20.3 cm/45 Type 41 naval gun

Type 41 203 mm 45 caliber naval gun
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Type	Naval gun Coast defense gun
Place of origin	Empire of Japan
Service history
In service	1908-1945
Used by	Imperial Japanese Navy
Wars	World War I World War II
Production history
Designed	1914
Specifications
Weight	18.75 – 19.4 metric tons
Length	9.487 meters
Barrel length	9.114 meter bore
Caliber
Action	manual
Breech	single motion interrupted screw
Elevation	-5° - 24°
Traverse	+/- 150°
Rate of fire	2 rounds per minute
Muzzle velocity	2,480 ft/s (760 m/s)
Effective firing range	18000 meters

The 20.3 cm/45 Type 41 naval gun was a Japanese naval artillery and coast defense gun used on cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy from the end of the Russo-Japanese War through the end of World War II.

Design and development

The 20.3 cm/45 Type 41 naval gun was an indigenous development of the British-designed Elswick Patterns “S”, “U” and “W” QF 4.7 inch Gun Mk I - IV, which had been previously produced by Ansaldo in Italy to equip Italian-built armored cruisers, and which had been received by the Japanese as part of the equipment supplied with the Italian-built Nisshin. The weapon was officially re-designated as Type 41 on 25 December 1908, and re-designated again on 5 October 1917 in centimeters.

The weapon was used on the armored cruisers Azuma, Asama, Iwate, Izumo, Kasuga, Nisshin, Tokiwa and Yakumo, and the Chikuma-class cruiser, as well as some of the later protected cruisers, including Takasago. Many of these ships were disarmed under the conditions of the Washington Naval Treaty or subsequent London Naval Treaty and their guns converted into coastal artillery batteries, including installations at Tokyo Bay, Tarawa and later at Wake Island during World War II.

References

• Bishop, Chris (eds) The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II. Barnes & Nobel. 1998. ISBN 0-7607-1022-8
• Campbell. John. Naval Weapons of World War Two, Naval Institute Press (1986). ISBN 0-87021-459-4