EOC 12-inch 45-calibre naval gun


The EOC 12 inch 45 calibre gun were various similar 12-inch wire-wound naval guns designed and manufactured by Elswick Ordnance Company to equip ships that the parent company Armstrong Whitworth built and/or armed for several countries before World War I.

History

Brazil service

Elswick supplied its 12-inch 45-calibre guns for the s completed by itself and Vickers in 1910 for Brazil.

UK service

When World War I began, Elswick were completing the battleship for the Ottoman Empire, originally begun as for Brazil. It was armed with 14 of a slightly later version of Elswick's 12-inch 45-calibre guns. The battleship was completed as and served in the Royal Navy in World War I, with its guns designated BL 12 inch Mk XIII. The gun's performance was similar to the standard Royal Navy equivalent gun, the BL 12 inch Mk X designed by Vickers.

Japan service

Elswick supplied its 12-inch 45-calibre guns to the Imperial Japanese Navy, and they were also manufactured under licence in Japan. In Japanese service from 1908 they became 12"/45 41st Year Type and later after the navy metricised in 1917, 30 cm/45 41st Year Type. They equipped the following ship classes:
  • s commissioned 1906
  • commissioned in 1907 and 1911
  • battlecruisers commissioned 1908
  • Pre-dreadnought as re-gunned in 1908
  • s commissioned 1910 and 1912
  • s commissioned 1912

Surviving examples

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era