V-11 (37 mm)

Description

The 37 mm automatic air defense gun M1939 (61-K) (Russian: 37-мм автоматическая зенитная пушка образца 1939 года (61-К)) is a Soviet 37 mm calibre anti-aircraft gun developed during the late 1930s and used during World War II. The gun was also fitted to many Soviet ships during World War II and saw service throughout the conflict, its designation being 70K. and replacing many of the 45mm mounts that were fitted to Soviet vessels at the time.

The naval mounting was produced as the 70K, and had entered service before the German invasion of the Soviet Union replacing the semi-automatic 45 mm/46 21-K on many ships. One drawback was that the 70K required a barrel change after every 100 rounds fired. To improve on this, a twin-barrel water cooled mount, the V-11 entered service in 1946, and was in production until 1957. A total of 1,872 V-11 mounts were built.

This mount features two 37mm guns, with a total of 2000 rounds available. A metal shield is fitted around the gun mount, but it is not modeled in game and provides no defense against incoming rounds.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• Chapayev
• Yenot
• Rosomacha
• Sverdlov
• Zheleznyakov

General info

This gun fires quickly for its size, with a reload time of .43 seconds stock, .33 seconds spaded. The mount is fully traversing, limited only by objects in its way such as other guns or parts of the ship. Vertical guidance is -5°/+89° which gives it the ability to fire anywhere it pleases.

Available ammunition

On the Soviet cruisers equipped with this weapon the ammo belts are not visible and cannot be changed. However, it is likely a Universal belt with 50/50 HEF-T and AP-T rounds, the AP-T having a base penetration value of 79mm.

On the coastal ships Yenot and Rosomacha, you have a choice between Universal (50/50), HE (5 HEF-T/1 AP-T), or AP (1 HEF-T/5 AP-T).

Universal is very useful as it is able to damage both aircraft and lightly armored ships severely. With how fast the gun can fire, only half of the belt being HE is not an issue against aircraft, and the same holds true for the AP rounds against other vessels.

Comparison with analogues

Compared to the earlier 45mm/46 21-K, the V-11 fires 5 times faster while not sacrificing too much explosive mass.

The 40mm Bofors guns found on many American and British vessels have almost identical performance to the V-11.

The 37mm guns found on German ships have far lower fire rates, while the 37s found on Italian ships are either better (Breta mod.38/mod.39) or far worse (Breda mod.32

The Japanese have no direct counterpart, the closest being their trusty 25mm mounts which have a fire rate 5 times slower.

Usage in battles

This gun is best used as it was designed, to crush enemy aircraft with its devastating fire rate and high-explosive shells as well as smother enemy lightly-armored vessels with its armor-piercing rounds. This mount does not have the best horizontal traverse rate, so it is advisable to take control of the turrets and rotate them towards the target you want them to engage before they come into range and you turn it over to the AI.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• High fire rate, can devastate enemy aircraft/light vessels easily.
• Near-perfect -5°/+89° vertical guidance, aircraft cannot avoid this weapon by attacking from directly overhead.
• Far better effective range compared to the 20mm cannons found on earlier ships.

Cons:

• Somewhat slow traverse rate, skilled pilots can easily evade AI gunners.
• Despite having a mount shield visual, the armor isn't modeled so this mount gets easily knocked out.
• On cruisers you cannot select different ammo belts like you can on the coastal ships equipped with this weapon.

History

The 37 mm automatic air defense gun M1939 (61-K) (Russian: 37-мм автоматическая зенитная пушка образца 1939 года (61-К)) is a Soviet 37 mm calibre anti-aircraft gun developed during the late 1930s and used during World War II. The land-based version was replaced in Soviet service by the AZP S-60 during the 1950s. Guns of this type were successfully used throughout the Eastern Front against dive bombers and other low- and medium-altitude targets. It also had some usefulness against lightly armoured ground targets. Crews of the 37 mm AD guns shot down 14,657 Axis planes. The mean quantity of 37 mm ammunition to shoot down one enemy plane was 905 rounds.

The Soviet Navy purchased a number of Bofors 25 mm Model 1933 guns in 1935, trials of the weapon were successful and it was decided to develop a 45 mm version of the weapon designated the 49-K. The development under the guidance of leading Soviet designers M. N. Loginov, I. A. Lyamin and L. V. Lyuliev was successful, but the army thought that the 45 mm calibre was a little too large for an automatic field weapon. In January 1938 the Artillery Factory Number 8 in Sverdlovsk was ordered to develop a 37 mm weapon based on the same design. The task was fulfilled by the chief designer of the factory, Mikhail Loginov, and his assistant Lev Loktev. Firing trials of the new 61-K were conducted in October 1938.

Competitive firing trials were conducted in 1940 between the 61-K and the Bofors 40 mm/56. There were no substantial differences found between them.

Land version

The weapon was initially installed as a single-barrel weapon on a four-wheeled ZU-7 carriage, and was soon ready for service. An initial order for 900 units was placed. The gun was operated by a crew of eight men. A total of 200 rounds of ammunition were carried which were fed into the gun in five-round clips. Total Soviet production was around 20,000 units, ending in 1945. However, it has also been produced in Poland, China and North Korea.

Armour penetration of the armour-piercing (AP) rounds is reported as 37 millimetres of rolled homogeneous armour (RHA) at 60°at 500 metres range and 28 millimetres of RHA at 90° at 1,500 metres range.

Naval version

The naval mounting was produced as the 70-K (37 mm), and had entered service before the German invasion of the Soviet Union replacing the semi-automatic 45 mm/46 21-K (45 mm) on many ships. It was fitted in large numbers to Soviet ships during the Second World War, including the T301 class minesweeper. The V70K was produced until 1955, with a total of 3,113 built.

One drawback was that the 70K required a barrel change after every 100 rounds fired. To improve on this, a twin-barrel water cooled mount, the V-11 (called "W-11" in East Germany and Poland because of different Cyrillic transliteration), entered service in 1946, and was in production until 1957. A total of 1,872 V-11 mounts were built.

After this an 85-calibre 100 mm (3.9 in) anti-aircraft mounts long version, the 45 mm/85, was developed and accepted into service in 1954, it was deployed in twin and quad turrets on a number of classes of vessels, including the Neustrashimyy, Kildin and Kotlin class destroyers. However it was later replaced with the ZIF-31 twin 57 mm mounting.

The 37 mm twin mounting was exported to China where it was manufactured and used extensively, as the "Type 65". A turret based version was produced from the late 1980s called the "Type 76" or H/PJA 76. This can be found on the Phòng không T-34 as a land-based anti-aircraft mount.

Media

File:558DE22B-8F95-4DDF-AFC7-FF5E391DFF59.jpg

V-11 mounts join the Zheleznyakov's main guns in firing at an enemy vessel.

See also

• 70-K (37 mm) - Single barrel variant

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/37_mm_automatic_air_defense_gun_M1939_(61-K)
• http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNRussian_37mm-67_70-K.php
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcqmVE2udzM

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)