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QF 2-pounder naval gun

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QF 2 pdr Mark VIII ("pom-pom")
HMAS Nizam AWM-009496.jpg
Quadruple 2 pdr MK VIII guns on Mk.VII mounting aboard HMAS Nizam August 1941
TypeAutocannon
Place of originUnited Kingdom
Service history
In service1917–1940s (Mk II)
1930–1940s (Mk VIII)
Used byBritish Empire
Japan
Thailand
Russian Empire
Kingdom of Italy
Netherlands
WarsFirst World War
Second World War
Production history
DesignerVickers Armstrongs
Designed1915 (Mk II)
1923 (Mk VIII)
VariantsLow-velocity (LV) & high-velocity (HV)
RHI, LHI, RHO, LHO for multiple mountings
Type 91 HI Shiki (Japanese)
Specifications (Mk.VIII HV)
Mass850 lb (390 kg)
Length8 ft 6 in (2.59 m)

Shell40×158mmR
Calibre40 mm (1.6 in)
Barrels1, 4 or 8
Rate of fire115 rpm
Muzzle velocitynew gun: 732 m/s (2,400 ft/s)
worn gun: 701 m/s (2,300 ft/s)[1]
Effective firing range3,960 m (13,300 ft) A/A ceiling
Maximum firing range6,220 m (20,400 ft) at 701 m/s (2,300 ft/s)[2]
Feed system14-round steel-link belt
Filling weight71 g (2.5 oz)

The 2-pounder gun, officially the QF 2-pounder (QF denoting "quick firing") and universally known as the pom-pom, was a 40 mm (1.6 in) British autocannon, used as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy.[note 1] The name came from the sound that the original models make when firing. This QF 2-pounder was not the same gun as the Ordnance QF 2-pounder, used by the British Army as an anti-tank gun and a tank gun, although they both fired 2 lb (0.91 kg), 40 mm (1.6 in) projectiles.

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Autocannon

Autocannon

An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles (bullets) fired by a machine gun. Autocannons have a longer effective range and greater terminal performance than machine guns, due to the use of larger/heavier munitions, but are usually smaller than tank guns, howitzers, field guns or other artillery. When used on its own, the word "autocannon" typically indicates a non-rotary weapon with a single barrel. When multiple rotating barrels are involved, such a weapon is referred to as a "rotary autocannon" or occasionally "rotary cannon", for short.

Anti-aircraft warfare

Anti-aircraft warfare

Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action". It includes surface based, subsurface, and air-based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements, and passive measures. It may be used to protect naval, ground, and air forces in any location. However, for most countries, the main effort has tended to be homeland defence. NATO refers to airborne air defence as counter-air and naval air defence as anti-aircraft warfare. Missile defence is an extension of air defence, as are initiatives to adapt air defence to the task of intercepting any projectile in flight.

Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service.

Ordnance QF 2-pounder

Ordnance QF 2-pounder

The Ordnance QF 2-pounder, or simply "2 pounder gun", was a 40 mm (1.575 in) British anti-tank gun and vehicle-mounted gun employed in the Second World War.

British Army

British Army

The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. As of 2022, the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkhas, and 28,330 volunteer reserve personnel.

Anti-tank gun

Anti-tank gun

An anti-tank gun is a form of artillery designed to destroy tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, normally from a static defensive position. The development of specialized anti-tank munitions and anti-tank guns was prompted by the appearance of tanks during World War I. To destroy hostile tanks, artillerymen often used field guns depressed to fire directly at their targets, but this practice expended too much valuable ammunition and was of increasingly limited effectiveness as tank armor became thicker. The first dedicated anti-tank artillery began appearing in the 1920s, and by World War II was a common appearance in many European armies. To penetrate armor, they fired specialized ammunition from longer barrels to achieve a higher muzzle velocity than field guns. Most anti-tank guns were developed in the 1930s as improvements in tanks were noted, and nearly every major arms manufacturer produced one type or another.

Tank gun

Tank gun

A tank gun is the main armament of a tank. Modern tank guns are high-velocity, large-caliber artilleries capable of firing kinetic energy penetrators, high-explosive anti-tank, and cannon-launched guided projectiles. Anti-aircraft guns can also be mounted to tanks.

