320 mm/44 Ansaldo model 1936 (320 mm)

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Two bow turrets on RN Duilio - one triple-mount and one double-mount with rangefinder, armored fire director and four twin-mount 20 mm/65 Breda mounted on platforms a top of the superfiring turret

Description

The 320 mm/44 Ansaldo model 1936 is an Italian 320 mm naval cannon. It is a competent, high-penetration, high-velocity gun with a relatively small explosive filler.

Guns were created as a part of the interwar refit of the Andrea Doria-class, being a bored-out 305 mm/46 Vickers with a number of other upgrades such as a welded-on armor plates.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

General info

Being a bored-out version of the 305 mm/46 Vickers model 1909 the gun features an unusual calibre and some atypical characteristics of the weapons of this size. It makes a difficult compromise, trading explosive filler for penetration, which makes it particularly problematic to deal with a more bulky targets. This is not helped by the lack of HE rounds. What creates further problems for this gun are its turrets - having 240 mm near-flat turret face, and 110 - 170 mm welded on top of the 120 - 180 mm barbette armor makes it easy to penetrate by most of the BR 7.0 and some of the BR 6.7. Added armor offers less protection than a single solid plate.

Available ammunition

Gun features only two types of shells:

  • 320 mm Granata Perforante - Semi-Armor Piercing (SAP) - When possible they are the preferred choice, as they have 360% more explosive filler than the armor-piercing shells, thus they should be the first choice for a vast majority of the heavy cruisers and everything smaller.
  • 320 mm APHEBC Palla - Armor-Piercing Capped Ballistic Capped (APCBC) - Dedicated shell against heavy armor with both: armour-piercing cap and ballistic cap, which effectively translates to a better penetration at a higher angles of attack and longer ranges. It's best used against battleships and battlecruisers - while the post-penetration effect is miserable, it still can surprise even much more capable enemies. It's best used to destroy enemy ammo racks, where the amount of explosive filler isn't important if the magazines are hit directly.

Penetration statistics
Ammunition Type of
warhead 		Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
1,000 m 2,500 m 5,000 m 7,500 m 10,000 m 15,000 m
Granata Perforante SAP 427 386 327 279 241 189
APHEBC Palla APCBC 678 619 533 462 403 322
Shell details
Ammunition Type of
warhead 		Velocity
(m/s) 		Projectile
mass (kg) 		Fuse delay
(s) 		Fuse sensitivity
(mm) 		Explosive mass
(TNT equivalent) (kg) 		Ricochet
0% 50% 100%
Granata Perforante SAP 830 475 0.03 17 23.4 47° 60° 65°
APHEBC Palla APCBC 830 525 0.03 17 6.38 48° 63° 71°

Comparison with analogues

Msg-info.png There are no direct 320 mm / 12.5-inch equivalents in foreign nations. Representative rounds between 305 and 356 mm are used for comparison instead.

Compared to its peers ammunition of the 320 mm/44 Ansaldo model 1936 features a consistent trade-off, prioritizing armor penetration over the mass of the explosive filler, a characteristic shared by both its available round types. It's particularly evident the case of the armor-piercing rounds: explosive filler is the smallest one among comparable guns, it's smaller than even the German 283 mm guns, while having penetration values that can be matched only by a higher calibre shells.

Other two features worth noting is an exceptional targetting speed, allowing the guns to swiftly shift their aim from target to target, and a slightly above average muzzle velocity, which allows shells to sustain a good penetration at range and makes round trajectory somewhat flatter, an aspect that can be advantageous or disadvantageous depending on the specific target and combat context.

SAP

Cannon Sample Ship Ammo Calibre
(mm) 		Muzzle Velocity
(m/s) 		Sustained rate of fire
(rounds/min) 		Targeting speed
(°/s) 		TNT Equivalent
(kg) 		Penetration
@ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
Horizontal Vertical 1,000 m 5,000 m 10,000 m
Italy flag.png 320 mm/44 Ansaldo model 1936 (320 mm) RN Duilio SAP 320 830 2.1 4.2 5.1 23.4 427 327 241
Italy flag.png 320 mm/44 OTO model 1934 (320 mm) RN Conte di Cavour SAP 320 830 2.1 4.2 5.1 23.4 427 327 241
Germany flag.png 305 mm/50 SK L/50 (305 mm) SMS Helgoland SAP 305 850 3 2.6 3.4 10.8 481 357 252
USSR flag.png 12-inch/52 pattern 1907 (305 mm) Poltava SAPCBC 305 762 1.8 2.7 3.4 55.2 395 301 223
Britain flag.png 305 mm/45 Mark X (305 mm) HMS Dreadnought SAPCBC 305 869 2 3.4 3.4 36.3 282 205 141
Britain flag.png 13.5 inch/45 Mark 5(H) (343 mm) HMS Marlborough SAPCBC 343 759 2 1.7 4.2 53.3 305 267 223
Japan flag.png 36 cm/45 Type 41 (356 mm) IJN Kongo SAPCBC 356 780 2 2.6 4.2 38.64 301 248 199

