7-inch/44-caliber gun

7"/44 caliber Mark 1 and 7"/45 caliber Mark 2 Naval Gun
USS Minnesota (BB-22), cropped photo showing close up of port side 7"/45 caliber guns.
Type
  • Naval gun
  • Coastal artillery
  • Railway gun
    • Place of originUnited States
    Service history
    In service1906
    Used by United States Navy
    Wars
    Production history
    DesignerBureau of Ordnance
    Designed1900
    ManufacturerNaval Gun Factory
    No. built
    • Mark 1: 1
    • Mark 2: 111
    VariantsMark 1 and Mark 2
    Specifications
    Mass
    • Mark 1: 29,621 lb (13,436 kg) (with breech)
    • Mark 2: 28,700 lb (13,000 kg)
    Length
    • Mark 1: 316 in (8,000 mm)
    • Mark 2: 323 in (8,200 mm)
    Barrel length
    • Mark 1: 308 in (7,800 mm) bore (44 calibers)
    • Mark 2: 315 in (8,000 mm) bore (45 calibers)
    Shell165 lb (75 kg) armor-piercing (Naval shell)
    152 lb (69 kg) armor-piercing (Army/Marine shell)
    Caliber7 in (178 mm)
    BreechMark 1: Welin breech block
    Recoil
    • 19 in (480 mm) (nominal)
    • 21 in (530 mm) (maximum)
    Elevation-7° to +15° (shipboard mount)
    +40° (tracked mount)
    Traverse−150° to +150° (shipboard mount)
    Rate of fire4 rounds per minute
    Muzzle velocity2,700 ft/s (820 m/s)
    Effective firing range16,500 yd (15,100 m) at 15° elevation (shipboard mount)
    24,000 yards (22,000 m) at 40° elevation (Army/Marine tracked mount)

    The 7"/44 caliber gun Mark 1 (spoken "seven-inch-forty-four--caliber") and 7"/45 caliber gun Mark 2 (spoken "seven-inch-forty-five--caliber") were used for the secondary batteries of the United States Navy's last generation of pre-dreadnought battleships, the Connecticut-class and Mississippi-class. The 7-inch (178 mm) caliber was considered, at the time, to be the largest caliber weapon suitable as a rapid-fire secondary gun because its shells were the heaviest that one man could handle alone.[1][2]

    1. ^ Navweaps 2016.
    2. ^ Friedman 2011, pp. 179.