Predecessors - Boer War and the Great War

QF 1 pounder

Australian troops with a QF 1-pounder  Maxim auto cannon captured from the Boers
Australian troops with a QF 1-pounder Maxim auto cannon captured from the Boers

The first gun to be called a pom-pom was the 37 mm Nordenfelt-Maxim or "QF 1-pounder" introduced during the Second Boer War, the smallest artillery piece of that war. It fired a shell 1 lb (0.45 kg) in weight accurately over a distance of 3,000 yd (1.7 mi; 2.7 km). The barrel was water-cooled, and the shells were belt-fed from a 25-round fabric belt. This "auto cannon" fired explosive rounds (smokeless ammunition) at 450 rounds per minute. The Boers used them against the British, who, seeing their utility, bought guns from Vickers, which had acquired Maxim-Nordenfelt in 1897.[3][4] During the First World War, it was used in the trenches of the Western Front against aircraft.

QF 1½ pounder

The first naval pom-pom was the QF 1.5-pdr Mark I, a piece with a calibre of 37 mm (1.46 in) and a barrel 43 calibres long. This was tested in the Arethusa-class light cruisers HMS Arethusa and Undaunted but did not enter full service, being replaced instead by a larger weapon, the QF 2-pdr Mark II (see below).

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QF 1-pounder pom-pom

QF 1-pounder pom-pom

The QF 1 pounder, universally known as the pom-pom due to the sound of its discharge, was a 37 mm British autocannon, the first of its type in the world. It was used by several countries initially as an infantry gun and later as a light anti-aircraft gun.

Second Boer War

Second Boer War

The Second Boer War, also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict which was fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics over the Empire's influence in Southern Africa from 1899 to 1902.

Vickers

Vickers

Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 1867, acquired more businesses, and began branching out into military hardware and shipbuilding.

Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company

Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company

The Maxim-Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company was the result of a takeover by Hiram Maxim of Thorsten Nordenfelt's Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company in 1888. Rothschild issued £1.9 million of shares to finance the merger. Nathan Rothschild retained a substantial shareholding in the new Maxim-Nordenfelt combine and ‘exerted a direct influence over its management’.

World War I

World War I

World War I or the First World War, often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. It was fought between two coalitions, the Allies and the Central Powers. Fighting occurred throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific, and parts of Asia. An estimated 9 million soldiers were killed in combat, plus another 23 million wounded, while 5 million civilians died as a result of military action, hunger, and disease. Millions more died as a result of genocide, while the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war.

Western Front (World War I)

Western Front (World War I)

The Western Front was one of the main theatres of war during the First World War. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The German advance was halted with the Battle of the Marne. Following the Race to the Sea, both sides dug in along a meandering line of fortified trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France, which changed little except during early 1917 and in 1918.

Caliber (artillery)

Caliber (artillery)

In artillery, caliber or calibre is the internal diameter of a gun barrel, or, by extension, a relative measure of the barrel length.

Arethusa-class cruiser (1913)

Arethusa-class cruiser (1913)

The Arethusa-class cruisers were a class of eight oil-fired light cruisers of the Royal Navy all ordered in September 1912, primarily for service in the North Sea. They had three funnels with the middle one somewhat larger in diameter than the others. All served in the First World War. They were found to be very cramped internally.

Light cruiser

Light cruiser

A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to this smaller cruisers had been of the protected cruiser model, possessing armored decks only. While lighter and smaller than other contemporary ships they were still true cruisers, retaining the extended radius of action and self-sufficiency to act independently around the world. Through their history they served in a variety of roles, primarily as convoy escorts and destroyer command ships, but also as scouts and fleet support vessels for battle fleets.

HMS Arethusa (1913)

HMS Arethusa (1913)

HMS Arethusa was the name ship of her class of eight light cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the 1910s. She saw a considerable amount of action during the early years of the First World War, participating in the Battle of Heligoland Bight and the Battle of Dogger Bank.

HMS Undaunted (1914)

HMS Undaunted (1914)

HMS Undaunted was one of eight Arethusa-class light cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the 1910s.

