8-inch Mk. VI railway gun

8-inch Mk. VI railway gun
8-inch Mk. VI railway gun
	8-inch Mk. VI railway gun
Type	railway
Place of origin	United States
Service history
In service	1941–1946
Used by	United States
Wars	World War II
Production history
Manufacturer	Baldwin locomotive works
Produced	1941
No. built	24?
Specifications
Mass	tube and breech, 42.000 Lbs.
Length	30-feet 9-inches
Shell	separate loading HE, and AP.
Caliber	8 in (200 mm)
Breech	Interrupted screw, step cut
Recoil	Hydeopnematic
Carriage	M1A1 railway
Elevation	45 degrees
Traverse	360 degrees
Rate of fire	2 rounds a minute
Muzzle velocity	2,750 ft/s (840 m/s) AP, or 2,840 ft/s (870 m/s) HE.
Maximum firing range	35,300 yd (32,300 m)
Feed system	hand

The 8-inch Gun Mk. VI, mod 3A2, on railway mount M1A1 was a World War II version of the earlier M1888 gun. and was used to support coast artillery fortifications.

History[]

The MK. VI railway gun was quickly put together at the start of World War II, to supplement and replace the older World War I M1888 railway gun. these guns had a very short life, rolling out in February 1941, and being cut up for scrap immediately after the war. The gun was based on the Navy's 8-inch (200 mm) Mark VI, and may have been built at Watervliet Arsenal. It was mounted both en Barbette as well as on the M1A1 railway carriage.

deployment[]

8 sent to Fort Miles

Sighting and fire control equipment[]

The following sighting equipment was used with the gun.

M1 Deflection board
M1 fire adjustment board
M1A1 Range correction board
M3 Spotting board
M1912 Clinometer
M1 Percentage corrector
M1A1 Height finder, or M2A1
M6 Azmuth indicator
M5 Elevation indicator
M1910A1 Azmuth instrument
M8 Helium filling kit
M1 Gunners quadrant
Type B, set forward rule
M1 prediction scale
bore site
firing table, 8-I-1. [1]
M7 stereoscopic trainer
M1 generating unit

support cars[]

M2 fire control car
M1 machine shop car
modified box car for ammunition

Surviving Artifacts[]

one survivor at Fort Miles [2]
Two 8-inch Guns Mk VI M3A2 (#160L2 & #154L2)

Battery 404, Fort Abercrombie, Kodiak, AK

One 8-inch Gun Mk VI M3A2 (#134L2)

Kodiak Airport, Kodiak, AK (gun formerly at Battery 403, Fort J.H. Smith, Kodiak, AK)

One 8-inch Gun Mk VI M3A2 (# ) on railway carriage (bored to 9.12-inches)

Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, Dahlgren, VA

References[]

TM 9-2300 Standard Artillery and Fire Control Material. dated 1944
TM 9-463 [3]
SNL E-34
FM 4-49 [4]

External links[]

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at 8-inch Mk. VI railway gun and the edit history here.