Royal Canadian Navy Gun Systems on display in the Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario

The Canadian War Museum: Royal Canadian Navy Gun Systems

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4950803)

.5-inch Vickers Mk. III AA Machine Guns on a quad naval gun mount, ca 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3196183)

Quad AA Gun assembly, Dominion Engineering Works, 1942.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3334449)

Mixed group of Anti-Aircraft Guns on board HMCS Assiniboine with an unidentified Royal Navy destroyer taking over the escort of Convoy HX180 from its Royal Canadian Navy escort, 19 March 1942.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3201900)

Royal Canadian Navy sailors training with the .303-inch Lewis Gun, Esquimalt, BC, 15 Mar 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3303867)

Oerlikon 20-mm/70 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun mounted on a Landing Craft Infantry (LCI), RCN, May 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3201902)

Defensively Armed Merchant Sips (DEMS) personnel learning to fire an Oerlikon 20-mm/70 Light Anti-Aircraft gun, Esquimalt, British Columbia, 15 March 1944.

(Author Photos)

Oerlikon 20-mm/70 Mk. 4 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun  on an RCN Mk. V Mounting. The 20-mm Oerlikon heavy machine gun was produced in higher numbers than any other antiaircraft weapon of the Second World War. The US alone manufactured 124,735 guns. Starting in1939, Oerlikons were mounted on almost every class of ship in the British and Commonwealth navies, including many merchant ships, and there were 55,000 guns in service in those navies in September 1945. It was easy to maintain and had a good rate of fire. However, in the Pacific, it was unable to defeat Japanese Kamikaze attacks and was replaced by the 40-mm Bofors gun. The CWM artefact is mounted on a Mk V (RCN) mounting (CAN 452), which was manufactured by Regina Industries Ltd, in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1943. The company manufactured more than 500 twin and 1,200 single mounts during the war. CWM 19590026-002.

(Wikipedia)

Soviet model .303-inch Maxim Heavy Machine-gun being crewed by Canadians serving with the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion in Spain ca. 1938.  "Mac-Paps" were a battalion of Canadians who fought as part of the XV International Brigade on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War.  Except for France, no other country gave a greater proportion of its population as volunteers in Spain than Canada.  The first Canadians in the conflict were dispatched mainly with the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Battalion and later the North American George Washington Battalion, with about forty Canadians serving in each group.  The Lincoln Brigade was involved in the Battle of Jarama in which nine Canadians are known to have been killed.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3407086)

Canadian troops, Company "C" in the South African Constabulary.  The "Messenger Boy", No. 8 Armoured train, named by Devons, showing Maxim Gun, search-light and gun crew.

(Author Photos)

Vickers, Sons & Maxim Ltd 1-pounder Automatic Gun Mk. I, (Serial No. 2496), 1905, weight (410 lbs), Reg. No. 113, aka "pom-pom", on a Naval deck gun mount. In 1885, the Maxim Gun Company, with the Vickers Company, developed a 37-mm (1.46-in)automatic gun for the Royal Navy for defence against torpedo boats. Although the British only bought a few, Maxim sold many to other countries, including France who later sold them to the Boers in South Africa, who used the gun with devastating effect against the British during the Boer War in 1902. With a rate of fire of 300 rounds per minute, its heavy rapid thumping gave the gun its "pom-pom" nickname, which is still applied to heavy automatic weapons today. Some guns were mounted on high-angle mountings as anti-aircraft defence during the First World War. CWM 19890086-001.

(Author Photos)

Vickers, Sons & Maxim Ltd 1¼-pounder 37/Automatic Gun Mk. III, (Serial No. 6819), London, 1905, aka "pom-pom", from CGS Canada. This Vickers-Maxim 1¼-pounder (gun number 6819) was manufactured in 1905 and mounted on the Canadian Fisheries Service vessel CGS Canada from approximately 1902 to 1914. The Canada was a similar to a fast naval sloop of the period. Vickers Sons and Maxim, at Barrow-in-Furness, built her in 1904. Canada was 200 feet long, could steam at 22 knots, was armed with four small quick firing guns, and carried a complement of 75 officers and men. (Fisheries and Oceans Canada)The Canada marked the transition from traditional wooden schooners to modern steel cruisers, playing a crucial role as Canada formulated its young navy. Canada was the fastest ship in the Fisheries Protection fleet. It was Canada's first successful naval training vessel, and the first Canadian naval vessel to train with the Royal Navy. She was sold to the Florida Inter-Island Steamship Company in 1924, and sank under mysterious circumstances on 2 July 1926. CWM 19440021-001.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3566993)

40-mm/39 2-pounder Mk. I single, V.S.M. (Vickers, Sons & Maxim LL) Automatic Gun, weight (410 lbs), VSM 1905, aka "pom-pom", manned on an RCN destroyer, 1940.