QF 2-pounder Mark II

Posed photo of Mk II guarding a train against air attack, Mesopotamia, 1918
Posed photo of Mk II guarding a train against air attack, Mesopotamia, 1918

The QF 2-pounder Mark II was a larger version of the QF 1-pounder Maxim gun produced by Vickers. It was a 40 mm calibre gun with a water-cooled barrel and a Vickers-Maxim mechanism. It was ordered in 1915 by the Royal Navy as an anti-aircraft weapon for ships of cruiser size and below. The original models fired from hand-loaded fabric belts, although these were later replaced by steel-link belts. The enlargement was not entirely successful, as it left the mechanism rather light and prone to faults such as rounds falling out of the belts. In 1915, sixteen 2-pounders were mounted in armoured lorries as the Pierce-Arrow armoured AA lorry. In 1918, one example of this weapon was experimentally mounted on the upper envelope of His Majesty's Airship 23r.[5]

Surviving weapons were brought out of storage to see service in World War II, mainly on board ships such as naval trawlers, motor boats and "armed yachts". It was used almost exclusively in the single-barrel, unpowered pedestal mountings P Mark II (Royal Navy nomenclature gave mountings and guns separate Mark numbers) except for a small number of weapons on the mounting Mark XV, which was a twin-barreled, powered mount. These were too heavy to be of any use at sea and were mounted ashore. All were scrapped by 1944.

  • Calibre: 40 mm L/39
  • Total length: 96 in (2,400 mm).[6]
  • Length of bore: 62 in (1,600 mm).[6]
  • Rifling: Polygroove, plain section, 54.84 in (1,392.94 mm), uniform twist 1 in 30 in (760 mm), 12 grooves.[6]
  • Weight of gun & breech assembly: 527 lb (239 kg)[6]
  • Shell Weight: 2 lb (0.91 kg) HE.
  • Rate of Fire: 200 rpm
  • Effective Range: 1,200 yd (1,100 m)
  • Muzzle Velocity: 1,920 ft/s (590 m/s)

Some 7,000 guns were made. The gun was also used by the Japanese as the 40 mm/62 "HI" Shiki. The Regia Marina also used it from the Great War throughout World War II. It was superseded in the 1930s as a primary AA weapon on Italian warships by more modern guns, such as the Cannone-Mitragliera da 37/54 (Breda).[7]

Gunners on HMCS Assiniboine fire their 2 pdr while escorting a troop convoy from Halifax to Britain, 10 July 1940.
Gunners on HMCS Assiniboine fire their 2 pdr while escorting a troop convoy from Halifax to Britain, 10 July 1940.

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Vickers

Vickers

Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 1867, acquired more businesses, and began branching out into military hardware and shipbuilding.

Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service.

Pierce-Arrow armoured AA lorry

Pierce-Arrow armoured AA lorry

The Pierce-Arrow armoured AA lorry was a self-propelled anti-aircraft carrier mounting a QF 2-pounder AA "pom-pom" gun, it was used by the Royal Marine Artillery during the First World War.

23-class airship

23-class airship

The 23 class were rigid airships produced in the United Kingdom during the First World War. Development of the 23 class began in August 1915 when Vickers was asked to improve the 9r design by increasing its gas capacity by adding a bay and increasing the capacity of the bow and stern gas cells. The 23-class was designed by H.B. Pratt and Barnes Wallis of Vickers. Vickers built the first and last of the four ships. The other two were built by William Beardmore and Company and Armstrong-Whitworth. While the 23 class airships were never used in combat, the four ships provided many hours of valuable training and experimental data for British airship crews and designers. Although a total of 17 of these ships were contemplated at one time, only four were ever built. The 23 class was found to be significantly overweight, leading to its cancellation in favour of the more-refined R23X class.

World War II

World War II

World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a global conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries, including all of the great powers, fought as part of two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. Many participants threw their economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind this total war, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and the delivery of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war.

Naval trawler

Naval trawler

Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the First and Second World Wars. Some—known in the Royal Navy as "Admiralty trawlers"— were purpose-built to naval specifications, others adapted from civilian use. Fishing trawlers were particularly suited for many naval requirements because they were robust vessels designed to work heavy trawls in all types of weather, and had large clear working decks. A minesweeper could be created by replacing the trawl with a mine sweep. Adding depth charge racks on the deck, ASDIC sonar below, and a 3-inch (76 mm) or 4-inch (102 mm) gun in the bow equipped the trawler for anti-submarine duties.

Regia Marina

Regia Marina

The Regia Marina or Royal Italian Navy was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic, the Regia Marina changed its name to Marina Militare.

