Difference between revisions of "5.25 inch/50 QF Mark I (133 mm)"
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== General info == | == General info == | ||
| − | + | The 5.25-inch guns are 133mm in diameter, placing them close to both the 5-inch (127mm) guns used by the American, Japanese, and German destroyers, as well as the 130mm guns used by the Russian destroyers. As a result, these guns are some of the deadliest guns in the game against destroyers, thanks to their hefty size and rapid RoF. However, these are still small guns for a light cruiser, lacking in firepower to the many 6-inch (152mm) guns found on other light cruisers. While the rate-of-fire of these guns is also impressive (especially with a good crew), it isn't enough to truly outgun any light cruisers firing back. As a result, these guns are best used as anti-destroyer guns, using their good damage and adequate RoF to punish enemy destroyers. | |
=== Available shells === | === Available shells === | ||
| − | '' | + | Like many of the British destroyer guns, the 5.25-inch cannons lack any true armor-piercing shells. Instead, players get the option of three shell types: |
| + | |||
| + | * '''HE''' - these shells are the stock shells for the 5.25-inch gun. While they can deal huge damage to destroyers and coastal craft, they lack the penetration or the sheer damage to damage any armoured cruisers. However, there are still some light cruisers that can take big damage from these shells, such as the British [[HMS Enterprise]], the Japanese [[IJN Kuma]], and the American [[USS Raleigh (CL-7)|USS Raleigh]] and [[USS Trenton (CL-11)|USS Trenton]]. These shells can also do substantial damage to auxilary and AA guns, smoke stacks, and lightly armoured gun turrets. | ||
| + | * '''SAPBC''' - these semi-armor piercing shells are the best shells for use against larger light and heavy cruisers, with enough close-range penetration to cut through belt armor on larger ships. At range, these can also be devastating to light cruisers and destroyers, with the ability to cut through hull armor and hit ammo racks and elevators, as well as ship engines and rudders. | ||
| + | * '''HE-TF''' - the time-fuzed shells, like others of the type, are the most effective against AA, and can also be used to dig into destroyers and damage more internal components if at close range. | ||
=== Comparison with analogues === | === Comparison with analogues === | ||
| − | ' | + | |
| + | * [[130 mm/50 pattern 1913 (130 mm)|130 mm/50 pattern 1913]] - this Russian cruiser gun is a similar calibre to the 5.25-inch. While it lacks the British gun's calibre, it makes up for it with better armor penetration and a better shell velocity. | ||
| + | * [[130 mm/58 SM-2-1 (130 mm)|130 mm/58 SM-2-1]] - another Russian 130mm gun, this outclasses the 5.25-inch gun entirely, with superior RoF, penetration, shell velocity and ammunition. | ||
| + | * [[5 inch/38 Mk. 12]] - this American 127mm gun, found on the USS Atlanta, lacks the raw firepower of the British gun, and has a lower shell velocity, but it's insane RoF (22 rounds/per min in first stage) means it can easily beat the British gun in a duel. | ||
== Usage in battles == | == Usage in battles == | ||
| − | + | The 5.25-inch gun, like the guns on the USS Atlanta, sit contrary to the role of its only user, the HMS Dido. While the guns possess good damage and RoF for their calibre, they still shoot slower than destroyer guns, and hit softer than cruiser guns, leaving them in an awkward position. Still, these guns can fill any role effectively. | |
| + | |||
| + | Against other ships, these guns can still be effective. Destroyers should be terrified of these guns, thanks to their good shell velocity and RoF, and their fantastic damage and accuracy. The Dido can easily pick apart destroyers, and these guns can effectively outgun many destroyer guns at range. However, these guns lack that same effectiveness against cruisers. The SAPBC shells can damage cruisers, but they lack explosive damage, and the HE shells will utterly fail against any but the lightest of cruisers. | ||
| + | |||
| + | These guns can also be effective DP guns thanks to the HE-TF shells and good gun handling. With larger aircraft, feel free to switch to the timed shells and let rip with your good accuracy and RoF. | ||
=== Pros and cons === | === Pros and cons === | ||
| Line 23: | Line 34: | ||
'''Pros:''' | '''Pros:''' | ||
| + | |||
| + | * Easily capable of killing destroyers thanks to the calibre | ||
| + | * Adequate reload that beats many cruisers at the same tier | ||
| + | * Very accurate and has good shell velocity | ||
* | * | ||
'''Cons:''' | '''Cons:''' | ||
| + | |||
| + | * Lacks the damage to threaten larger ships | ||
| + | * No AP shells makes them weak against heavy cruisers | ||
| + | * RoF is slow compared to similar-sized guns | ||
* | * | ||
== History == | == History == | ||
| − | '' | + | The QF 5.25-inch naval guns were the Royal Navy's heaviest dual-purpose cannons in use during the Second World War. Fitted primarily to the ''King George V''-class battleships, these guns proved to be effective against both other shipping and aircraft. The Royal Navy also fitted these guns to its ''Dido''-class of light cruisers, which used them to some success while serving as convoy escorts. The guns also had the distinction of being fitted to the Royal Navy's last ever battleship, ''HMS Vanguard''. |
| + | |||
| + | The 5.25-inch guns were some of the Royal Navy's first large-scale guns to be designed from the outset as dual-purpose guns (to be used against both ships and aircraft, depending on the situation). The guns were particularly noted for their ballistic performance, being able to fire more accurately and farther than its closest rivals in the French and Italian navies. This made them effective also for land bombardment, and some guns were later acquired by the British Army for coastal defence, in part due to their potent long-range firepower. | ||
| + | |||
| + | The guns were some of the last of these types to be constructed by the Royal Navy. Post-war, much of naval armament went in the way of smaller, faster cannons, as well as a larger emphasis on rockets, and later missiles. | ||
== Media == | == Media == | ||
Revision as of 14:01, 24 February 2021
Contents
Description
The 5.25-inch/50 QF Mark I is a naval cannon used by Royal Navy vessels. Lying somewhere between destroyer and light cruiser calibre, this cannon is (so far) only equipped in game to the HMS Dido, the British rank III light cruiser. During its real-life service, it was also used as a DP (dual purpose) gun, equipped to the King George V-class battleships, as well as HMS Vanguard, the Royal Navy's last battleship.
