Big Bore Naval Guns on Battleships

Ol' Flinter

Ol' Flinter

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I have been watching videos of the WW1 and WW2 battleships and their big guns are often described as, for example " 16 inch 50 cal ". I understand that in this case it means that the bore is 16 inches but what does the "50 cal " part mean?
Thanks
 
My guess is the 50 is like the German WW2 tank guns such as the 88 L/71 in that it’s 71 calibers long or 71*88=6248 millimeters long. So the gun in your case would be 16*50 inches long or 800 inches long
 
Along the same lines, I've always wondered about the British terminology for cannon sizes.

Most countries go by the size of the muzzle, 105, 155 etc. or 16 inch, 18 inch, etc. but the British use "pounds"

Pounds of what? the weight of the shell, power charge, ??

Doesn't make much sense; but that's the British for you.
 
CGS said:
Along the same lines, I've always wondered about the British terminology for cannon sizes.

Most countries go by the size of the muzzle, 105, 155 etc. or 16 inch, 18 inch, etc. but the British use "pounds"

Pounds of what? the weight of the shell, power charge, ??

Doesn't make much sense; but that's the British for you.
Click to expand...
Think that goes back to cannon balls, weight of the ball
 
Name Type Calibre
Metric Imperial
Ordnance QF 1 pounder "pom pom" Infantry gun/AA gun 37 mm 1.457 inch
Ordnance QF 2 pounder Anti-tank gun 40 mm 1.575 inch
Ordnance QF 2 pounder "pom pom" Anti-aircraft gun 40 mm 1.575
Ordnance QF 3 pounder Vickers Naval gun 47 mm 1.85 inch
Ordnance QF 6 pounder Anti-tank gun 57 mm 2.244 inch
Ordnance BL 10 pounder Mountain gun Mountain gun 69.8 mm 2.75 inch
12 pounder (multiple types) Light field gun 76.2 mm 3 inch
Ordnance QF 13 pounder Light field gun 76.2 mm 3 inch
15 pounder (multiple types) Field gun 76.2 mm 3 inch
Ordnance QF 17 pounder Anti-tank gun 76.2 mm 3 inch
Ordnance QF 18 pounder Field gun 83.8 mm 3.3 inch
Ordnance QF 20 pounder Tank gun 83.8 mm 3.3 inch
Ordnance QF 25 pounder Gun-howitzer 87.6 mm 3.45 inch
Ordnance QF 32 pounder Tank gun 94 mm 3.7 inch
Ordnance QF 60 pounder Heavy field gun 127 mm 5 inch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_standard_ordnance_weights_and_measurements
 
Another interesting fact. :) Most nations liked their guns made of heavy solid steel. The Brits used a thinner barrel, wound with with wire and a jacket shrunk over that.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/anecdotes-from-the-archive/advanced-gun-technology-1915/

Grizz
 
One of the cooler things of my current job is that we have a old Pond lathe with a 6’ chuck that was used to turn barrels for Naval warship guns in WWI. Currently I am the go to guy for running that beauty as most don’t have any interest and would rather run the CNC machines/more modern equipment.
 
Eaglelord17 said:
One of the cooler things of my current job is that we have a old Pond lathe with a 6’ chuck that was used to turn barrels for Naval warship guns in WWI. Currently I am the go to guy for running that beauty as most don’t have any interest and would rather run the CNC machines/more modern equipment.
Click to expand...

In my teens , I worked at a shop that had a similar lathe, that came from the gun building days of the CP Ogden shops in Calgary. It was a brute.

http://www.okthepk.ca/dataCprSiding...Shops produced two,and 1,650 naval gun mounts.

Grizz
 
While a machinist at British Steel Alloys in S.Edmonton the trepanners I used were origianlly from a company in Texas. Century ago used to make naval guns in WWI for US navy. If I recall a nice core could be bored out 30 ft and 14-16 inch dia..
 
In 1972 I drove through the Naval Storage Area in California.
They had trucks loaded with shells etc for transportation to the coast
 
diopter said:
Name Type Calibre
Metric Imperial
Ordnance QF 1 pounder "pom pom" Infantry gun/AA gun 37 mm 1.457 inch
Ordnance QF 2 pounder Anti-tank gun 40 mm 1.575 inch
Ordnance QF 2 pounder "pom pom" Anti-aircraft gun 40 mm 1.575
Ordnance QF 3 pounder Vickers Naval gun 47 mm 1.85 inch
Ordnance QF 6 pounder Anti-tank gun 57 mm 2.244 inch
Ordnance BL 10 pounder Mountain gun Mountain gun 69.8 mm 2.75 inch
12 pounder (multiple types) Light field gun 76.2 mm 3 inch
Ordnance QF 13 pounder Light field gun 76.2 mm 3 inch
15 pounder (multiple types) Field gun 76.2 mm 3 inch
Ordnance QF 17 pounder Anti-tank gun 76.2 mm 3 inch
Ordnance QF 18 pounder Field gun 83.8 mm 3.3 inch
Ordnance QF 20 pounder Tank gun 83.8 mm 3.3 inch
Ordnance QF 25 pounder Gun-howitzer 87.6 mm 3.45 inch
Ordnance QF 32 pounder Tank gun 94 mm 3.7 inch
Ordnance QF 60 pounder Heavy field gun 127 mm 5 inch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_standard_ordnance_weights_and_measurements
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, but what exactly does the "pound" measure ?
 
From what I’ve read, the poundage of British guns refers to the weight of the standard cartridge fired from a gun and is a hold over from the days of cannons which only shot an iron sphere. Given the poundage and knowing the density of iron you could calculate the diameter of the bore, giving you all the info you needed about the cannon from just the weight of the shot. Fast forward to many different shell lengths, shapes, and materials and this obviously isn’t as useful
 
X Pounder refers to the weight of the most common shell used in a gun.
Example the 18 Pdr field gun of WW1 commonly used an 18 pound shrapnel shell.
Very useful with round shot smoothbores less so with rifled shell guns but system was used into the 1950s.
RN switched inch calibres in the 1870s for guns over a certain calibre.
 
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