Cannone-Mitragliera da 37/54 (Breda)

Cannone-Mitragliera da 37/54 (Breda)

The Cannone-Mitragliera da 37/54 (Breda) was a 37 mm (1.5 in) automatic anti-aircraft gun produced by the Breda company in Italy.

QF 2-pounder Mark VIII

8-barrelled "Chicago piano" on HMS Rodney, viewed from below
8-barrelled "Chicago piano" on HMS Rodney, viewed from below
8-barrelled "Chicago piano" of HMS Roberts at Seafront in Zeebrugge.[8] Its full name is : Vickers 2pdr QF MK VIII
8-barrelled "Chicago piano" of HMS Roberts at Seafront in Zeebrugge.[8] Its full name is : Vickers 2pdr QF MK VIII
QF2 Mk. VIII single mount from HMCS Kamloops, displayed in Canadian War Museum
QF2 Mk. VIII single mount from HMCS Kamloops, displayed in Canadian War Museum

The Royal Navy had identified the need for a rapid-firing, multi-barrelled close-range anti-aircraft weapon at an early stage. Design work for such a weapon began in 1923 based on the earlier Mark II, undoubtedly to use the enormous stocks of 2-pounder ammunition left over from the First World War. Lack of funding led to a convoluted and drawn-out design and trials history and it was not until 1930 that these weapons began to enter service. Known as the QF 2-pounder Mark VIII, it is usually referred to as the "multiple pom-pom".

The initial mounting was the 11.8 to 17.35 ton, eight-barrelled mounting Mark V (later Mark VI), suitable for ships of cruiser and aircraft carrier size upward.[9][10] From 1935, the quadruple mounting Mark VII, essentially half a Mark V or VI, entered service for ships of destroyer and cruiser size. These multiple gun mounts required four guns and were nicknamed the "Chicago Piano".[6] The mount had two rows each of two or four guns. Guns were produced in both right- and left-hand and "inner" and "outer" so that the feed and ejector mechanisms matched.

Single-barrelled mounts, the Mark VIII (manual) and Mark XVI (power operated), were also widely used, mainly in small escorts (such as the Flower-class corvettes) and coastal craft (especially early Fairmile D motor torpedo boats). The Mark XVI mounting was related to the twin mounting Mark V for the Oerlikon 20 mm cannon and the "Boffin" mounting for the Bofors 40 mm gun. Magazines ranged from 140 rounds per gun for the eight-barrelled mount to 56 rounds for the single mounts.[11] This large ammunition capacity (1,120 rounds) gave the eight-barrelled mount the ability to fire continuously for 73 seconds without reloading. A high velocity (HV), 1.8 lb (820 g), round was developed for the pom-pom, just before the Second World War, which raised the new gun muzzle velocity from 2,040 ft/s (622 m/s) to 2400 ft/s (732 m/s).

Many older mountings were modified with conversion kits to fire HV ammunition, while most new mounts were factory built to fire HV ammunition. A mount modified or designed for HV ammunition was given a '*' designation; for example a Mk V mount modified for HV ammunition would be a Mk V*.[11]

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HMS Rodney (29)

HMS Rodney (29)

HMS Rodney was one of two Nelson-class battleships built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1920s. The ship entered service in 1928, and spent her peacetime career with the Atlantic and Home Fleets, sometimes serving as a flagship when her sister ship, Nelson, was being refitted. During the early stages of the Second World War, she searched for German commerce raiders, participated in the Norwegian Campaign, and escorted convoys in the Atlantic Ocean. Rodney played a major role in the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck in mid-1941.

HMS Roberts (F40)

HMS Roberts (F40)

HMS Roberts was a Royal Navy Roberts-class monitor of the Second World War. She was the second monitor to be named after Field Marshal Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts.

Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service.

Cruiser

Cruiser

A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles.

Aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a naval force to project air power worldwide without depending on local bases for staging aircraft operations. Carriers have evolved since their inception in the early twentieth century from wooden vessels used to deploy balloons to nuclear-powered warships that carry numerous fighters, strike aircraft, helicopters, and other types of aircraft. While heavier aircraft such as fixed-wing gunships and bombers have been launched from aircraft carriers, these aircraft have not landed on a carrier. By its diplomatic and tactical power, its mobility, its autonomy and the variety of its means, the aircraft carrier is often the centerpiece of modern combat fleets. Tactically or even strategically, it replaced the battleship in the role of flagship of a fleet. One of its great advantages is that, by sailing in international waters, it does not interfere with any territorial sovereignty and thus obviates the need for overflight authorizations from third-party countries, reduces the times and transit distances of aircraft and therefore significantly increase the time of availability on the combat zone.

Destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or battle group and defend them against powerful short-range attackers. They were originally developed in 1885 by Fernando Villaamil for the Spanish Navy as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these "torpedo boat destroyers" (TBDs) were "large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats". Although the term "destroyer" had been used interchangeably with "TBD" and "torpedo boat destroyer" by navies since 1892, the term "torpedo boat destroyer" had been generally shortened to simply "destroyer" by nearly all navies by the First World War.

Flower-class corvette

Flower-class corvette

The Flower-class corvette was a British class of 294 corvettes used during World War II by the Allied navies particularly as anti-submarine convoy escorts in the Battle of the Atlantic. Royal Navy ships of this class were named after flowers.

Fairmile D motor torpedo boat

Fairmile D motor torpedo boat

The Fairmile D motor torpedo boat was a type of British motor torpedo boat (MTB) and motor gunboat (MGB) designed by Bill Holt and conceived by Fairmile Marine for the Royal Navy. Nicknamed "Dog Boats", they were designed to combat the known advantages of the German E-boats over previous British coastal craft designs. They were bigger than earlier MTB or motor gunboat (MGB) designs but slower, at 30 knots compared to 40 knots.

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models employed by both Allied and Axis forces during World War II. Many versions of the cannon are still used today.

US Navy

The United States Navy also considered adopting the pom-pom gun prior to its entry into the Second World War, and conducted a series of trials between their own 1.1" gun, the U.S. Army 37 mm Gun, the Vickers 40 mm pom-pom, and the Bofors 40 mm:

Among the machine guns under consideration were the Army's 37-mm and the British Navy's 2-pounder, more commonly known as the "pompom." The decision soon narrowed to a choice between the Bofors and the British gun. The British were anxious to have their gun adopted, and the fact that British aid would be readily available in initiating manufacture was put forward as an argument in favor of its selection. The 2-pounder, moreover was giving a good account of itself on British ships. On the other hand, there was the distinct disadvantage that the gun was designed for cordite powder, and no manufacturing facilities for the production of this ammunition were available in the United States. Thorough study revealed that the gun could not be converted to take American powder. Another consideration was muzzle velocity: The pompom had a relatively low velocity, 2350 feet per second as compared with 2830 for the Bofors. The success of the pompom in action was more than offset by the proved qualities of the Bofors in the hands of a number of powers who were using it, and the Bureau decided to join that group. Shortly after the Bureau's selection of the Bofors, British naval officials also decided to adopt the gun.[12]

Wartime use

Although an advanced weapon when it was introduced, by the outbreak of World War II advances in aircraft would have made it obsolete but for the introduction of the high-velocity round and new director designs. It was intended that the curtain of fire it threw up would be sufficient to deter attacking aircraft, which it did, but was hampered by the ineffective Mk III director.[13] The MK IV Director with a Gyro Rate Unit and Type 282 radar[14] was a great advance and was introduced on the King George V-class battleships. In January 1941, HMS Illustrious′s Mk VIII (HV) mountings performed flawlessly firing 30,000 rounds with very few stoppages.[13] When HMS Prince of Wales was attacked and sunk by Japanese aircraft near Singapore, the subsequent report judged that a single 40 mm Bofors gun firing tracer was a more effective anti-aircraft weapon[15][16] than a multiple pom-pom in director control, as the pom-poms did not have tracer ammunition and the pom-pom ammunition had deteriorated badly in its ready use lockers, while the Type 282 radar units also failed in the equatorial heat.[17][18] In the same action, the Commissioned Gunner of HMS Repulse spent the whole action running from one pom-pom mount to another trying to keep them operational due to the faulty ammunition. The pom-poms on Repulse shot down two of the four confirmed kills made by Force Z,[19] while Prince of Wales' pom-poms did record hits on enemy aircraft.[20]

The Royal Navy judged the pom-pom's effectiveness to range from about half that of the Bofors, per gun, against torpedo planes to about equal against Kamikaze attackers.[21] It was a ubiquitous weapon that outnumbered the Bofors gun in Commonwealth naval service[22] up to the end of World War II and it shot down many Axis aircraft. Later innovations such as Remote Power Control (RPC) coupled to a radar-equipped tachymetric (speed predicting) director increased the accuracy enormously and problems with the fuses and reliability were also remedied. The single mountings received a reprieve toward the end of the war as the 20 mm Oerlikon guns had insufficient stopping power to counter Japanese kamikaze aircraft and there were insufficient numbers of Bofors guns to meet demand.

