203 mm/53 Ansaldo mod.1927 (203 mm)

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Revision as of 01:05, 18 October 2022 by EmberFist (talk | contribs) (→‎History: added history and link to earlier 8-inch gun in the Italian tech tree.)

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Description

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Vehicles equipped with this weapon

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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History

The best cruiser guns available to the Regio Marina (Royal Italian Navy) during World War II, the 203 mm/53 Ansaldo mod. 1927 was the main armament for the Zara-class heavy cruisers. Built under the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty, these 8-inch guns in addition to being calibers longer than the preceding 203 mm/50 Ansaldo mod.1924 guns used on the Trento-class, the guns fired more powerful 276-pound shells, could reload at the maximum 45-degree angle of elevation (the mod. 1924 guns could only load at 15 degrees or less) and a removable liner instead of a fixed one. The 276-pound shells had a muzzle velocity of 3,080 feet per second and a range of 34,400 yards. These guns were some of the best 8-inch cannons in the world at the time. The only weapons of the same caliber to beat them out in range were the German 20.3 cm/60 SK C/34 and the bursting shells had some of the best hitting power in the class. However, these guns were not perfect. The high operating pressure meant the liners quickly wore out though this did mean the guns were designed with removable liners and the dispersion problem, while not as bad as on the earlier Ansaldo mod. 1924 guns, were still present due to the same issues of shell tolerance and cradle mounting. As a result, the Ansaldo mod. 1927 guns were similarly downgraded to shells that had a reduced muzzle velocity of 3,000 feet per second, but the performance was still better than the mod. 1924s. A variant of this design is called the Ansaldo mod. 1929 was also built with a thinner faceplate liner to reduce and was mounted on the one-off heavy cruiser RN Bolzano

The service of the Zara-class was fiery but mostly short during World War II. After RN Zara, RN Gorizia, and RN Pola supported the Italian invasion of Albania in 1939, they were deployed during the war mostly as convoy raiders. During the Battle of Calabria in July 1940, the four ships of the class managed to drive off a British fleet including the battleship HMS Warspite and escaped without damage. They similarly escaped without damage when the British Fleet Air Arm attack Italian ships in port during the Battle of Taranto in November of the same year. However, in a stroke of bad luck, three of the four ships were lost during the Battle of Cape Matapan. After Pola herself was immobilized by an attack from a Swordfish torpedo bomber, both Zara and RN Fiume remained behind to provide cover, and all three were sunk during a close-range night engagement. Italian losses from these three cruisers total 2,193. The sole surviving ship, RN Gorizia, served in further convoy escort missions along with both Battles of Sirte before it was damaged in an attack by American B-24 Liberator on April 10th, 1943 while docked at La Maddalena though it survived. She was sent to La Spezia for repairs and was seized by the Germans after the Italian Armistice in September. RN Gorizia was later torpedoed by Italian frogmen to prevent it from being used as a blockship.

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See also

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Italy naval cannons
20 mm  20 mm/65 Breda · 20 mm/70 Oerlikon 3S · 20 mm/70 Scotti-Isotta Fraschini mod.1939
37 mm  37 mm/54 Breda Mod.32 · 37 mm/54 Breda Mod.38 · 37 mm/54 Breda Mod.39
40 mm  40 mm/39 Vickers-Terni mod.1915/1917 · 40 mm/39 Vickers-Terni mod.1915/1917, Modif.1930 · 40 mm/70 Breda-Bofors type 107
65 mm  65 mm/64 Ansaldo-Terni Mod.1939
76 mm  76 mm/40 Armstrong mod.1897/1910 · 76 mm/40 Armstrong mod.1897/1912 · 76 mm/40 Ansaldo mod.1917 · 76 mm/45 Schneider mod.1911 · 76 mm/50 Vickers mod.1909 · 76 mm/62 OTO-Melara Compact · 76-mm/62 SMP 3
90 mm  90 mm/50 Ansaldo model 1939
100 mm  100 mm/47 O.T.O. Mod. 1928 · 100 mm/47 O.T.O. Mod. 1937
120 mm  120 mm/45 Canet-Schneider-Armstrong mod.1918-19 · 120 mm/50 Armstrong model 1909 · 120 mm/45 O.T.O. Mod. 1926 · 120 mm/50 Ansaldo mod.1926 · 120 mm/50 O.T.O. Mod.1936
135 mm  135 mm/45 O.T.O. Mod. 1937
152 mm  152 mm/45 Schneider mod.1911 · 152/53 mm Ansaldo mod.1926 · 152/53 mm O.T.O. Mod.1929
203 mm  203 mm/50 Ansaldo mod.1924 · 203 mm/53 Ansaldo mod.1927
305 mm  305 mm/46 Armstrong model 1909 · 305 mm/46 Vickers model 1909
320 mm  320 mm/44 OTO model 1934 · 320 mm/44 Ansaldo model 1936
  Foreign:
20 mm  2 cm/65 Flakvierling 38 (Germany) · 20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mk.II (USA)
40 mm  Bofors L/60 Mark 1 (USA) · Bofors L/60 Mark 3 (USA)
76 mm  76 mm/50 Mk.33 (USA)
127 mm  127 mm/38 Mk.12 (USA)

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