From time immemorial, ships with naval guns have been considered the decisive force at sea. At the same time, their caliber played an important role: the larger it was, the more significant the damage was inflicted to the enemy.
However, already in the 20th century, naval artillery was imperceptibly pushed into the background by a new type of weapon - guided missiles. But before the cancellation of naval artillery, the matter still did not reach. Moreover, it began to modernize under modern conditions of warfare at sea.
The birth of naval artillery
For a long time (until the 16th century), ships had only weapons for close combat - a ram, mechanisms for damaging the ship's hull , masts and oars. Boarding was the most common way to resolve conflict situations at sea.
Ground forces were more inventive. All kinds of propelling mechanisms were already used on land at this time. Later, such weapons were used in naval battles.
The invention and distribution of gunpowder (smoky) radically changed the armament of the army and navy. In Europe and in Russia, gunpowder became known in the 14th century.
However, the use of guns at sea did not cause delight among sailors. Gunpowder often dampened, and the gun misfired, which in the conditions of battle was fraught with serious consequences for the ship.
The 16th century marked the beginning of the technical revolution amid rapid growth of productive forces in Europe. This could not but affect the armament. The design of the guns changed, the first sighting devices appeared. The gun barrel became mobile. The quality of gunpowder has improved. Ship guns began to play a prominent role in naval battles.
17th century naval artillery
In the 16-17 centuries, artillery, including naval art, was further developed. The number of guns on ships increased due to their placement on several decks. Ships in this period were created with the expectation of artillery battle.
By the beginning of the 17th century, the type and caliber of naval guns had already been determined, and methods for firing from them were developed taking into account marine specifics. A new science has appeared - ballistics.
It should be noted that ship guns of the 17th century had trunks of only 8-12 caliber. Such a short barrel was caused by the need to fully retract the guns inside the ship for reloading, as well as the desire to lighten the gun.
In the 17th century, along with the improvement of naval guns, their ammunition also developed. Incendiary and explosive shells appeared on the fleets, causing serious damage to the enemy ship and its crew. The first to use explosive shells were Russian sailors in 1696, during the assault on Azov.
18th century ship armament
The 18th century ship gun already had a flintlock. At the same time, her weight has not changed much since the last century and amounted to 12, 24 and 48 pounds. Of course there were guns of other calibers, but they were not widely used.
Guns were located throughout the ship: on the bow, stern, upper and lower decks. At the same time, the heaviest guns were on the lower deck.
It should be noted that large-caliber naval guns were mounted on a carriage with wheels. Under these wheels, special grooves were made in the deck. After the shot, the cannon rolled back with recoil energy and was ready for loading again. The process of loading ship’s guns was quite complicated and risky to calculate.
The firing efficiency of such guns was within 300 m, although the shells reached 1500 m. The fact is that with distance the projectile lost kinetic energy. If in the 17th century the frigate was destroyed by 24-pound shells, then in the 18th century the battleship was not afraid of 48-pound shells. To solve this problem, in England, ships began to arm themselves with 60-108-pound cannons of caliber up to 280 mm.
Why weren’t the cannons on the ships scrapped by history?
At first glance, 20th century missile weapons were supposed to replace classical artillery, including in the navy, but this did not happen. Missiles could not completely replace the ship’s guns. The reason is that an artillery shell is not afraid of any kind of passive and active interference. It is less dependent on weather conditions than guided missiles. Volley of sea guns inevitably reached its goal, unlike its modern counterparts - cruise missiles.
It is also important that sea guns have a higher rate of fire and more significant ammunition than rocket launchers. It should be noted that the cost of ship guns is much lower than missile weapons.
Therefore, today, taking into account these features, special attention is paid to the development of naval artillery installations. The work is carried out in the strictest secrecy.
And yet today, the artillery installation on the ship, with all its advantages, plays a more auxiliary role in a naval battle than a decisive one.
The new role of naval artillery in modern conditions
The 20th century made adjustments to the priorities that existed before in naval artillery. The development of naval aviation was the reason. Air raids posed a greater threat to the ship than enemy sea guns.
World War II showed that air defense has become a vital system in opposing the sea. The era of a new type of weaponry — guided missiles — began. Designers switched to rocket systems. At the same time, the development and production of main-caliber guns were discontinued.
However, the new weapons could not completely displace artillery, including naval. The guns, whose caliber did not exceed 152 mm (calibers 76, 100, 114, 127 and 130 mm), nevertheless remained in the military fleets of the USSR (Russia), the USA, Great Britain, France and Italy. True, now naval artillery was assigned a more auxiliary role than the shock. Ship guns began to be used to support the landing, protection from enemy aircraft. Marine anti-aircraft artillery came to the fore . As you know, its most important indicator is rate of fire. For this reason, the rapid-fire ship's cannon has become the object of increased attention of the military and designers.