  • Calibre: 40 mm L/39
  • Shell Weight: 2 lb. (980 g) or 1.8 lb. (820 g) for High-Velocity (HV) round
  • Rate of Fire: 115 rpm fully automatic
  • Effective Range: 3,800 yards (3,475 m) or 5,000 yards (4,572 m) HV
  • Effective Ceiling (HV): 13,300 feet (3,960 m)
  • Muzzle Velocity: 2,040 ft/s (622 m/s) or 2400 ft/s (732 m/s) for HV [23]

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King George V-class battleship (1939)

King George V-class battleship (1939)

The King George V-class battleships were the most modern British battleships in commission during the Second World War. Five ships of this class were built: HMS King George V, HMS Prince of Wales (1941), HMS Duke of York (1941), HMS Anson (1942) and HMS Howe (1942). The names honoured King George V, and his sons, Edward VIII, who had been Prince of Wales, and George VI who was Duke of York before ascending to the throne; the final two ships of the class were named for prominent 18th century admirals of the Royal Navy.

HMS Illustrious (87)

HMS Illustrious (87)

HMS Illustrious was the lead ship of her class of aircraft carriers built for the Royal Navy before World War II. Her first assignment after completion and working up was with the Mediterranean Fleet, in which her aircraft's most notable achievement was sinking one Italian battleship and badly damaging two others during the Battle of Taranto in late 1940. Two months later the carrier was crippled by German dive bombers and was repaired in the United States. After sustaining damage on the voyage home in late 1941 by a collision with her sister ship Formidable, Illustrious was sent to the Indian Ocean in early 1942 to support the invasion of Vichy French Madagascar. After returning home in early 1943, the ship was given a lengthy refit and briefly assigned to the Home Fleet. She was transferred to Force H for the Battle of Salerno in mid-1943 and then rejoined the Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean at the beginning of 1944. Her aircraft attacked several targets in the Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies over the following year before Illustrious was transferred to the newly formed British Pacific Fleet (BPF). The carrier participated in the early stages of the Battle of Okinawa until mechanical defects arising from accumulated battle damage became so severe she was ordered home early for repairs in May 1945.

HMS Prince of Wales (53)

HMS Prince of Wales (53)

HMS Prince of Wales was a King George V-class battleship of the Royal Navy that was built at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, England. She had an extensive battle history, first seeing action in August 1940 while still being outfitted in her drydock when she was attacked and damaged by German aircraft. In her brief career, she was involved in several key actions of the Second World War, including the May 1941 Battle of the Denmark Strait where she scored three hits on the German battleship Bismarck, forcing Bismarck to abandon her raiding mission and head to port for repairs. Prince of Wales later escorted one of the Malta convoys in the Mediterranean, during which she was attacked by Italian aircraft. In her final action, she attempted to intercept Japanese troop convoys off the coast of Malaya as part of Force Z when she was sunk by Japanese aircraft on 10 December 1941, two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse

Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse

The sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse was a naval engagement in World War II, as part of the war in the Pacific, that took place on 10 December 1941 in the South China Sea off the east coast of the British colonies of Malaya and the Straits Settlements, 70 miles east of Kuantan, Pahang. The Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse were sunk by land-based bombers and torpedo bombers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. In Japan, the engagement was referred to as the Naval Battle of Malaya .

HMS Repulse (1916)

HMS Repulse (1916)

HMS Repulse was one of two Renown-class battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Originally laid down as an improved version of the Revenge-class battleship, her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war because she would not be ready in time. Admiral Lord Fisher, upon becoming First Sea Lord, gained approval for her to resume construction as a battlecruiser that could be built and enter service quickly. The Director of Naval Construction (DNC), Eustace Tennyson-d'Eyncourt, quickly produced an entirely new design to meet Admiral Lord Fisher's requirements and the builders agreed to deliver the ship in 15 months. They did not quite meet that ambitious goal, but the ship was delivered a few months after the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Repulse and her sister ship Renown, were the world's fastest capital ships upon completion.

