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

Description

Write an introduction to the article in 2-3 small paragraphs. Briefly tell us about the history of the development and combat using the weaponry and also about its features. Compile a list of air, ground, or naval vehicles that feature this weapon system in the game.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• RN Pola
• RN Zara

General info

Tell us about the tactical and technical characteristics of the cannon or machine gun.

Available ammunition

Describe the shells that are available for the weapon and their features and purpose. If it concerns autocannons or machine guns, write about different ammo belts and what is inside (which types of shells).

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		1,000 m	2,500 m	5,000 m	7,500 m	10,000 m	15,000 m
203 mm HE Dirompente	HE	58	58	58	58	58	58
203 mm APHEBC Perforante	APHEBC	388	327	247	189	148	105
203 mm HE-TF Contro-aerea	HE-TF	58	58	58	58	58	58

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (s)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
203 mm HE Dirompente	HE	900	110.57	0	0.1	7.5	79°	80°	81°
203 mm APHEBC Perforante	APHEBC	900	125.3	0.03	9	3.16	48°	63°	71°
203 mm HE-TF Contro-aerea	HE-TF	900	110.57	0	0.1	7.5	79°	80°	81°

Comparison with analogues

Give a comparative description of cannons/machine guns that have firepower equal to this weapon.

Usage in battles

Describe the cannon/machine gun in the game - its distinctive features, tactics of usage against notable opponents. Please don't write a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought.

Pros and cons

Summarise and briefly evaluate the weaponry in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark pros and cons as a list.

Pros:

Cons:

History

The best cruiser guns available to the Regia 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 3 calibres longer than the preceding 203 mm/50 Ansaldo mod.1924 guns used on the Trento-class, 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 had 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 calibre 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 problems, 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 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.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

• 203 mm/50 Ansaldo mod.1924 (203 mm) - Earlier Italian 203 mm gun.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the weapon;
• other literature.