Vickers MK 8 4.5 INCH

The Royal Navy has been using the 114-mm (4.5-in) weapon as its standard medium calibre gun since World War II. In the mid-1960s RARDE began design development of a fully automatic version to replace the semi-automatic Mk 6 twin turret. Based on the British army's Abbot gun, the radar controlled 4.8-in Mk 8 gun, as it became known, is a 55-calibre weapon fitted with a muzzle brake and fume extractor. The gun mounting itself is designed by Vickers and features a reinforced GRP gun shield with a simple ammunition feed system and remote power controls. A stockpile of ready-use rounds can be accommodated at the mounting and fired remotely from the operations room with no crew closed up on the reloading system below decks. Five types of fixed ammunition can be fired: chaff, surface practice, anti-aircraft practice HE (with impact, close proximity, distant proximity or delay-action fuses) and illuminating. Apart from the Royal Navy the Mk 8 is in service with the Argentine, Brazilian, Iranian, Libyan and Thai navies. The Mk 8 saw extensive combat service in the 1982 Falklands war, mainly in the shore bombardment and close-support roles for troops in contact with the enemy, but it is also credited with destruction of an Argentine supply ship when HMS Alacrity sank the Isla de Ios Estados.

Specification Mk 8 gun

Calibre: 114.3 mm (4.5 in)

No. of barrels: one Weight: not known Elevation: - 10° to +55°

Muzzle velocity: 870 m (2,854 ft) per second

Projectile weight: 21 kg (46.3 lb)

 Maximum rate of fire: 25 rpm 

Maximum effective ranges: surface fire 23 km ( 14.3 miles), and anti-aircraft fire 6 km (3.7 miles)