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Vickers .50 machine gun

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Vickers .50 machine gun
MWP Vickers HMG.JPG
A Vickers .50 machine gun, Polish Army Museum, Warsaw (2006)
TypeMachine gun
Anti-aircraft gun
Place of originUnited Kingdom
Service history
In service1932–1954
Used byUnited Kingdom
Ireland
WarsSecond World War
Production history
ManufacturerVickers
VariantsMarks I–V[note 1]
Specifications (Vickers .5 Mk V)
Mass63 pounds (29 kg) (includes 10 pounds (4.5 kg) cooling water)
Length52.4 inches (1,330 mm)
Barrel length31 inches (790 mm)

Cartridge12.7×80mm
Calibre0.5 inches (12.7 mm)
Rate of fire500–600 rounds per minute
Muzzle velocity2,540 feet per second (770 m/s)
Maximum firing rangeAltitude: 9,500 feet (2,900 m)
Range: 4,265 yards (3,900 m)
Feed systembelt

The Vickers .50 machine gun, also known as the 'Vickers .50' was similar to the .303 inches (7.70 mm) Vickers machine gun but enlarged to use a larger-calibre 0.5-inch (12.7 mm) round. It saw some use in tanks and other fighting vehicles but was more commonly used as a close-in anti-aircraft weapon on Royal Navy and Allied ships, typically in a four-gun mounting (UK) or two-gun mounting (Dutch). The Vickers fired British .50 Vickers (12.7×81mm) ammunition, not the better known American .50 BMG (12.7×99mm).

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Vickers machine gun

Vickers machine gun

The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more men to move and operate it: one fired, one fed the ammunition, the others helped to carry the weapon, its ammunition, and spare parts. It was in service from before the First World War until the 1960s, with air-cooled versions of it on many Allied World War I fighter aircraft.

Tank

Tank

A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; usually their main armament is mounted in a turret. They are a mainstay of modern 20th and 21st century ground forces and a key part of combined arms combat.

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.

.50 BMG

.50 BMG

The .50 Browning Machine Gun is a .50 in (12.7 mm) caliber cartridge developed for the M2 Browning heavy machine gun in the late 1910s, entering official service in 1921. Under STANAG 4383, it is a standard service cartridge for NATO forces as well as many non-NATO countries. The cartridge itself has been made in many variants: multiple generations of regular ball, tracer, armor-piercing (AP), incendiary, and saboted sub-caliber rounds. The rounds intended for machine guns are made into a continuous belt using metallic links.

Mark I

The Mark I was the development model.

Mark II, IV and V

The Mark II entered service in 1933 and was mounted in some British light tanks. Marks IV and V were improved versions and were also used on trucks in the North Africa Campaign. It was superseded for use in armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) during the Second World War by the 15 mm (0.59 in) Besa.[1]

Mark III

A four-gun, naval anti-aircraft mounting, on board the destroyer HMS Vanity (1940)
A four-gun, naval anti-aircraft mounting, on board the destroyer HMS Vanity (1940)

The Mark III was a naval version used as an anti-aircraft weapon, mostly by the Royal Navy and allied navies in the Second World War, typically in mountings of 4 guns. It proved insufficiently powerful at short-range against modern all-metal aircraft and was superseded during the Second World War by the Oerlikon 20 mm cannon. The naval quad mount featured a 200-round magazine per barrel, which wrapped the ammunition belt around the magazine drum and provided a maximum rate of fire of 700 rounds per minute, per gun.[2] The four-barrel mounting had its guns adjusted to provide a spread of fire, amounting to 60 ft (18 m) wide and 50 ft (15 m) high at 1,000 yd (910 m).[1] Vickers claimed that it could fire all 800 rounds in 20 seconds and could then be reloaded in a further 30 seconds.[1] During the Second World War it was also mounted on power-operated turrets (usually a twin-gun mount) in smaller craft such as motor gunboats and motor torpedo boats.

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HMS Vanity (D28)

HMS Vanity (D28)

The second HMS Vanity was a V-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service in World War I and World War II.

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.

Motor gunboat

Motor gunboat

The motor gun boat (MGB) was a small, high-speed British military vessel of the Second World War, which was armed with a mix of guns, in contrast to the physically similar motor torpedo boat (MTB), whose main offensive weapon were torpedoes. The small size of the MGBs, and their high speed, made them difficult targets for German E-boats, though, like their opponents, they were limited by heavy weather, because they did not provide a stable-enough platform to aim the guns. The large number of guns meant the crew was relatively large, numbering as high as thirty men on the largest boats.

Motor torpedo boat

Motor torpedo boat

A motor torpedo boat is a fast torpedo boat, especially of the mid 20th century. The motor in the designation originally referred to their use of petrol engines, typically marinised aircraft engines or their derivatives, which distinguished them from other naval craft of the era, including other torpedo boats, that used steam turbines or reciprocating steam engines. Later, diesel-powered torpedo boats appeared, in turn or retroactively referred to as "motor torpedo boats" for their internal combustion engines, as distinct from steam powered reciprocating or turbine propulsion.

Source: "Vickers .50 machine gun", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, January 11th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_.50_machine_gun.

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Notes
  1. ^ i.e. Marks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Britain used Roman numerals to denote Marks (models) of ordnance until after the Second World War.
References
  1. ^ a b c Williams, Anthony G. "THE .5" VICKERS GUNS AND AMMUNITION". www.quarry.nildram.co.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  2. ^ DiGiulian.
External links


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