Force Z

Force Z

Force Z was a British naval squadron during the Second World War, consisting of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales, the battlecruiser HMS Repulse and accompanying destroyers. Assembled in 1941, the purpose of the group was to reinforce the British colonial garrisons in the Far East and deter Japanese expansion into British possessions, particularly Malaya and Singapore. Lack of aircraft to protect Force Z, underestimation of the Japanese armed forces and the political rather than naval motive for its deployment, are blamed for the destruction of the force.

Kamikaze

Kamikaze

Kamikaze , officially Shinpū Tokubetsu Kōgekitai , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to destroy warships more effectively than with conventional air attacks. About 3,800 kamikaze pilots died during the war, and more than 7,000 naval personnel were killed by kamikaze attacks.

Stopping power

Stopping power

Stopping power is the ability of a weapon – typically a ranged weapon such as a firearm – to cause a target to be incapacitated or immobilized. Stopping power contrasts with lethality in that it pertains only to a weapon's ability to make the target cease action, regardless of whether or not death ultimately occurs. Which ammunition cartridges have the greatest stopping power is a much debated topic.

QF 2-pounder Mark XIV

The QF 2-pounder Mark XIV was the Rolls-Royce 40 mm cannon, which had been developed by Rolls-Royce as a competitor to the 40 mm "Vickers S" gun as an aircraft weapon. The latter was the more successful design, and found some use as an anti-tank weapon. A reworked version was adopted by the Royal Navy as a weapon for Motor Gun Boats, being adopted in the Fairmile C type as well as British Power Boat Company 60- and 70-foot (18- and 21-metre) type MGBs. It had a semi-automatic horizontally sliding breech block and was shipped on a manually trained pedestal mount. The weapon was not a success and of the 1,200 ordered only some 600 were delivered. It was initially replaced in various MGBs by single 20 mm Oerlikon cannon in order to make good, being ultimately succeeded in the large quick-firer role later in the war by the 57 mm Molins 6-pounder gun, the British Army's QF 6-pounder gun anti-tank gun with an auto-loader.

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Rolls-Royce 40 mm cannon

Rolls-Royce 40 mm cannon

The Rolls-Royce 40 mm Cannon was a project first proposed in late 1938 to produce a cannon for mounting in aircraft which could cause sufficient damage to bring down a large bomber. It was envisaged as a suitable weapon for destroying tanks from the air. Experimental versions of the cannon were produced, including some with a magazine or belt feed for the ammunition. Examples were fitted to a Bristol Beaufighter and Hawker Hurricane for testing, although never used in action. Development of the aircraft cannon to iron out problems came to an end in 1943 when the Air Ministry lost interest in it and had started to favor the RP-3 rocket projectile as its preferred aircraft anti-tank weapon.

Rolls-Royce Limited

Rolls-Royce Limited

Rolls-Royce was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his cranes, they quickly developed a reputation for superior engineering by manufacturing the "best car in the world". The business was incorporated as Rolls-Royce Limited in 1906, and a new factory in Derby was opened in 1908. The First World War brought the company into manufacturing aero-engines. Joint development of jet engines began in 1940, and they entered production. Rolls-Royce has built an enduring reputation for development and manufacture of engines for defence and civil aircraft.

Fairmile C motor gun boat

Fairmile C motor gun boat

The Fairmile C motor gun boat was a type of motor gunboat designed by Norman Hart of Fairmile Marine for the Royal Navy. An intermediate design, twenty-four boats were built in 1941 receiving the designations MGB 312–335.

British Power Boat Company

British Power Boat Company

The British Power Boat Company was a British manufacturer of motor boats, particularly racing boats and later military patrol boats.

Ordnance QF 6-pounder

Ordnance QF 6-pounder

The Ordnance Quick-Firing 6-pounder 7 cwt, or just 6-pounder, was a British 57 mm gun, serving during the Second World War as a primary anti-tank gun of both the British and United States Army. It was also used as the main armament for a number of armoured fighting vehicles.

British Army

British Army

The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. As of 2022, the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkhas, and 28,330 volunteer reserve personnel.

Ammunition

Source: "QF 2-pounder naval gun", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, December 2nd), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QF_2-pounder_naval_gun.