(Author Photo)

40-mm/39 2-pounder Mk. VIII single, V.S.M. (Vickers, Sons & Maxim LL) Automatic Gun, (Serial No. S9463/14786), on Single Mounting, aka "pom-pom", from HMCS Kamloops. Before the Oerlikon 20-mm anti-aircraft gun became available in quantity, the 2-pounder Mk. VIII gun was the Royal Canadian Navy’s main defence against low-flying aircraft. In addition to British production, the Dominion Bridge Co. Ltd, in Vancouver, BC, manufactured 843 guns during the Second World War, starting in September 1942. The Canadian Locomotive Co., Kingston, Ontario produced the 2-pounder Mk VIII single mounting. The mounting was comparatively light, of an orthodox type with riveted carriage and presented no special manufacturing difficulties. A total of 455 had been delivered by 30 September 1943, and production was continuing at the rate of 30 mountings per month. The 2-pounder gun was mounted on the Flower class corvettes. The CWM artefact was mounted on HMCS Kamloops. The ship and the gun appeared in the movie “Corvette K-225” starring Randolph Scott in 1943. CWM 19750084-029.

(Author Photo)

40-mm Bofors L/60 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun in Mk. VC Boffin Mounting. As aircraft performance increased during the Second World War, the 20-mm Oerlikon antiaircraft gun became less effective and was replaced by the 40-mm Bofors. The Boffin was an adaptation of the Canadian Oerlikon twin Mark V or Mark VC 20-mm mounting to use a single40-mm Bofors gun. The turret-type mounting was shielded, hydraulically powered, relatively lightweight, and could be mounted on small warships. After the war, Bofors were mounted on various RCN ships including the carriers HMCS Magnificent and HMCS Bonaventure. When the ships were scrapped, the guns were put in storage until they were issued to the Royal Canadian Artillery as a low-level air defence weapon in the 1970s.When 4th Air Defence Regiment, RCA, received new twin 35-mm guns in 1989, the Boffins were returned to the navy. Being available (and therefore cheap), they were selected as the main armament on the new Kingston class Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels (MCDV). Twelve MCDV were commissioned between 1995 and 1996 and are proving very successful. All but two members of a crew of 31-37 sailors on each ship are naval reservists, and the Boffin provides a practical method of training them in gunnery. After more than sixty years, the Boffin is still in Canadian service.The CWM artefact, Boffin cradle mounting CAN 111 started life in 1943 as a 20-mm twin Mk. V mounting. It now mounts Bofors barrel LL32594. CWM 19590026-001.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3577106)

40-mm Bofors Light Anti-Aircraft Guns in a Twin Mount with gunners on board HMCS Algonquin.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4951379)

40-mm Bofors Light Anti-Aircraft Guns in a Twin Mount on board HMCS Magnificent, 1952.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3230534)

40-mm Bofors Light Anti-Aircraft Guns Mk. XI in a Twin Mount, practice firing on the aircraft carrier HMCS Nabob, Jan 1944.  

(Author Photo)