Vehicles equipped with this weapon
General info
The 5.25-inch guns are 133mm in diameter, placing them close to both the 5-inch (127mm) guns used by the American, Japanese, and German destroyers, as well as the 130mm guns used by the Russian destroyers. As a result, these guns are some of the deadliest guns in the game against destroyers, thanks to their hefty size and rapid RoF. However, these are still small guns for a light cruiser, lacking in firepower to the many 6-inch (152mm) guns found on other light cruisers. While the rate-of-fire of these guns is also impressive (especially with a good crew), it isn't enough to truly outgun any light cruisers firing back. As a result, these guns are best used as anti-destroyer guns, using their good damage and adequate RoF to punish enemy destroyers.
Available shells
Like many of the British destroyer guns, the 5.25-inch cannons lack any true armor-piercing shells. Instead, players get the option of three shell types:
- HE - these shells are the stock shells for the 5.25-inch gun. While they can deal huge damage to destroyers and coastal craft, they lack the penetration or the sheer damage to damage any armoured cruisers. However, there are still some light cruisers that can take big damage from these shells, such as the British HMS Enterprise, the Japanese IJN Kuma, and the American USS Raleigh and USS Trenton. These shells can also do substantial damage to auxilary and AA guns, smoke stacks, and lightly armoured gun turrets.
- SAPBC - these semi-armor piercing shells are the best shells for use against larger light and heavy cruisers, with enough close-range penetration to cut through belt armor on larger ships. At range, these can also be devastating to light cruisers and destroyers, with the ability to cut through hull armor and hit ammo racks and elevators, as well as ship engines and rudders.
- HE-TF - the time-fuzed shells, like others of the type, are the most effective against AA, and can also be used to dig into destroyers and damage more internal components if at close range.
Comparison with analogues
- 130 mm/50 pattern 1913 - this Russian cruiser gun is a similar calibre to the 5.25-inch. While it lacks the British gun's calibre, it makes up for it with better armor penetration and a better shell velocity.
- 130 mm/58 SM-2-1 - another Russian 130mm gun, this outclasses the 5.25-inch gun entirely, with superior RoF, penetration, shell velocity and ammunition.
- 5 inch/38 Mk. 12 - this American 127mm gun, found on the USS Atlanta, lacks the raw firepower of the British gun, and has a lower shell velocity, but it's insane RoF (22 rounds/per min in first stage) means it can easily beat the British gun in a duel.
Usage in battles
The 5.25-inch gun, like the guns on the USS Atlanta, sit contrary to the role of its only user, the HMS Dido. While the guns possess good damage and RoF for their calibre, they still shoot slower than destroyer guns, and hit softer than cruiser guns, leaving them in an awkward position. Still, these guns can fill any role effectively.
Against other ships, these guns can still be effective. Destroyers should be terrified of these guns, thanks to their good shell velocity and RoF, and their fantastic damage and accuracy. The Dido can easily pick apart destroyers, and these guns can effectively outgun many destroyer guns at range. However, these guns lack that same effectiveness against cruisers. The SAPBC shells can damage cruisers, but they lack explosive damage, and the HE shells will utterly fail against any but the lightest of cruisers.
These guns can also be effective DP guns thanks to the HE-TF shells and good gun handling. With larger aircraft, feel free to switch to the timed shells and let rip with your good accuracy and RoF.
Pros and cons
Summarize and briefly evaluate the weaponry in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark pros and cons as a list.
Pros:
- Easily capable of killing destroyers thanks to the calibre
- Adequate reload that beats many cruisers at the same tier
- Very accurate and has good shell velocity
Cons:
- Lacks the damage to threaten larger ships
- No AP shells makes them weak against heavy cruisers
- RoF is slow compared to similar-sized guns
History
The QF 5.25-inch naval guns were the Royal Navy's heaviest dual-purpose cannons in use during the Second World War. Fitted primarily to the King George V-class battleships, these guns proved to be effective against both other shipping and aircraft. The Royal Navy also fitted these guns to its Dido-class of light cruisers, which used them to some success while serving as convoy escorts. The guns also had the distinction of being fitted to the Royal Navy's last ever battleship, HMS Vanguard.
The 5.25-inch guns were some of the Royal Navy's first large-scale guns to be designed from the outset as dual-purpose guns (to be used against both ships and aircraft, depending on the situation). The guns were particularly noted for their ballistic performance, being able to fire more accurately and farther than its closest rivals in the French and Italian navies. This made them effective also for land bombardment, and some guns were later acquired by the British Army for coastal defence, in part due to their potent long-range firepower.
The guns were some of the last of these types to be constructed by the Royal Navy. Post-war, much of naval armament went in the way of smaller, faster cannons, as well as a larger emphasis on rockets, and later missiles.
Media
An excellent addition to the article would be a video guide, as well as 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;
- encyclopedia page on the weapon;
- other literature.
