Japan 6"/45 (15.2 cm) 41st Year Type (original) (raw)

Cruiser Tone in 1911. 6" (15.2 cm) guns are on the forecastle and stern. IWM photograph Q 22422.

Originally imported from Elswick with the Japanese later producing their own version under license. Still in use during World War II as coastal artillery. Interesting in that the Protected Cruisers of the Chikuma class had a uniform armament of six of these guns at a time when mixed batteries was the normal fashion.

Redesignated as 41st Year Type on 25 December 1908. Redesignated in centimeters on 5 October 1917.

Designation	6"/45 (15.2 cm) Elswick6"/45 (15.2 cm) 41st Year Type (Model 1908)15 cm/45 (6") 41st Year Type (Model 1908)
Ship Class Used On	Protected Cruisers Tone and Chikuma classes
Date Of Design	1908
Date In Service	1910
Gun Weight	N/A
Gun Length oa	N/A
Bore Length	270 in (6.858 m)
Rifling Length	N/A
Grooves	N/A
Lands	N/A
Twist	N/A
Chamber Volume	N/A
Rate Of Fire	about 5 rounds per minute

During repairs after being captured by the Japanese, the Russian ships ex-Retvizan now Hizen, ex-Peresvet now Sagami, ex-Orel now Iwami, Poltava now Tango and ex-Pobieda now Suo had their Russian secondaries replaced with Japanese 6"/45 (15.2 cm) and 3"/40 (7.62 cm) Armstrong guns.

Type	Bag
Projectile Types and Weights	AP: 100 lbs. (45.4 kg)HE: 100 lbs. (45.4 kg)
Bursting Charge	N/A
Projectile Length	N/A
Propellant Charge	N/A
Muzzle Velocity	2,707 fps (825 mps)
Working Pressure	N/A
Approximate Barrel Life	N/A
Ammunition stowage per gun	N/A

Range with 100 lbs. (45.4 kg) AP

Elevation	Range
18 degrees	16,190 yards (14,800 m)

Designation	Single Pedestal Mounts: Tone (2) and Chikuma (8)
Weight	N/A
Elevation	about -5 / +18 degrees
Elevation Rate	N/A
Train	About +150 / -150 degrees
Train Rate	N/A
Gun recoil	N/A

"Naval Weapons of World War Two" by John Campbell
"Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945" by Hansgeorg Jentschura, Dieter Jung and Peter Mickel
"Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War" by Eric Lacroix and Linton Wells II

16 July 2004 - Benchmark
27 May 2012 - Updated to latest template
04 March 2014 - Replaced photograph of Tone
13 January 2021 - Updated to HTML 5 format
05 February 2022 - Added note about Japanese rearmament of captured Russian ships