Cannone da 152/45


The Cannone da 152/45 modello 1911 was an Italian naval gun built by the Ansaldo company. It formed the secondary armament of the two Andrea Doria-class dreadnought battleships built during World War I. A number of guns were also converted to siege artillery and coastal artillery roles and served during both world wars.

Variants

Coastal artillery - An unknown number of guns were mounted on shielded pedestal mounts as coastal artillery during both world wars.Naval artillery - The secondary armament of this class of two ships consisted of sixteen 45-calibre 152-millimetre guns, mounted in single casemates along the sides of the hull underneath the main guns. These guns could traverse 60 degrees, depress to −5 degrees and had a maximum elevation of +20 degrees. The gun mounts had a reputation of being wet in heavy seas and when the ships were modernized these gun positions were removed and the surplus guns were redeployed.Siege artillery - This version consisted of mounting surplus barrels on a large box trail carriage to address the Italian Army's need for siege artillery and long-range counter-battery work. The carriage had a large open section in the middle that allowed the gun to reach high elevation angles. In order to deploy the guns, a large pit had to be dug to allow the breech to recoil and also allowed the gun crew to service the breech. At the front of the pit, there was a platform to anchor the gun, allowing for limited traverse. 53 were in Italian service in 1939 mostly in Northern Italy. The German designation for the gun was the 15.2 cm K 411.