The 3-inch/23-caliber gun (spoken "three-inch-twenty-three-caliber") was the standard anti-aircraft gun for United States destroyers through World War I and the 1920s. United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun fired a projectile 3 inches (76 mm) in diameter, and the barrel was 23 calibers long (barrel length is 3" × 23 = 69" or 1.75 meters.)Fairfield 1921 p.156

Description

The built-up gun with horizontal sliding breech block weighed about 531 pounds (241 kg) and used fixed ammunition (case and projectile handled as a single assembled unit) with a 13-pound (6 kg) projectile at a velocity of 1650 feet per second (500 m/s).Campbell 1985 p.146 Range was 10,100 yards (9235 meters) at 45 degrees elevation. Ceiling was 18,000 feet (5500 meters) at the maximum elevation of 75 degrees.Campbell 1985 p.146

History The 3"/23-caliber cannon was the first purposely designed anti-aircraft cannon to reach operational service in the US military, and was a further development of a 1-pounder cannon concept designed by Admiral Twining to meet the possible threat from airships being built by various navies."New American Aerial Weapons" Popular Mechanics, December 1911, p. 776. It entered service in late 1913 on the Aylwin-class destroyers.

A partially retractable version was mounted as a deck gun on the US L-class, , , and O-class submarines.

When World War II began, the 3"/23-caliber gun was outdated, and surviving United States destroyers built during the World War I era that were armed with the 3"/23-caliber were rearmed with dual-purpose 3"/50-caliber guns. Where there was no air threat during World War II, the 3"/23-caliber gun was employed in the surface-to-surface role for use against submarines, and was mounted on submarine chasers, armed yachts, and various auxiliaries. Some major warships carried 3"/23-caliber guns temporarily while awaiting installation of quad 1.1"/75-caliber guns.

The 3"/23-caliber gun was mounted on:

s s s sFahey 1939 p.14 s s Dubuque-class gunboats s s L-class submarines

O-class submarines

s s s

Notes

References

DiGiulian, Tony Navweaps.com 3"/23 caliber gun

External links