Heavy gun mountings dominated the design of larger warships, on account of their size, weight, protection and cost. In the 1890s, British gun mountings developed rapidly with new gun technologies (wire winding, cordite) and the rise of the two major ordnance companies, Armstrongs and Vickers, producing large numbers of weapons for the Royal Navy and for worldwide export. But by 1960, aircraft and guided missiles had made the big gun redundant, so the period from 1890s to 1950s covering the two world wars is the most historically significant.

The focus of this book is on the larger mountings and those fitted in the larger ships – the massively engineered ‘non transferable’ mountings, whose complexities and associated magazines took up a huge volume of the ship, unlike the smaller calibre ‘transferable’ mountings mostly bolted to the deck. Such mountings could weigh over 1000 tons, take two years to build and make up a quarter of the cost of a battleship.

Although they existed in many variants, there were only about forty basic mountings from 4.5in to 18in calibre fitted to the majority of the RN’s larger ships so these take up the bulk of the book. For each, well illustrated handbooks with colored plates were produced, but are largely inaccessible to the public, so about 50 of these highly detailed drawings are reproduced at large scale. The smaller mountings and the guns themselves each have a separate chapter.

Although the impact of the book is largely visual, there is an expert account of the design, construction and installation of such mountings, and their manufacturers, supported by a range of internal and close-up photographs. The reference value of the work is enhanced by a comprehensive table of mountings and their characteristics, plus a list of all the mountings made by Vickers of Barrow between 1900 and 1950.

Providing easy access to so much rarely seen material, this handsome volume will appeal to modelmakers, ship enthusiasts and technical historians.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Abbreviation
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The Heavy Gun Mounting
• The Workings
• Operating Mechanisms
• Manufacturing the Mountings
• Manufacturer’s Output Claims
• Gun Mounting Contracts
• Schedule of Payments
• Demarcation
• Gun Mounting Review 1932
• 3 Sir W G Armstrong, Whitworth & Co Ltd
• 4 Vickers at Barrow
• Vickers Enters the Market
• The Barrow Gun Mounting Works
• 5 Coventry Ordnance Works
• 6 Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd
• The First Decade
• Wartime Production
• British Production of Gun Mountings in WW2
• 7 12-inch Mountings
• The First Battleships with Modern 12in Armament
• The 12-inch Gun Monitors
• Canopus Class with Twin 12in B.III Gun Mountings
• Twin 12-inch B.IV Gun Mountings
• Twin 12-inch B.V Gun Mountings
• Continuing Evolution of the 12-inch Gun Mounting
• Electric Mountings
• 8 Armoured Cruiser Mountings
• 6-inch Twin Mountings Marks I and II
• The 7.5-inch Mountings
• 9.2-inch Non-transferable Mountings
• 9 Heavy Mountings Ordered for Foreign Navies
• 10-inch Twin Mountings
• 12-inch Twin Mountings for Brazil
• 13.5-inch Twin Mountings in Erin
• 14-inch Twin Mark I Mounting
• 10 13.5-inch Mountings
• The 13.5-inch Twin Mounting Mark II
• Coventry Ordnance Works 13.5-inch Mountings
• 11 15-inch Mountings
• The 15-inch Twin Mounting Mark I in Battleships
• 15-inch Mounting Variants
• 15-inch Mark I/N Mountings
• Vanguard
• The 15-inch Twin Mounting Mark II
• 12 The 18-inch Mounting
• 13 16-inch Triple Mountings
• The 16-inch Triple Mounting Mark I
• 16-inch Triple Mountings for the Lion Class
• 14 8-inch Twin Mountings
• 15 6-inch Gun Mountings after the First World War
• The Change to Twin Mountings in Battleships
• Cruiser Twin Mountings
• Triple 6-inch Gun Mountings
• The ‘Colonies’
• Triple 6-inch Gun Mountings Mark XXIV
• Scrapping Heavy Gun Mountings
• The 6-inch Twin Mounting Mark 26
• Colour plate section
• 16 The 14-inch Twin And Quadruple Mountings
• Design
• Production
• Performance
• 17 5.25-inch Twin Mountings
• Introduction
• 5.25-inch Mark II Mounting Allocation
• Battleship Mountings
• 18 The 4.7-inch Twin Mounting Mark XX
• 19 4.5-inch Gun Mountings
• The 4.5-inch Twin Mounting Mark II
• The 4.5-inch Twin Mounting Mark IV
• The 4.5-inch Twin Mounting Mark 6
• The 4.5-inch Single Mounting Mark 8
• Appendix 1 Barrow Gun Mounting Output
• Appendix 2 Elswick Heavy Ordnance Output
• Appendix 3 Conqueror Gun Trials
• Appendix 4 13.5-inch Guns For Turkish Coast Defences
• Sources and Bibliography
• Acknowledgements