To increase the frequency of shots, automatic artillery systems were developed. At the same time, they made a bet on their universality, that is, they should equally successfully protect the ship from enemy aircraft and the fleet, and also cause damage to coastal fortifications. The latter was caused by the changing tactics of the navy. The naval battles between the fleets are almost a thing of the past. Now ships have become more used for operations near the coastline as a means of destroying enemy ground targets. This concept is reflected in modern developments of naval weapons.
Shipborne automatic artillery systems
In 1954, automatic systems of 76.2 mm caliber began to be developed in the USSR, and in 1967 they began to develop and produce automatic artillery systems of 100 and 130 mm caliber. The result of the work was the first automatic ship gun (57 mm) of the AK-725 double-barreled gun mount. Later it was replaced by a single-barrel 76.2 mm AK-176.
At the same time as the AK-176, a 30-mm quick-firing unit AK-630 was created, which has a rotating block of six barrels. In the 80s, the AK-130 automatic installation entered the fleet, which today is in service with ships.
AK-130 and its characteristics
The 130-mm ship’s gun became part of the A-218 double-barreled installation. Initially, the single-barrel version of the A-217 was developed, but then it was recognized that the double-barreled A-218 has a high rate of fire (up to 90 shots on two barrels), and preference was given to it.
But for this, the designers had to increase the mass of the installation. As a result, the weight of the entire complex was 150 tons (the installation itself - 98 tons, control system (SU) - 12 tons, mechanized arsenal cellar - 40 tons).
Unlike previous developments, the ship’s cannon (photo below) had a number of innovations that increase its rate of fire.
First of all, this is a unitary cartridge, in the sleeve of which the capsule, powder charge and projectile were combined.
The A-218 also had automatic reloading of ammunition, which made it possible to use the entire ammunition without additional human commands.
SU "Lev-218" also does not require mandatory human intervention. The firing correction is done by the system itself, depending on the accuracy of the explosions of the falling shells.
The high rate of fire of the gun and the presence of specialized shots with remote and radar fuses allow the AK-130 to fire at air targets.
AK-630 and its characteristics
The AK-630 rapid-fire ship’s gun is designed to protect the ship from aircraft and enemy light ships.
It has a barrel length of 54 calibers. The firing range of the guns depends on the target category: air targets are hit at a distance of up to 4 km, light surface ships - up to 5 km.
The rate of installation reaches 4000-5000 thousand rounds per minute. In this case, the length of the queue can be 400 shots, after which a break of 5 seconds is required to cool the gun barrels. After a line of 200 rounds, a break of 1 second is enough.
Ammunition AK-630 consists of two types of shots: HE-84 high-explosive incendiary projectile and OR-84 fragmentation tracer.
US Navy Artillery
The US Navy also changed its armament priorities. Missile weapons were widely introduced, artillery was pushed into the background. However, in recent years, Americans began to pay attention to small-caliber artillery, which was very effective against low-flying aircraft and missiles.
Attention is paid primarily to automatic artillery installations of 20-35 mm and 100-127 mm. Shipborne automatic gun takes its rightful place in the armament of the ship.
The medium caliber is designed to hit all targets except underwater. Structurally, the installations are made of light metals and fiberglass reinforced.
Active-reactive shots are also being developed for 127- and 203-mm gun mounts.
Currently, the 127-caliber Mk45 universal installation is considered a typical installation for US ships.
Of the small-caliber weapons, it is worth noting the six-barreled Vulkan-Falanks.
Interesting Facts
In 1983, the USSR came up with a project of an unprecedented ship’s gun that looked like a chimney of a 19-20 century steamer with a diameter of 406 mm, but with the only difference that they could fly out of it ... a guided anti-aircraft or conventional projectile, cruise missile or deep-sea bomb with nuclear filling . The rate of fire of such a universal weapon depended on the type of shot. For example, for guided missiles this is 10 rounds per minute, and for a conventional projectile - 15-20.
Interestingly, such a "monster" could easily be installed even on small vessels (2-3 thousand tons of displacement). However, the Navy command did not know such a caliber, so the project was not destined to be realized.
Modern requirements for naval artillery
According to the head of the 19th test site Alexander Tozik, today's requirements for ship guns partially remain the same - this is the reliability and accuracy of the shot.
In addition, modern ship cannons should be light enough to be able to be installed on light warships. It is also required to make the gun inconspicuous for the enemy radar. A new generation of ammunition is expected with a higher destructive ability and increased firing range.