B-13 (130 mm)

130 mm B-13 on the Bezuprechny

Description

The 130 mm B-13 is a Soviet naval gun.

General info

The B-13 cannon is shared by most WWII-era destroyers of the Soviet fleet, and is a very potent weapon. However, the main flaw with this weapon is its absolutely horrid turret rotation speed of 4.2 degrees/second vertically and horizontally. This means that you have to turn the turrets very early to be able to engage effectively. The gun shoots accurately and has a high initial muzzle velocity (870 m/s). Combined with the horrible traverse rate, this means the guns aren't particularly suited for anti-aircraft duties.

Available ammunition

The guns themselves have access to three shell types: the OF-46 high-explosive (HE) shell, the PB-46A semi armour-piercing (SAPBC) shell, and the ZS-46R proximity-fused (HE-VT) shell. Of these weapons, the HE shell is usually the best against enemy destroyers and ships as it packs the most explosive filler, 3.58 kg of it to be exact. The SAPBC shell works better against the occasional cruiser you may encounter, as it packs more penetration capacity (up to 179 mm compared to 36 mm for the HE shell). Finally, the HE-VT shell is good against aircraft as it will explode when close enough to the enemy aircraft, meaning that it doesn't require a direct hit. However, it actually packs less explosive filler than the normal HE shell, which is unusual for any HE-VT shell.

Ground vehicles

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
PB-46A	SAPCBC	202	199	190	179	168	158
OF-46	HE	36	36	36	36	36	36

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
PB-46A	SAPCBC	870	33.5	1.2	19	2.35	48°	63°	71°
OF-46	HE	870	33.4	0	0.1	3.58	79°	80°	81°

Naval vessels

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
130 mm OF-46 HE	HE	36	36	36	36	36	36
130 mm PB-46A SAPBC	SAPCBC	181	156	122	96	77	56
130 mm ZS-46R HE-VT	HE-VT	26	26	26	26	26	26

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%
130 mm OF-46 HE	HE	870	33.4	0	0.1	3.58	79°	80°	81°
130 mm PB-46A SAPBC	SAPCBC	870	33.5	0.01	6	2.35	48°	63°	71°

Proximity-fused shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Arming distance (m)	Trigger radius (m)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
									0%	50%	100%
130 mm ZS-46R HE-VT	HE-VT	870	33.8	0	0.1	240	16	2.06	79°	80°	81°

Comparison with analogues

The B-13 has a high initial muzzle velocity (870 m/s compared to 790 m/s for the American 5"/38 guns). However, this comes at the expense of reload speed, as the manually-loaded weapons can only fire at 10 rounds per minute (RPM) with a spaded crew, compared to 22 RPM for the American 5"/38 guns. In fact, this fire rate is slower than everything except for the Japanese and Italian 5" guns, which have a similar fire rate.

Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

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Pros:

Cons:

History

The B-13 was the replacement for the 130 mm/55 pattern 1913 and the main destroyer gun of World War II. The design for a new cannon was originally intended for Soviet submarines and possessed superior ballistic characteristics to the Pattern 1913 it was replacing. Designed by G. N. Rafalovits at the Bolshevik Plant no. 232 in Leningrad, the gun changed multiple times during development. Originally intended to use a wedge lock and fixed ammunition and high barrel pressure, the design was switched to a destroyer weapon when it was found to be too big for the Pravda-class submarines. The design was thus changed to separate ammunition to reduce costs as it was now not needed for a dry-mount weapon. The gun also had the barrel changed to 50 calibres. Due to the changes and delays, it entered service in 1936 but entered production a year before because of the need for these guns.

Taking lessons from World War I, the Leningrad-class destroyer leader was the first ship to mount this cannon. The B-13 was the first mount to use this cannon and was a single-mount cannon with a 13 mm gun shield. The gun was subsequently used on the Minsk, Baku, Tashkent, Gnevnyi, Storozhevoi, and Ognevoy classes along with the one-off Pr. 45 Opitnyi destroyer. The B-13 also found itself on the Shikila and Khasan-class river monitors, and as coastal artillery and railway guns during World War II. With over 1,000 guns built, the B-13 remained in service through the 1970s in the coastal artillery, where it was mounted along the Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula to protect Vladivostok from a potential Chinese attack.

