12-inch/50 Mark 8 (305 mm)

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12-inch/50 Mark 8 cannons on the USS Alaska

Description

The 12-inch/50 Mark 8 is a 305 mm naval gun that was developed by the United States Navy in the early 1900s. It was first installed on the USS South Carolina, a pre-dreadnought battleship that was commissioned in 1910. The gun was highly regarded for its accuracy and power, and was used in a variety of combat scenarios, including in the Pacific Theater of World War II.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

General info

The gun fires 305 mm rounds at a maximum range of over 24 km and could fire up to 2 rounds per minute.

Available ammunition

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
Mk.17 HC HE 68 68 68 68 68 68
Mk.18 AP APCBC 621 582 524 475 434 374
Shell details
Ammunition Type of
warhead
Velocity
(m/s)
Projectile
mass (kg)
Fuse delay
(s)
Fuse sensitivity
(mm)
Explosive mass
(TNT equivalent) (kg)
Ricochet
0% 50% 100%
Mk.17 HC HE 808 426.38 0 0.1 35.31 79° 80° 81°
Mk.18 AP APCBC 762 517 0.035 17 7.73 48° 63° 71°

Comparison with analogues

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

Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

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Pros:

Cons:

History

After the Wyoming-class dreadnoughts were completed in 1912, the United States Navy halted construction of 12-inch guns in favour of larger 14-inch and later 16-inch guns for their battleships. However, they began to re-evaluate their naval forces after the rise of German "pocket battleships" such as the Admiral Graf Spee and Scharnhorst along with the planned Japanese B-65 which were all designed to counter the 8-inch gun heavy cruisers codified by the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. As a result, the United States began construction of what became the Alaska-class large cruiser to counter these threats. The 12-inch was thus revived as the 12-inch/50 Mark 8. Designed to fire a new armour-piercing "super heavy" shell to better penetrate deck armour while retaining side plate penetration capabilities, this gun had superior characteristics to the pre-Treaty 14-inch guns. The 12"/50 Mark 8 was only used on the USS Alaska and USS Guam.

Media

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

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

  • 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 naval cannons
20 mm  20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mk.II · 20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mark V · 20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mark 24
25 mm  25 mm/87 Mk.38
28 mm  1.1 inch/75 Mk.1
37 mm  AN-M4
40 mm  Bofors L/60 Mark 1 · Bofors L/60 Mark 2 · Bofors L/60 Mark 3
76 mm  3 inch/23 Mk.4 · 3-inch/50 Mk.10 · 3-inch/70 Mk.37 · 3-inch Mark 10 · 3 inch Mk.33 · 3-inch Mk.34
102 mm  4 inch/50 Mk.9
127 mm  5 inch/25 Mk.11 · 5 inch/25 Mk.13 AA · 5 inch/38 Mk.12 · 5-inch/50 Mk.5 · 5 inch/51 Mk.7 · 127 mm/54 Mark 18
152 mm  6 inch/47 Mk.16 · 6 inch/47 DP Mk.16 · 6 inch/53 Mk.12 · M81
203 mm  8 inch/55 Mark 9 · 8 inch/55 Mark 12 · 8 inch/55 Mark 14 · 8 inch/55 Mark 16
305 mm  12-inch/45 Mk.5 · 12 inch/50 Mk.7 · 12 inch/50 Mk.8
356 mm  14 inch/45 Mk.8 · 14 inch/45 Mk.12 · 14 inch/50 Mk.11