8 inch/55 Mark 9 (203 mm)

Description

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Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• USS Northampton
• USS Pensacola
• USS Portland

General info

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Available ammunition

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Comparison with analogues

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Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

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Pros:

Cons:

History

After World War I, the victorious parties of the Entente Powers came to together to sign an agreement that would prevent another type of naval arms race such as the Dreadnought arms race that preceded the Great War. As part of the negotiations, it was decided to divide cruisers between light and heavy cruisers based on the caliber of their guns. Heavy cruisers, defined as armed with 8 inch guns and a displacement of 10,000 tons was chosen to appease the British, American and Japan signatories who were all planning on cruisers with this caliber of guns and the first power beginning construction of the Hawkins-class which meet these specifications. For the United States, their heavy cruiser armament became the 8 inch, fifty-five caliber guns, a built-up gun design that entered service in 1925. Weighing about 30 tons including a liner, tube, jacket, and five hoops these guns had a down-swing Welin breech block was closed by compressed air from the gas ejector system. Loading with two silk bags each containing 45 pounds (20 kg) of smokeless powder gave a 260-pound (120 kg) projectile a velocity of 2800 feet per second (853 m/s). Range was 18 miles 31,860 yd (29,130 m) at the maximum elevation of 41 degrees . The first ships built to mount these guns were the Lexington-class battlecrusiers which had 4 twin gun turrets with the Mark 9 guns. However the Washington Naval Treaty restrictions on constructing these types of ships led to their conversion to aircraft carriers and the cannons were repurposed as coastal defense guns on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. Later in 1927, the USS Pensacola and its sister ship the USS Salt Lake City featured both two twin turrets and two triple turrets with the Mark 9. The following year, the USS Northampton and its class was built with 3 triple turrets with Mark 9 guns. In 1930 the USS Portland and USS Indianapolis were built 3 triple-turreted Mark 9s and in 1931 they were fitted on the early New Orleans-class ships, the USS New Orleans, USS Minneapolis, and USS Astoria, before being replaced by the lighter 8 inch/55 Mark 12. The earlier ships armed with the Mark 9 would be refitted later in the war for the similar, but superior 8 inch/55 Mark 14. Except for the USS Chicago, USS Houston, and USS Astoria which were sunk during the war and the USS New Minneapolis which received the improved Mark 15 gun.

References

Campbell 1985 pp.127-131

DiGiulian, Tony (27 April 2011). "United States of America 8"/55 (20.3 cm) Marks 9, 10, 11, 13 and 14". Navweaps.com. Archived from the original on 30 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-07-21.

Media

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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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• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.