QF 4 inch Mk XVI naval gun
Encyclopedia
The QF 4 inch Mk XVI gun was the standard British Commonwealth naval anti-aircraft and dual-purpose gun of World War II
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on many Royal Naval ships during the late 1930s and early 1940s. These guns were usually mounted on HA/LA Mark XIX twin mountings, although several Australian frigates and corvettes had single-gun Mk XX mountings.
As secondary armament (list not complete):
As main armament (list not complete):
Allied ships modified in the United Kingdom:
The South African Navy
Loch class frigate
s (SAS Good Hope
, SAS Natal and SAS Transvaal) each had two of these guns mounted on a twin Mark XIX on their foredeck between 1944 and 1976.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Service
The Mk XVI superseded the earlier QF 4 inch Mk V naval gunQF 4 inch Mk V naval gun
The QF 4 inch Mk V gun was a Royal Navy gun of World War I which was adapted on HA mountings to the heavy anti-aircraft role both at sea and on land, and was also used as a coast defence gun.-Naval service:...
on many Royal Naval ships during the late 1930s and early 1940s. These guns were usually mounted on HA/LA Mark XIX twin mountings, although several Australian frigates and corvettes had single-gun Mk XX mountings.
As secondary armament (list not complete):
- HMS HoodHMS Hood (51)HMS Hood was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy. One of four s ordered in mid-1916, her design—although drastically revised after the Battle of Jutland and improved while she was under construction—still had serious limitations. For this reason she was the only ship of her class to be...
- HMS Rodney
- HMS Barham, HMS Malaya, HMS Warspite
- Revenge class battleshipRevenge class battleshipThe Revenge class battleships were five battleships of the Royal Navy, ordered as World War I loomed on the horizon, and launched in 1914–1916...
- County class cruiserCounty class cruiserThe County class was a class of heavy cruisers built for the British Royal Navy in the years between the First and Second World Wars. They were the first post-war cruiser construction for the Royal Navy and were designed within the limits of the Washington Naval Conference of 1922...
- HMS ExeterHMS Exeter (68)HMS Exeter was a York class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy that served in World War II. She was laid down on 1 August 1928 at the Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth, Devon. She was launched on 18 July 1929 and completed on 27 July 1931...
- Swiftsure class cruiser
- Crown Colony class cruiserCrown Colony class cruiserThe Crown Colony-class light cruisers of the Royal Navy were named after Crown Colonies of the British Empire. The first eight are known as the Fiji class, while the last three to be built are commonly referred to as the Ceylon class and were built to a slightly modified design.-Design:They were...
- Edinburgh class cruiser
- Southampton class cruiser (Town)
- Arethusa class cruiser (1934)Arethusa class cruiser (1934)The Arethusa class was a class of four light cruisers built for the Royal Navy between 1933 and 1937 and that served in World War II. It had been intended to construct six ships, but the last pair, Polyphemus and Minotaur were ordered in 1934 as the 9,100 ton Town class Southampton and...
- Perth class cruiser
- Leander class cruiser (1931)Leander class cruiser (1931)The Leander class was a class of eight light cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the early 1930s that saw service in World War II. They were named after mythological figures, and all ships were commissioned between 1933 and 1936...
- HMS Effingham
- HMS Danae (ORP Conrad)
- Tribal class destroyer (1936)Tribal class destroyer (1936)The Tribal class, or Afridi class, were a class of destroyers built for the Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Australian Navy that saw service in World War II...
As main armament (list not complete):
- Aircraft carriers: HMS FuriousHMS Furious (47)HMS Furious was a modified cruiser built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Designed to support the Baltic Project championed by the First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, Lord John Fisher, they were very lightly armoured and armed with only a few heavy guns. Furious was modified while...
, HMS UnicornHMS Unicorn (I72)HMS Unicorn was a aircraft repair ship and light aircraft carrier built for the Royal Navy in the late 1930s. She was completed during World War II and provided air cover over the amphibious landing at Salerno, Italy in September 1943. The ship was transferred to the Eastern Fleet in the Indian... - Escort carriers: Nairana class escort carrierNairana class escort carrierThe Nairana-class escort carrier was a British-built class of three escort carriers. They were constructed one each in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland to the same basic design during the Second World War for service with the Royal Navy....
, HMS Pretoria CastleHMS Pretoria Castle (F61)HMS Pretoria Castle was an armed merchant cruiser and escort aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy that saw service during World War II...
, HMS HMS Activity - C class cruiserC class cruiserThe C class was a group of twenty-eight light cruisers of the Royal Navy, and were built in a sequence of seven classes known as the Caroline , Calliope , Cambrian , Centaur , Caledon , Ceres and Carlisle classes...
(converted to anti-aircraft cruisers) - Abdiel class minelayerAbdiel class minelayerThe Abdiel class were a class of six fast minelayers commissioned into the Royal Navy and active during the Second World War. They were also known as the Manxman class and as "mine-laying cruisers".-Design:...
- L and M class destroyerL and M class destroyerThe L and M class was a class of sixteen destroyers which served in the British Royal Navy during World War II. The ships of the class were launched between 1939 and 1942.-Design details:...
(the first series L: HMS Gorham, Lance, Legion, Lively) - HMS PetardHMS Petard (G56)HMS Petard was a "P"-class destroyer of the British Royal Navy that saw service during World War II. She was one of the three "P" class ships, out of the original eight, to survive the war in a serviceable condition....
(modified) - Weapon class destroyerWeapon class destroyerThe Weapon class was a class of destroyers built for the British Royal Navy towards the end of World War II. They were the smaller counterpart to the Battle class and were the first new destroyer designs for the Royal Navy since the Second World War Emergency Programme...
