45 mm/46 21-K (45 mm)
Contents
Description
The 45 mm/46 21-K is a Soviet anti-aircraft gun derived from the 20-K tank gun. It is equipped on a number of Soviet coastal and bluewater vessels.
Vehicles equipped with this weapon
General info
Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.
Available ammunition
- OR-73A HET - Stock HE shell, has low explosive mass and should be replaced quickly
- O-240 HE - Researchable HE shell, has more than 3 times the explosive mass of the stock but very low velocity, effective at boats in close-range
- BR-240 - APHE shell, useful against armoured targets like armoured gunboats and turrets that HE shells can't penetrate
- F-73 - Base-fuze HE shell, effectively acts like an APHE shell with larger explosive mass, is quite effective at dealing damage against ship modules as it penetrates the hull
Penetration statistics | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
100 m | 1,000 m | 2,000 m | 3,000 m | 4,000 m | 5,000 m | ||
OR-73A HET | HE | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
O-240 HE | HE | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
BR-240 | APHE | 75 | 55 | 38 | 27 | 20 | 15 |
F-73 | HE with base fuze | 20 | 15 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 4 |
Shell details | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile Mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||
0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
OR-73A HET | HE | 760 | 1.41 | 0 | 0.1 | 56.98 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
O-240 HE | HE | 335 | 2.14 | 0 | 0.1 | 181.72 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
BR-240 | APHE | 760 | 1.42 | 1 | 1.5 | 27.72 | 47° | 60° | 65° |
F-73 | HE | 760 | 1.41 | 0.015 s | 0.1 | 113.96 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
Comparison with analogues
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Usage in battles
Much like in real life, the 21-K is horrible at its intended role, anti-aircraft. Its low rate of fire means it is only effective at hitting aircraft when massed, like on Maxim Gorky. On ships with few mounts like Frunze, the 21-K is essentially useless at shooting down aircraft, but it can be used as a weapon against small boats, where its HE shells can be effective at destroying them.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Can destroy aircraft in one hit
- Somewhat effective at fighting small boats with HE and base-fused HE shells
Cons:
- Terrible anti-aircraft ability due to low rate of fire
History
The 21-K is a naval derivative of the Soviet 20-K a tank cannon. More specifically both guns share the same progenitor, the 19-K 45 mm anti-tank gun model 1942, a scaled-up variant of a gun from Rheinmetall. The modification for use as a naval anti-aircraft gun was a simple matter of replacing the carriage with a pedestal mount and giving the gun a semi-automatic breech though when production began in 1934, only a quarter of the guns had this breech. The early guns were older built-up gun designs, but they would be replaced with monobloc barrels later in production. Because it was semi-automatic, the gun struggled compared to the auto-cannons use by other nations. It also suffered from not having a time fuse meaning it could only destroy aircraft with a direct hit. In 1936-37, a new mount for the 21-K was created for use on river monitors called the 40-K along with the 41-K which was a twin-mount 42 of both mounts were ultimately built. 2,799 guns were built in total from 1934 until 1947 though by 1941 it was largely superseded by the smaller, automatic 70-K as the Soviet Navy's main anti-aircraft gun. In 1942, production was switched to the upgraded 21-KM.
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
- 20-K - Tank cannon variant
- 45 mm/68 21-KM - Variant with longer barrel and higher muzzle velocity
- 3.7 cm SK C/30 - German anti-aircraft gun with similar rate of fire
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.