View source for 8 inch/50 Mark VIII (203 mm)

== Description ==
''Write an introduction to the article in 2-3 small paragraphs. Briefly tell us about the history of the development and combat using the weaponry and also about its features. Compile a list of air, ground, or naval vehicles that feature this weapon system in the game.''

=== Vehicles equipped with this weapon ===
<!-- ''List out vehicles that are equipped with the weapon.'' -->

* {{Specs-Link|uk_cruiser_kent}}
* {{Specs-Link|uk_cruiser_london}}
* {{Specs-Link|uk_cruiser_norfolk}}
* {{Specs-Link|uk_cruiser_york}}

== General info ==
''Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.''

=== Available ammunition ===
''Describe the shells that are available for the weapon and their features and purpose. If it concerns autocannons or machine guns, write about different ammo belts and what is inside (which types of shells).''

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="8" | Penetration statistics
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" | Type of<br>warhead
! colspan="6" | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
|-
! 1,000 m !! 2,500 m !! 5,000 m !! 7,500 m !! 10,000 m !! 15,000 m
|-
| 8 inch HE || HE || 62 || 62 || 62 || 62 || 62 || 62
|-
| 8 inch Mark I.B. SAPCBC || SAPCBC || 274 || 248 || 209 || 178 || 153 || 119
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
! colspan="10" | Shell details
|-
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
! rowspan="2" | Type of<br>warhead
! rowspan="2" | Velocity<br>(m/s)
! rowspan="2" | Projectile<br>mass (kg)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse delay<br>(s)
! rowspan="2" | Fuse sensitivity<br>(mm)
! rowspan="2" | Explosive mass<br>(TNT equivalent) (kg)
! colspan="3" | Ricochet
|-
! 0% !! 50% !! 100%
|-
| 8 inch HE || HE || 855 || 116.1 || 0 || 0.1 || 10 || 79° || 80° || 81°
|-
| 8 inch Mark I.B. SAPCBC || SAPCBC || 855 || 116.1 || 0.025 || 9 || 5.2 || 48° || 63° || 71°
|-
|}

=== Comparison with analogues ===
''Give a comparative description of cannons/machine guns that have firepower equal to this weapon.''

== 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.''

=== Pros and cons ===
''Summarise and briefly evaluate the weaponry in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark pros and cons as a list.''

'''Pros:'''

*

'''Cons:'''

*

== History ==
<!-- ''Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of the weapon in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the weapon and adding a block "/History" (example: <nowiki>https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Weapon-name)/History</nowiki>) and add a link to it here using the <code>main</code> template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <code><nowiki><ref></ref></nowiki></code>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <code><nowiki><references /></nowiki></code>.'' -->
After World War I, the five major nations of the Allied Powers (the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France, and Italy) agreed to put an end to the naval arms race that had occurred over the last 20 years. Codified in the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922, the five nations agreed to restrictions on new naval ships specifically defined as heavy cruisers by their 8-inch gun armament. The 8-inch/50 Mark VIII was designed to satisfy the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty. Originally constructed with an inner A tube, wire, B tube, and overlapping jacket, only half of these wire-wound built-up guns were actually given the inner A tube. The Mark VIII* was later created by relining all the guns with the inner A tube while the Mark VIII** was made without the wires like the original prototypes. The early guns were mounted in turrets intended to give high elevation angles to allow them to serve as dual-purpose guns; however, the mounts were problematic with the training and elevation gears being too slow to serve in this role. In total, 196 guns were built.
The first class of heavy cruisers constructed to use these guns and satisfy the restrictions of the treaty were the [[County (Family)|''County'' class]] ordered in 1924 which were armed with 8 of these guns in twin mounts of the more reliable Mark II type. However, due to budget cuts after the war, the class was actually divided into three sub-types. The [[HMS Kent|''Kent'' class]] was the original class ordered but it was followed by the [[HMS London|''London'' class]] and the [[HMS Norfolk|''Norfolk'' class]] with slight differences to hull and superstructure. Despite the improvements of the Mark II mounts for these 8-inch guns, the issues were not fully ironed out as there were still complaints about the mountings and torpedoes on HMS ''London'' as late as 1938. The only other class to use these 8-inch guns was the [[HMS York|''York'' class]] which used triple turrets, but, due to being smaller than their ''County''-class predecessors, had only 6 guns. Another six guns were used during World War II to serve as coastal defense guns in the Dover-Folkstone area.

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

== See also ==
''Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''

* ''reference to the article about the variant of the cannon/machine gun;''
* ''references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.''

== External links ==
''Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:''

* ''topic on the official game forum;''
* ''other literature.''

{{Britain naval cannons}}

[[Category:Naval cannons]]