- V and W class destroyerV and W class destroyerThe V and W class was an amalgam of six similar classes of destroyer built for the Royal Navy under the War Emergency Programme of the First World War and generally treated as one class...
(after WAIR modification - 15 ships) - HMS Wallace (after WAIR modification)
- Hunt class destroyerHunt class destroyerThe Hunt class was a class of Destroyer escort of the Royal Navy. The first vessels were ordered early in 1939, and the class saw extensive service in World War II, particularly on the British East Coast and Mediterranean convoys. They were named after British fox hunts...
- Some Bathurst class corvetteBathurst class corvetteThe Bathurst class corvettes were a class of general purpose vessels produced in Australia during World War II. Originally classified as minesweepers, but widely referred to as corvettes, the Bathurst class vessels fulfilled a broad anti-submarine, anti-mine, and convoy escort role.Sixty Bathurst...
s (single-gun Mk XX mounting) - Black Swan class sloopBlack Swan class sloopThe Black Swan class and Modified Black Swan class were two classes of sloop of the Royal Navy and Royal Indian Navy. Thirteen Black Swans were launched between 1939 and 1943, including four for the Royal Indian Navy; twenty-four Modified Black Swans were launched between 1942 and 1945, including...
- Egret class sloopEgret class sloopThe Egret class sloops were a three ship class of a long-range escort vessels used in the Second World War by the Royal Navy. They were an enlarged version of the Bittern class sloop with an extra twin 4 inch gun mounting...
- Bittern class sloopBittern class sloopThe Bittern class sloop was a three ship class of long-range escort vessels used in the Second World War by the Royal Navy.-Design:They were built as light, long-range escort ships with limited anti-air capability. They were fitted with Denny-Brown fin stabilisers and a HACS fire control...
(modified) - Grimsby class sloopGrimsby class sloopWith the realisation that war was approaching, 13 Grimsby class sloops were laid down in the mid to late 1930s. Of these eight were built in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy, four in Australia for the Royal Australian Navy and one for India...
(modified) - Bay class frigateBay class frigateThe Bay class was a class of 26 anti-aircraft frigates built for the Royal Navy under the 1943 War Emergency Programme during World War II...
- River class frigateRiver class frigateThe River class frigate was a class of 151 frigates launched between 1941 and 1944 for use as anti-submarine convoy escorts in the North Atlantic....
(part of Canadian-built) - 8 auxiliary AA defence ships
- some landing ships
Allied ships modified in the United Kingdom:
- ORP Błyskawica (Polish)
- Hr.Ms. Jacob van Heemskerck (Dutch)
- Hr.Ms. Isaac SweersHNLMS Isaac SweersHNLMS Isaac Sweers, was Gerard Callenburgh class destroyer of the Royal Netherlands Navy.-Design and construction:The keel was laid on 26 November 1938. The ship was launched on 16 March 1940 and the unfinished ship was evacuated to England after the German invasion of the Netherlands...
(Dutch) - 4 French Elan class avisoElan class minesweeping sloopsThe Élan class was a class of French minesweeping sloops . Originally designed as minesweepers, they were never used in that role, instead being used mostly as escort vessels...
and Chamois class aviso
The South African Navy
South African Navy
The South African Navy is the navy of the Republic of South Africa.-Formation:The South African Navy can trace its official origins back to the SA Naval Service, which was established on 1 April 1922....
Loch class frigate
Loch class frigate
The Loch class was a class of anti-submarine frigate built for the Royal Navy and her allies during World War II. They were an innovative design based on the experience of 3 years of fighting in the Battle of the Atlantic and attendant technological advances.-Design:The Lochs were based upon the...
s (SAS Good Hope
ARA Drummond (P-31)
ARA Drummond is the lead ship of the Drummond class of three corvettes of the Argentine Navy. She is the second vessel to be named after Navy Sgt Francisco Drummond.-Service history:...
, SAS Natal and SAS Transvaal) each had two of these guns mounted on a twin Mark XIX on their foredeck between 1944 and 1976.
See also
- QF 4 inch Mk V naval gunQF 4 inch Mk V naval gunThe QF 4 inch Mk V gun was a Royal Navy gun of World War I which was adapted on HA mountings to the heavy anti-aircraft role both at sea and on land, and was also used as a coast defence gun.-Naval service:...
: Royal Navy anti-aircraft predecessor - List of naval anti-aircraft guns
- List of naval guns
Surviving examples
- On , Hamilton, Ortario, Canada.
- Naval Museum of Alberta, Canada
- On , London.
- On ORP Błyskawica, Gdynia (re-bored to 100 mm).
- A pair at South African National Museum of Military HistorySouth African National Museum of Military HistoryThe South African National War Museum in Johannesburg was officially opened by Prime Minister Jan Smuts on 29 August 1947 to preserve the history of South Africa's involvement in the Second World War. In 1975 the museum was renamed the South African National Museum of Military History and its...
, Johannesburg - A pair in a turret from INS Haifa (K-38), at Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum, Haifa, Israel.
- Two single guns on HMAS Diamantina (K377)HMAS Diamantina (K377)HMAS Diamantina , named for the Diamantina River in Queensland, is a River class frigate that served the Royal Australian Navy...
, Brisbane, Australia
External links
- B.R. 257. Handbook for the 4 inch Q.F. Mark XVI* Gun on the H.A. Twin Mark XIX And Single Mark XX Mountings. G3821/41 Naval Ordnance Department, Admiralty, July 1941.
- Tony DiGiulian, British 4"/45 (10.2 cm) QF HA Marks XVI, XVII, XVIII and XXI
- Youtube video clip of demonstration of loading and firing on HMS Belfast
- Youtube video clip of demonstration of loading and firing on HMS Belfast : closeup Note : for safety reasons, cartridges are seen being loaded without the normal attached shell.