AP

Cannon Sample Ship Ammo Calibre
(mm) 		Muzzle Velocity
(m/s) 		Sustained rate of fire
(rounds/min) 		Targeting speed
(°/s) 		TNT Equivalent
(kg) 		Penetration
@ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
Horizontal Vertical 1,000 m 5,000 m 10,000 m
Italy flag.png 320 mm/44 Ansaldo model 1936 (320 mm) RN Duilio APCBC 320 830 2.1 4.2 5.1 6.38 678 533 403
Italy flag.png 320 mm/44 OTO model 1934 (320 mm) RN Conte di Cavour APCBC 320 830 2.1 4.2 5.1 6.38 678 533 403
USA flag.png 14 inch/45 Mk.12 (356 mm) USS Texas APCBC 356 823 1.5 1.7 3.4 15.24 637 536 439
Germany flag.png 305 mm/50 SK L/50 (305 mm) SMS Helgoland APC 305 855 3 2.6 3.4 13.6 519 383 270
USSR flag.png 12-inch/52 pattern 1907 (305 mm) Poltava APCBC 305 762 1.8 2.7 3.4 12.96 522 398 295
Britain flag.png 305 mm/45 Mark X (305 mm) HMS Dreadnought APC 305 831 2 3.4 3.4 13.64 282 205 141
Britain flag.png 13.5 inch/45 Mark 5(H) (343 mm) HMS Marlborough APCBC Mk.IIIa 343 759 2 1.7 4.2 14.1 601 519 441
Japan flag.png 36 cm/45 Type 41 (356 mm) IJN Kongo APCBC 356 805 2 2.6 4.2 12.21 635 529 431
France flag.png 305 mm/45 model 1906-10 (305 mm) Paris APC 305 789 2.1 3.8 2.6 18.11 460 341 243
France flag.png 340 mm/45 model 1912 (340 mm) Lorraine APCBC 340 794 2 3.8 2.6 24.18 493 403 321

Usage in battles

Describe the cannon/machine gun in the game - its distinctive features, tactics of usage against notable opponents. Please don't write a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought.

320 mm/44 Ansaldo model 1936 firing broadside

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Excellent penetration for the calibre
  • Very good targetting speed

Cons:

  • No High Explosive shells
  • Unusually low explosive filler
  • Lacklustre armor protection of the turrets

History

Unlike the other signatories of the Washington Naval Treaty, Italy was allowed to continue constructing battleships, albeit restricted in their total tonnage to 70,000 tons for new capital ships. When Italy began the development of the Littorio-class battleships in the 1930s, they knew it would take a while to build them and as a stopgap, they gave an extensive refit of their World War I-era dreadnoughts. Among the changes was boring out and relining their main battery guns. As the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) used two different forms of 12-inch guns on their dreadnoughts from different manufacturers, the new 12.6-inch guns were given different designations for the refits on their dreadnoughts. For the Andrea Doria-class dreadnoughts, the guns were redesignated the 320 mm/44 Ansaldo model 1936.

The Ansaldo model 1936 guns began life as the 305 mm/46 Vickers model 1909 on the RN Andrea Doria and her sister ship the RN Duilio. The new Ansaldo-modified guns were bored out (which included moving the A tube and wiring) to 320 mm from 305 mm. The other changes were the addition of new liners, new ammunition, and increased elevation angles. During World War II, the Andrea Doria and Duilio saw little action in combat as the lack of radar or aerial reconnaissance left their battleships only rarely able to locate and attack British targets. The two ships spent most of their career during the war engaging in convoy escort duties in the Mediterranean. The rare case of the Andrea Doria seeing action occurred at the First Battle of Sirte on December 17th, 1941, off the coast of Libya and possibly damaged the destroyer HMS Kipling (British sources note the calibre of the shell splinters were the same as the main battery guns of the Andrea Doria or Giulio Cesare). Eventually, both ships were forced back into port before the Armistice with the Allies in September 1943 (the Andrea Doria due to mechanical faults and the Duilio due to Italy's fuel shortage) and were scrapped in 1956 and 1957 respectively.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

External links


Italy naval cannons
20 mm  20 mm/65 Breda · 20 mm/70 Oerlikon 3S · 20 mm/70 Scotti-Isotta Fraschini mod.1939
37 mm  37 mm/54 Breda Mod.32 · 37 mm/54 Breda Mod.38 · 37 mm/54 Breda Mod.39
40 mm  40 mm/39 Vickers-Terni mod.1915/1917 · 40 mm/39 Vickers-Terni mod.1915/1917, Modif.1930 · 40 mm/70 Breda-Bofors type 107
65 mm  65 mm/64 Ansaldo-Terni Mod.1939
76 mm  76 mm/40 Armstrong mod.1897/1910 · 76 mm/40 Armstrong mod.1897/1912 · 76 mm/40 Ansaldo mod.1917 · 76 mm/45 Schneider mod.1911 · 76 mm/50 Vickers mod.1909 · 76 mm/62 OTO-Melara Compact · 76-mm/62 SMP 3
90 mm  90 mm/50 Ansaldo model 1939
100 mm  100 mm/47 O.T.O. Mod. 1928 · 100 mm/47 O.T.O. Mod. 1937
120 mm  120 mm/45 Canet-Schneider-Armstrong mod.1918-19 · 120 mm/50 Armstrong model 1909 · 120 mm/45 O.T.O. Mod. 1926 · 120 mm/50 Ansaldo mod.1926 · 120 mm/50 O.T.O. Mod.1936
135 mm  135 mm/45 O.T.O. Mod. 1937
152 mm  152 mm/45 Schneider mod.1911 · 152/53 mm Ansaldo mod.1926 · 152/53 mm O.T.O. Mod.1929
203 mm  203 mm/50 Ansaldo mod.1924 · 203 mm/53 Ansaldo mod.1927
305 mm  305 mm/46 Armstrong model 1909 · 305 mm/46 Vickers model 1909
320 mm  320 mm/44 OTO model 1934 · 320 mm/44 Ansaldo model 1936
  Foreign:
20 mm  2 cm/65 Flakvierling 38 (Germany)
40 mm  Bofors L/60 Mark 1 (USA) · Bofors L/60 Mark 3 (USA)
76 mm  76 mm/50 Mk.33 (USA)
127 mm  127 mm/38 Mk.12 (USA)

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