14 inch/45 Mk.12 (356 mm)

14-inch/45 Mk.12 cannons on the USS Nevada

Description

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Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• USS Nevada

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

After World War I, the construction of battleships among the major members of the Entente Powers, including the United States, was halted by the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, and the London Naval Treaties of 1930 and 1936 put restrictions on the capabilities of future battleships. The United States would not order any new battleships until the North Carolina-class in 1937 and spent most of the interwar period focusing on the development of aircraft carriers. However, they did not neglect their World War I-era dreadnoughts. In 1928, the Navy worked to improve the performance of the 14-inch guns on their dreadnoughts and began putting the guns into service starting in 1933. While the Mark 8, Mark 9, and Mark 10 guns were just modernized versions of the existing 14-inch guns, the 14 inch/45 Mark 12 was a further conversion that included a chromium lining to reduce barrel wear.

Like the other converted 14-inch guns, the Mark 12 was interchangeable between the various Standard-type battleships that were serving in the US Navy at the time. On the Nevada-class and the Pennsylvania-class battleships, the main batteries were also improved by getting elevation angles up to 30 degrees which in turn improved the maximum range of 23,000 yards to 34,000 yards.

After the Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, the Nevada first got to use her main battery guns in providing fire support for the recapture of Attu Island, Alaska in May 1943. During the Normandy landings in June 1944, her Mark 12 14-guns were used to break up German formations and delay counterattacks by bombardments of the Cherbourg Peninsula in France at distances as far as 17 nautical miles (20 miles) inland to 600 yards from the frontlines. The Nevada was next assigned to support Operation Dragoon, the Allied Invasion of Southern France where she dueled a coastal fort nicknamed "Big Willie" on the island of Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer which was armed with 13.4-inch guns salvaged from the French battleship Provence to guard the entrance of the French port of Toulon. On September 23rd, 1944, the Nevada engaged in a 6-and-a-half-hour battle against "Big Willie" where she fired 354 salvos and emerged victorious. After the battle, she had to get her barrels relined in New York including the addition of three guns from Turret 1 of the USS Arizona modified to the Mark 12 standard. After the relining, USS Nevada was sent to the Pacific and provided fire support during the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. After the war, the USS Nevada was turned into a target ship that was sunk by an aerial torpedo 65 miles southwest of Pearl Harbor on June 31st, 1948.

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

• USA 14"/45 (35.6 cm) Marks 8, 9, 10 and 12 | NavWeaps