During World War II, it was found that the high barrel pressure give a barrel life of 130 rounds, which meant the barrels would have to be replaced before the gun's magazines. Attempts to fix this issue resulted in three barrel types which all had different grove depths and removable liners instead of a monobloc barrel. The original liners were 1 mm deep but later models were 1.95 mm and later 2.17 mm which were all incompatible with ammunition and range tables which significantly hampered performance and was a logistical nightmare to manage. The breech mechanism was also found to be unreliable. Production ended in 1954, but it would also see service in other nations.

Finland managed to repair five guns left behind by the Soviets in the Battle of Hanko during the Continuation War which served in the coastal defense and railroad gun roles. The Finns nicknamed the gun Nikolajev and used the guns into the 1990s. The Polish Navy got two Skoryy-class destroyers in the late 1950s along with using the B-13 as coastal batteries on the Hel Peninsula. Finally, China got these guns on their Anshan-class (ex-Gnevny-class) destroyers.

Another application of the B-13 was as the weapon mounted on the SU-100Y prototype self-propelled gun. While it was originally planned by the ABTU (Directorate of Armoured Forces) to mount a 152 mm howitzer, the No. 185 Factory instead armed it with the B-13. Intended for use primarily against fortifications, the SU-100Y never entered production due to the end of the Winter War in Finland and the difficulty to transport the large machine by rail. The prototype would see service during the Battle of Moscow during World War II, but the plans for a self-propelled gun against fortifications evolved in a different direction, creating the KV-2 heavy tank.

Media

Images

• 

  Twin-mount B-13 on Ognevoy

• 

  Single-mount B-13 on Soobrazitelny

• 

  Single-mount B-13 on Bezuprechny

• 

  B-13 used on SU-100Y

See also

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

External links

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• other literature.

USSR naval cannons
20 mm	ShVAK
25 mm	2M-3
30 mm	AK-230 · 30 mm/54 AK-630 · 30 mm/54 AK-630M · BP "Plamya"
37 mm	37 mm/67 70-K · V-11
45 mm	45 mm/46 21-K · 45 mm/68 21-KM · 45 mm/89 SM-20-ZIF · 45 mm/89 SM-21-ZIF
57 mm	AK-725
75 mm	75 mm/50 Canet patt.1892
76 mm	34-K · 39-K · 76 mm/60 AK-176M · AK-726 · D-56TS · F-34 · Lender AA gun, pattern 1914/15
85 mm	85 mm/52 92-K · 85 mm/54.6 ZIS-C-53 · 90-K
100 mm	100 mm/56 B-34 · 100 mm/70 SM-5-1 · Minizini
102 mm	Pattern 1911
120 mm	120 mm/50 pattern 1905
130 mm	130 mm/55 pattern 1913 · 130 mm/58 SM-2-1 · B-13
152 mm	152 mm/57 B-38
180 mm	180 mm/57 B-1-P · 180 mm/60 B-1-K
305 mm	12-inch/52 pattern 1907 · 305 mm/54 B-50
356 mm	14-inch/52 pattern 1913 (356 mm)
	Foreign:
40 mm	2pdr QF Mk.IIc (Britain) · Skoda (Czechoslovakia)
47 mm	3 pdr QF Hotchkiss (Britain)
76 mm	76 mm/40 Ansaldo mod.1917 (Italy)
88 mm	SK C/30 (Germany)
120 mm	120 mm/50 Mk.4 Bofors M1924 (Sweden) · 120 mm/50 O.T.O. Mod.1933 (Italy)
152 mm	152/53 mm O.T.O. Mod.1929 (Italy)
320 mm	320 mm/44 Ansaldo model 1934 (Italy)