery Arizona on the west coast of Oahu and Battery Pennsylvania on Mokapu Point.
Royal Navy
Eight US Navy standard 14-inch/45 caliber guns, complete with mountings, built by Bethlehem Steel, were supplied to the United Kingdom in World War I. They were mounted on monitors under the British service designation BL 14 inch gun Mk II.
Naval service
See also
14"/50 caliber gun – later 14" gun (American) BL 14 inch Mk VII naval gun – for British Royal Navy King George V-class battleships (1939) Greek battleship Salamis
