WesWorld

Naval guns



381mm/50 M1927
381mm/40 M1914 SC charges issued in 1932 with refit of Columbo
305mm/46 M1909
254mm/45 M1905
203mm/53 M1927
203mm/50 M1921
152mm/53 M1924
152mm/45 M1914
135mm/45 M1929
130mm/45 M1917
100mm/47 M1917 M1928
76mm/40
65mm/17
47mm/40
37mm/54

750/600mm x 8.0 wet-heater 3000@35knts
650/600mm x 8.5 wet-heater 5000@50knts
533mm as historical
500mm as historical
450mm as historical


A.B. 1


200hp, 300km/h 120kg warhead

A.B. 2


450hp, 350km/h, 500kg warhead, 600km range

A.B.R. 3 under development by Snrs. Tihanyi and Marconi with improved guidance system.

Snr. Ulivi's "F" ray weapon

Quadruple 381mm Turret

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152mm Weapons

45-calibre M1914
Used on : Caracciolo and Pisa Classes
Details : 50kg Common and HE, MV of 700m/s, 4-7rpgpm, 40° elevation
Mountings : Single casemate Caracciolo, Quadruple turret Pisa
Notes : Muzzle velocity considered to be quite low, but heavy shell makes up for this. Low dispersion in single mounts and barrel life is long. Significant problems with quadruple turret. Low rate of fire due to complicated handling procedures. Excessive dispersion due to the close grouping of the barrels has been overcome with some success with the adoption of delay coils.

53-calibre M1925
Used on : Condottieri, Feruccio and Ras Dejen
Details : 50kg AP, 44.3kg HE , MV of 1000m/s and 950m/s, 4rpgpm, 28400m range, 45° elevation
Mountings : Duple turrets, Single weatherproof mount
Notes : Electrically-powered turrets able to elevate up to 45°. The gun has a large improvement in performance over the M1914, especially with regards to mv. However, the cost is in large dispersion for the mounting and a short barrel life.

53-calibre M1928
Used on : Saint I Class
Details : 50kg AP, 44.3kg HE, MV of 1000m/s and 950m/s, 8rpgpm, 28400m range, 45° elevation
Mountings : Duple turret
Notes : Only change is gun manufacturer, OTO not Ansaldo. Mounting has considerable change, being far more heavily armoured and weighing considerably more. Electrically powered training and elevation up to 45°. Able to load at any angle. Rate of fire is doubled through use of a reciprocating lever having the next shell in position. Dispersion problems and short barrel life still exist, but have been negated due to larger gaps between gun axes.

53-calibre M1934
Used on : Abruzzi Class, Guiseppe Garibaldi
Details : 50kg AP, 40kg HE, MV of 1000m/s and 950m/s, 10rpgpm, 28400m range, 80° elevation
Mountings : Single and Duple turrets
Notes : Slight improvement over previous weapon. Move to vertical sliding breech block. Increase in elevation to 80° maximum. More powerful motors improve train and elevation rates for use as a dual-purpose weapon. Ammunition handling proceedure more mechanised giving a rise in RoF to 10rpm sustained with 16rpm in burst mode. A new more streamlined and lighter HE shell is used with 40kg weight and a much larger 4.8kg burster.

135mm Weapons

45-calibre M1917 and M1929
Used on : Morosini, Aquila, Capitani Romani, Panthera, Elba and post 1922 Destroyers
Details : 36kg HE, 28kg HE, MV of 800m/s, 12rpgpm, 19000m range, 40° elevation (80° elevation Aquila AA mounts)
Mountings : Enclosed duple mounts, Shielded Duple mounts
Notes : Experience showed that a more powerful weapon than the 100/47 was needed for destroyers. This evolved into the 135/45 first mounted on the Panthera Class of Esploratori. Considered to be a success due to the heavy-hitting shell, low dispersion and long barrel life. Shielded mounts can elevate to 30° whilst the enclosed to 40°. Horizontal sliding breech block combined with shell hoists give a 12rpgpm rate of fire. The 28kg HE shell was developed to ease fatigue during prolonged firing.

100mm Weapons

47-calibre M1917
Used on : Lepanto, Generale, Spica and cruiser secondary weapons
Details : 13.8kg HE, MV of 850m/s, 15+rpgpm, 15000m range, 10000m ceiling
Mountings : Single deck mounts, Duple mounts with hoists
Notes: Manually powered mounts. Elevation up to 85°. Considered to be a good AA weapon. Fires combined shell/cartridge. Rate of fire only limited by crew. Too small for a destroyer weapon but adequate for usage on torpedo boats.

47-calibre M1928
Used on : Caracciolo, Saint I, Caesar Class, Soldati
Details : 14.2kg HE, MV of 900m/s, 18-20+rpgpm, 15500m range, 10500m ceiling
Mountings : Duple mount with hoist, Duple stabilised mount
Notes : Electrically powered mountings with elevation up to 80°. Higher muzzle velocity gives for improved accuracy in the AA role. The weapon is well-liked but the mounting needs a lot of maintenance due to the complicated stabilising mechanism. A new mounting was introduced in 1933 that is triaxially stabilised.

76.2mm Weapons

40-calibre M1909
Used on : Older vessels as AA
Details : 6kg HE, MV of 815m/s, 15rpgpm
Mountings : Single pedestal
Notes : Older weapon that has been discontinued in favour of the 100mm weapon which is much superior.

65mm Weapons

17-calibre
Used on : Morosini and Pisa
Details : 4.30kg HE, MV of 350m/s, 30rpgpm, 6200m range
Mountings : Single Pedestal
Notes : Adapted mountain gun used as light AA. Not a stellar performer, but a lightweight mounting.

64-calibre
Used on : None
Details : 4.1kg HE, MV of 950m/s, 100rpgpm, 7500m effective range
Mountings : Single
Notes : New fully automatic weapon under development with 100rpm burst rate of fire, around 40-50rpm continuous

47mm Weapons

47x195 L34
Used on : Saint I, Capitani Romani, Ruggiero, Baleno, MAS1001
Details : 1.5kg HE, MV of 680m/s, 90rpgpm, 8000m range
Mountings : Triple AA and Single pedestal
Notes : Manually powered medium AA. The triple mount is not considered a success due to the complexity of loading the centremost gun. The single mount is better liked and has proven an excellent weapon for use on MAS.

47x195 L40
Used on : Many ships after 1933
Details : 1.5kg HE, MV of 700m/s, 120rpgpm, 11000m range
Mountings : Quadruple and Duple stabilised weatherproof
Notes : New mounting and longer gun with increased hit probability from higher mv. Mounting weighs 15tons.

37mm Weapons

54-calibre Breda
Used on : Many Warships after 1927
Details : 0.83kg HE, MV of 800m/s, 200rpm, 120rpm sustained
Mountings : Twin and quadruple mounts, Quadruple turret
Notes : Standard close-range AA weapon. Good performance. Water-cooled with selective rate of fire. Manually operated. Quadruple turret is electrically powered, weatherproof and has its own rangefinder. Weight of duple mount is 5tons. Quadruple weighs 10tons.

25mm Weapons

OTO-Madsen 25mm
25x147 cartridge
350rpgpm, 200g HEI/AP, 1050m/s
Single and duple mountings. Boxes of 100 rounds with 4 boxes on a duple mount.

20mm Weapons

Oerlikon FFL
350rpgpm, 750m/s
Single manually powered pedestal mounting purchased from Switzerland