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Notes
  1. ^ British military of the period traditionally denoted smaller guns in terms of the approximate weight of the standard projectile, rather than by its bore diameter, which in this case was 40 mm. References to 40-mm anti-aircraft guns invariably mean the Bofors gun, while references to 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns mean this gun.
References
  1. ^ Naval Weapons of WW2, Campbell, p. 71
  2. ^ Campbell, p.71
  3. ^ Horn, Bernd (22 December 2012). Doing Canada Proud: The Second Boer War and the Battle of Paardeberg. p. 56. ISBN 9781459705784.
  4. ^ Krott, Rob (January 2002). "South Africa's National Museum of Military History".
  5. ^ Patrick Abbott and Nick Walmsley, British Airships in Pictures: An Illustrated History, House of Lochar 1998, ISBN 1-899863-48-6 (p.62)
  6. ^ a b c d e I.V. Hogg & L.F. Thurston, British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914-1918. London: Ian Allan, 1972, Page 28.
  7. ^ Bagnasco, Erminio (1978). Le armi delle navi italiane. Parma: Albertelli. pp. 77–80. ISBN 978-8887372403.
  8. ^ "Star Wars". The Belgian Coast. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  9. ^ Raven and Roberts, British Cruisers of WW2, p224. The first eight-barrelled mounting weighed 11.8 tons while a Remote Power Control mount along with 1.6 tons (1,200 rounds) of ammunition weighed 17.35 tons.
  10. ^ Campbell, Naval Weapons of WW2, p67 and p149. Campbell notes that a quad USN Bofors mount weighed 11.12 to 11.88 tons and only carried a maximum of 10 rounds per gun on the mount.
  11. ^ a b Campbell, Naval Weapons of WW2, P72
  12. ^ Rowland and Boyd, U. S. NAVY BUREAU OF ORDNANCE IN WORLD WAR II, USN Bureau of Ordnance, p223-224.
  13. ^ a b Campbell, Naval Weapons of WW2, p. 20
  14. ^ The Gunnery Pocket Book, p. 164
  15. ^ Middlebrook, Battleship, p. 340. The report does not note any 40mm Bofors kills or even hits from the Prince of Wales' Bofors gun, while hits from pom-pom fire were recorded by the crew of the Prince of Wales.
  16. ^ Middlebrook, Battleship, p. 340: "It is considered that a Bofors with tracer ammunition in local control is a more valuable weapon than an 8 barrelled pom-pom in director control without tracer..."
  17. ^ Brown, A radar history of World War II: technical and military imperatives, p. 220. Brown notes that 3 out of 4 type 282 radars were out of service when Prince of Wales departed Singapore.
  18. ^ Garzke and Dulin, Allied Battleships, p. 204, notes that the remaining type 282 and two type 285 radars failed after the first torpedo hit.
  19. ^ Middlebrook, Battleship, p. 224
  20. ^ Middlebrook, Battleship, p. 340
  21. ^ Campbell, Naval Weapons of WW2, p. 67: "...if control and mountings were of equal efficiency, the Bofors was reckoned to be twice as effective as the pom-pom against torpedo planes but not much better against very close range targets such as Kamikazes."
  22. ^ Campbell, pp. 67, 74.
  23. ^ Campbell,Naval Weapons of WW2, p. 71
Bibliography
  • Louis Brown, A radar history of World War II: technical and military imperatives. Institute of Physics Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0-7503-0659-9.
  • John Campbell, Naval Weapons of World War Two. Naval Institute Press, 1986. ISBN 978-0-87021-459-2.
  • Rowland and Boyd, U. S. NAVY BUREAU OF ORDNANCE IN WORLD WAR II, USN Bureau of Ordnance
  • Garzke and Dulin, Battleships: Allied Battleships of World War II. Naval Institute Press, 1980. ISBN 978-0-87021-100-3.
  • I.V. Hogg & L.F. Thurston, British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914-1918. London: Ian Allan, 1972
  • Martin Middlebrook and Patrick Mahoney, Battleship: The Loss of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse. Penguin Classic Military History, 2001. ISBN 978-0-14-139119-9.
  • Alan Raven and John Roberts, British Cruisers of World War Two. Naval Institute Press, 1980. ISBN 978-0-87021-922-1.
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