Japanese 8cm/40 3rd Year Type Naval Gun

Japanese 8cm/40 3rd Year Type Naval Gun.

Using captured Japanese guns such as the 3-inch dual purpose weapon shown here, Marines of Company M, 5th Marines, dueled with a Japanese cruiser on 19 August 1942 on Guadalcanal. No hits were scored by either party.

The 8 cm/40 3rd Year Type naval gun was a Japanese naval anti-aircraft gun introduced during World War I. Although designated as 8 cm (3.15 in), its shells were 76.2 mm (3 in) in diameter.

During the Pacific War the gun was thoroughly obsolete, relegated to secondary duties on smaller ships. Some guns were given to civil air defense in Southern Japan.

Two guns were acquired by Romania at some point before the start of World War II. They formed a section of coastal anti-aircraft artillery at the mouth of the Sfântu Gheorghe branch of the Danube Delta. The section was named Lăstunul.

Type: Naval gun

Place of origin: Japan

In service: 1914–1945

Used by:

Imperial Japanese Navy

Royal Romanian Navy

Wars:

World War I

World War II

Designed: 1914

Number built: 69 (plus possibly spares)

Weight: 2,401 kg (5,293 lb)

Barrel length: 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in) L/40

Shell: Fixed

Shell weight: 5.7–6 kg (12 lb 9 oz–13 lb 4 oz)

Caliber: 7.62 cm (3.0 in)

Breech: sliding breech block

Carriage: fixed pedestal mount

Elevation: -5° – +75°

Traverse: 360°

Rate of fire: 13–20 rounds per minute

Muzzle velocity: 670–685 m/s (2,200–2,250 ft/s)

Effective firing range: 5.4 km (18,000 ft) (ceiling)

Maximum firing range: 10,800 m (11,800 yd) at 45°