| Ordnance RML 9-inch 12-ton gun | |
|---|---|
 Restored Mark I, RML 9-inch 12-ton gun being fired at Simon's Town in 2014, with replica ammunition in the foreground | |
| Type | Naval gun Coast defence gun |
| Place of origin | United Kingdom |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1865–1922 (Mk VI) |
| Used by | Royal Navy Australian Colonies Spanish Navy |
| Wars | Bombardment of Alexandria |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1865 |
| Manufacturer | Royal Arsenal |
| Unit cost | £1000 in 1875,[1] £740 in 1882[2] (£94,000 in 2024) |
| Variants | Mk I–VI |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 12 |
| Length | 156 inches (4.0 m) |
| Barrel length | 125 inches (3.2 m) (bore)[3] |
| Shell | Mk I–V : 250 to 256 pounds (113.4 to 116.1 kg) Palliser, Common, Shrapnel[4] Mk VI : 360 pounds (163.3 kg) AP[5] |
| Calibre | 9-inch (228.6 mm) |
| Breech | None, loaded through muzzle |
| Muzzle velocity | 1,420 feet per second (430 m/s)[6] |
| Maximum firing range | 9,919 yards (9,070 m) |
The RML 9-inch guns Mark I – Mark VI[note 1] were large rifled muzzle-loading guns of the 1860s used as primary armament on smaller British ironclad battleships and secondary armament on larger battleships, and also ashore for coast defence. It should not be confused with the RML 9-inch Armstrong Gun, used by the Dutch navy, the Spanish Navy, and other navies.
- ^ "RESOLUTION". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 22 June 1875.
- ^ Unit cost of £739 17 shillings 8 pence is quoted in The British Navy Volume II, 1882, by Sir Thomas Brassey. Page 38
- ^ Treatise on Construction of Service Ordnance 1877, page 292
- ^ 250 lb projectile is quoted in 1877 Treatise on Ammunition; 253 lb 5 oz in Text Book of Gunnery 1887; 256 lb in Text Book of Gunnery 1902
- ^ Hogg & Thurston 1972; Text Book of Gunnery 1902
- ^ 1,420 feet/second firing 250-pound projectile with battering charge of 50 pound P (gunpowder). Treatise on Construction of Service Ordnance 1877, page 348
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