Britain
6"/50 (15.2 cm) BL Mark XVI
Updated 30 January 2009
Another 6" (15.2 cm) gun designed for the foreign markets by Vickers, this one was for the Turkish battleship Reshadieh.  This ship was taken over by Britain at the start of World War I and renamed HMS Erin.

During World War II, these guns were used in emergency coastal batteries.

This gun has the distinction of having the highest muzzle velocity of any British 6" (15.2 cm) used without super charges.

Similar to other Vickers wire guns with cannelured rings except that the wire was used only part way, with the B tube directly over the A tube forward of the jacket.  The reserve guns, which never went to sea, differed in having a tapered inner A tube.  Used a hand-worked Welin breech-block.  A total of 19 guns were produced.
WNBR_135-45_mk6_Erin_pic.jpg

HMS Erin
The 6" (15.2 cm) guns are in casemates along the sides
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Gun Characteristics
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Designation 6"/50 (15.2 cm) BL Mark XVI
Ship Class Used On Erin
Date Of Design 1913
Date In Service 1914
Gun Weight 18,904 lbs. (8,275 kg)
Gun Length oa 310.1 in (7.876 m)
Bore Length 300.0 in (7.620 m)
Rifling Length N/A
Grooves N/A
Lands N/A
Twist N/A
Chamber Volume 1,910 in3 (31.30 dm3)
Rate Of Fire
(see Note)		 5 - 7 rounds per minute
Note:  The Rate of Fire figure given above is found in references for British guns of this caliber, but "Warrior to Dreadnought:  Warship Development 1860-1905" quotes Jellicoe's 1906 figures for rates of fire for these guns in gunlayers' tests and in battle practice and notes that the latter figures corresponded well to those actually attained by the Japanese at Tsushima:

Gunlayers Test:  12 rounds per minute
Battle Practice:  4 rounds per minute

In "Jutland:  An Analysis of the Fighting" by John Campbell, it is stated that almost all British capital ships had few or slow hoists for their 6" (15.2 cm) guns and that once the ready ammunition was used up, the rate of fire dropped to about 3 rounds per minute.
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Ammunition
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Type Bag
Projectile Types and Weights CPC 4crh - 100 lbs. (45.3 kg)
HE 4crh - 100 lbs. (45.3 kg)
Bursting Charge CPC - 7.5 lbs. (3.4 kg)
HE - 13.3 lbs. (6.0 kg)
Projectile Length CPC - 23.5 in (59.7 cm)
HE - 22.9 in (58.2 cm)
Propellant Charge 32.9 lbs. (14.93 kg) SC
Muzzle Velocity 3,000 fps (914 mps)
Working Pressure N/A
Approximate Barrel Life N/A
Ammunition stowage per gun about 150 rounds
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Range
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Elevation With 100 lbs. (45.36) CPC Shell
Range @ 15 degrees 14,640 yards (13,385 m)
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Mount / Turret Data
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Designation Single Mount
  Erin (16):  PX
Weight (less shield) N/A
Elevation PX:  -7 / +15 degrees
Elevation Rate Manual operation, only
Train about +80 / -80 degrees
Train Rate Manual operation, only
Gun recoil N/A
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Data from
"Warrior to Dreadnought:  Warship Development 1860-1905" by D.K. Brown
"Naval Weapons of World War Two" and "British Naval Guns 1880-1945 No 12" article in "Warship Volume VIII" both by John Campbell
"British Cruisers of World War Two" by Alan Raven and John Roberts
"A Concentrated Effort:  Royal Navy Gunnery Exercises at the End of the Great War" article by William Schleihauf in "Warship International" No. 2, 1998
Page History

07 January 2007 - Benchmark
30 January 2009 - Added construction details