Type Naval gun In service 1927—59 Wars World War II | Place of origin France Used by France | |
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Weight 4,100 kilograms (9,000 lb) | ||
The Canon de 138 mm Modèle 1927 was a medium-calibre gun of the French Navy used during World War II. It was derived from a German World War I design. It was used on the minelaying cruiser Pluton, the destroyers of the Aigle and Vauquelin classes and the Bougainville-class sloops.
Contents
Description
The 40-calibre Mle 1927 was derived from the German World War I 15 cm L/45 UToF gun as mounted on the large torpedo boat SMS S113 received by France as war reparations. It copied the German gun's semi-automatic action and its horizontal sliding block breech. It had an autofretted, monobloc barrel. It used 8.967 kilograms (19.77 lb) of powder to push a 40.6-kilogram (90 lb) shell to a muzzle velocity of 700 metres per second (2,300 ft/s).
Mounting
The Mle 1927 was used in single centre-pivot mountings that weighed approximately 13 tonnes (13 long tons; 14 short tons) that were fitted with a 3-millimetre (0.12 in) thick gun shield. The mount could depress -10° and elevate to +28° which gave it a maximum range of 16,600 metres (18,200 yd). The gun had a firing cycle of 4 or 5 seconds with its automatic spring rammer, but the dredger hoists transporting the shells and cartridge cases slowed the rate of fire down to 8-10 rounds per minute.