3-inch/70-caliber Mark 26 gun

3 Inch / 70 Mark 26
3"/70 turret on USS Carpenter in 1962
TypeAnti-aircraft gun
Place of originUnited States
Service history
In service1958–1999
Used byUnited States Navy
Turkish Navy
Production history
Designed1945
Produced1957
Specifications
Mass2,650 lb (1,202 kg)
Barrel length210 inches (5.3 m) bore (70 calibres)

ShellAA
Caliber3-inch (76.20 mm)
Recoil15.62 inches (40 cm)
Elevation-15 to 90 degrees
Rate of fire90-100 rpm
Muzzle velocity3,400 feet per second (1,000 m/s)
Maximum firing range19,500 yards (17,830 m)[1]

The 3"/70 Mark 26 Gun was a US post war naval anti-aircraft gun. Developed as a joint project with the United Kingdom, which called it the QF 3-inch Mark N1 gun, it had a water-cooled barrel combined with an automatic loader to deliver high rates of fire.

The gun design was based on experience defending United States warships from Japanese kamikaze attacks in World War II and based on the 3-inch/50 caliber gun. The name indicates in US Navy terminology that this piece of naval artillery fires a projectile 3 in (76 mm) in diameter and has a barrel length of 70 calibers [barrel length = 3" × 70 = 210 in (18 ft; 5.3 m)]. "Mark 26" refers to the gun mounting rather than the gun itself.

Due to the long development period, the gun did not enter service until 1956 and the mounts proved problematic; the gun was removed from most US warships after a short service life.

The British mountings, known as Mark 6 in the Royal Navy, were to a different design and though also complex and subject to feed problems were more effective.

  1. ^ DiGiulian