5"/54 caliber Mark 42 gun

Infobox Weapon
name= Mark 42 5"/54 Caliber Gun


caption= 5 inch/54 Mark 42 on USS|Turner Joy|DD-951
origin= United States
type= Deck Gun
is_artillery= "yes"
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used_by= US Navy and other navies.
wars= Vietnam and other wars
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cartridge= 5" (127 mm)
caliber= 54
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speed=The Mark 42 5"/54 caliber gun (127mm) is a naval artillery gun mount used by the United States Navy and other countries. It consisted of the Mark 18 gun and Mark 42 gun mount. United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun fires a projectile 5 inches (127 mm) in diameter, and the barrel is 54 calibers long. (barrel length is 5" × 54 = 270" or 6.9 meters.) [Fairfield(1921)p.156]

The self-loading gun mount weighs about 60.4 long tons including two drums under the mount holding 40 rounds of fixed ammunition. The gun fires 70-pound (32 kg) projectiles at a velocity of 2,650 feet per second (808 m/s). [Bailey(January 1983)p.106] Maximum rate of fire is 40 projectiles per minute. [O'Neil(March 1971)pp.48-49] Magazine capacity is 599 rounds per mount. [Bailey(January 1983)p.106] The Mark 42 mount originally was equipped for two on-mount gunners, one surface and one antiaircraft, but the antiaircraft gunner position was scrapped later on when the increasing speed of naval aircraft made manual aiming of antiaircraft weapons impractical. The Mark 45 lightweight (22.1 long ton) [O'Neil, March 1971, pp. 48-49] gun mount began replacing the Mk 42 mount in 1971 for easier maintenance and improved reliability in new naval construction for the United States. [Cooney(1980)p.40]

Usage

* First used on USS|Northampton|CLC-1
*
*
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* "Farragut class" destroyer
* / sclass|Lütjens|destroyer (Germany) / sclass|Perth|destroyer (Australia)
* and USS|Truxtun|CGN-35
* / sclass|Baleares|frigate (Spanish modified "Knox" class)
* (Japan)
* (Japan)
* (Japan)
* (Japan)
* (Japan)

ee also

*5"/38 caliber gun
*5"/54 caliber Mark 45 gun

External links

* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/systems/mk-42.htm GlobalSecurity.org Mk 42]
* [http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-54_mk42.htm NavWeaps.com Mk 42]
* [http://www.tpub.com/content/administration/14067/css/14067_176.htm 5"/54 MK 42 GUN - Seaman - Military manual for the Seaman rate] via tpub.com

Notes

References

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