A Vickers-Armstrong design originally intended for the Brazilian battleship Riachuelo, which was cancelled in 1914. Between 1929 and 1935, Spain purchased eighteen of these guns for use as coastal artillery where they were employed in active batteries for about seventy years.
A total of four guns still survived in 2005 with three of these in working condition. As modernized at the time, these emplacements were equipped with radar, infrared and laser range finders for fire control.
On 24 September 2008, the sole remaining gun still in working condition was fired for the last time and then placed into inactive reserve. Thus ended the era of large-caliber naval weapons in active service.
Constructed of A tube, three B tubes, C tube and jacket with a short breech ring, shrunk collar and breech bush screwed into the jacket.
| Designation | Vickers-Armstrong: 15"/45 (38.1 cm) Mark B
Spain: 38.1 cm/45 (15") Model 1926 |
|---|---|
| Ship Class Used On | Brazil: Riachuelo (cancelled in 1914)
Spain: Coastal Artillery |
| Date Of Design | 1912 (?) |
| Date In Service | 1929 |
| Gun Weight | 86.9 tons (88.3 mt) including BM |
| Gun Length oa | 695.7 in (17.671 m) |
| Bore Length | N/A |
| Rifling Length | N/A |
| Grooves | 76 |
| Lands | N/A |
| Twist | N/A |
| Chamber Volume | 21,655 in3 (355 dm3) |
| Rate Of Fire | about 2 rounds per minute |
| Type | Bag |
|---|---|
| Projectile Types and Weights | APC: 1,951 lbs. (885 kg)
HE: 1,951 lbs. (885 kg) |
| Bursting Charge | APC: about 40 lbs. (18 kg) |
| Projectile Length | APC: about 55.9 in (142.0 cm)
HE: about 67.0 in (170.2 cm) |
| Propellant Charge | 432 lbs. (196 kg) |
| Muzzle Velocity | APC: 2,500 fps (762 mps)
HE: N/A |
| Working Pressure | 19 tons/in2 (3,000 kg/cm2) |
| Approximate Barrel Life | N/A |
| Ammunition stowage per gun | N/A |
| Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|
| 40 degree | 39,390 yards (35,100 m) |
| Designation | Single Coastal Defense Mountings |
|---|---|
| Weight | 223 tons (227 mt) |
| Elevation | -5 / +40 degrees |
| Rate of Elevation | N/A |
| Train | 300 degrees total |
| Rate of Train | N/A |
| Gun Recoil | N/A |
| Loading Angle | Power-ramming: +13 degrees
Hand-ramming: +0 degrees |
"Naval Weapons of World War Two" by John Campbell
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Special help from Javier Villarroya del Real
The Coastal Defences of Cartagena, information and pictures about the guns still in existence
15 October 2008 - Benchmark
18 February 2012 - Updated to latest template
15 April 2015 - Fixed link
02 December 2015 - Changed Vickers Photographic Archive links to point at Wayback Archive
05 February 2021 - Converted to HTML 5 format