40-mm Bofors Light Anti-Aircraft Guns Mk. XI in a Twin Gun RP50 Mk. IV Mount. Recognised as the best light anti-aircraft gun in the Second World War, the 40-mm Bofors was mounted on many classes of British and Canadian warships, including Canadian Tribal class destroyers and some frigates. During the Cold War, it was mounted on Prestonian class frigates. Both the Germans and Japanese used variations or copies of the design during the war, and Bofors 40-mm guns are still in service with some countries today. In 1940, Dominion Foundries and Steel Ltd, and Atlas Steels Ltd. of Welland, Ontario, started producing Bofors gun barrels in Canada, eventually reaching a peak production of 1,500 barrels per month in 1943. By October 1941, nearly 2,500 barrels had been shipped overseas. The Otis Fensom Elevator Company began producing complete Bofors mountings in 1942, with a total of250 being produced by late 1943. In 1944, the British Admiralty ordered 500 twin mountings, which were manufactured by the Dominion Bridge Co. Limited in BC.In the Pacific campaign, the smaller 20-mm guns were not adequate against the Japanese Kamikaze attacks. On the other hand, the twin Bofors could put up a curtain of projectiles at a height sufficient to prevent any hostile aeroplane from getting into position to dive-bomb a ship. In anticipation of action in the Pacific, late in the war, some River class frigates of the RCN were refitted with the Mark V twin mounting, and in the early years of the Cold War, the twin RP50Mark V mountings were standard equipment on the Prestonian class frigates. CWM 19680076-001.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4950884)

4-inch QF Mk. IX Gun on board HMCS Nanaimo, ca 1945.

(City of Vancouver Archives CVA 1184-3365)

4-inch QF Mk. IX Gun on board HMCS Nanaimo, ca 1945.  (Jack Lindsay Photo)

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3201273)

4-inch/40 QF Mk. IV Naval Gun training, HMCS Hamilton, 10 Aug 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3196181)

4-inch naval gun, Dominion Engineering Works, 1942.

(Author Photos)

4-inch/40 QF Mk. XXI Gun on the High Angle Single Mk. XXIV Mounting, CAN 42. The Naval 4-inch Mark XXI gun was a lighter version of the Mark XVI naval gun, and approximately 238 guns were manufactured in Britain, with another 135 in Sorel, Quebec. The guns were intended for British Castle class corvettes and Loch class frigates, and for refitted Royal Canadian Navy corvettes. Canadian Pacific Munitions Department Ogden Shops in Calgary produced the Mark XXIV mounting. When the war ended, the order was cancelled, leaving 60 mounts in various stages of production. This artefact, CAN 42, was completed, but was sold to Com Dev Ltd., in 1961 for use on their experimental air ballistic range near Stittsville, Ontario, in support of NASA’s Apollo programme. It was presented to the CWM in 1974.CWM 19740508-001.

(Author Photos)

4-inch/45 QF Mk. XVI* Twin Guns  (Serial No. S/15025), L, left, and (Serial No. S/14512), R, right, on a Mk. XIX High Angle mounting (Serial No. unknown), from HMCS Victoriaville. During the Second World War, the 4-inch Mk. XVI naval gun, in a twin Mk. XIX high-angle mounting, was the main armament of many British and Canadian destroyers and frigates. They were also the secondary, anti-aircraft guns used on British battleships and cruisers. Canada manufactured over 600 of the 2,555 Mk XVI guns produced during the war. This particular gun mounting was a product of Trenton Industries Ltd., in Trenton, Nova Scotia.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3394508)

4.7 inch QF Mk. V Naval Gun aboard an unidentified defensively equipped merchant ship (DEMS), 1943.  

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3576681)

Depth Charge Thrower, HMCS Saguenay, 30 Oct 1941.

(Author Photo)

Knebworth Corvus eight-barreled chaff launcher.  The eight barrels are mounted in two rows of three crossed at right angles with an additional two above and angled between the lower ones.  The barrels are 102-mm in diameter and 1.6 mm long, fixed at 30 degrees.  The Corvus was primarily used on ships of the Royal Navy.  (It is unknown as to whether ships of the RCN ever carried them).  The RCN was equipped with the Mk. 36 SRBOC and then the Plessey Shield and now utilizes a MASS (Multi-ammunition soft kill) system after the FELEX (Frigate life extension) programme on the Halifax class frigates.  (Data courtesy of LCdr Neil S. Bell)

(LCdr Neil S. Bell Photo)

Squid Anti-Submarine Mortar Mk. IV, (Serial No. C1185), (Depth Charge Thrower).  This Squid is mounted on board HMCS Haida in Hamilton, Ontario. The Squid 3-barreled 300-mm (12-inch) mortar was the best anti-submarine weapon of the Second World War. Ordered directly from the drawing board in 1942, it was first installed in the corvette HMS Hadleigh Castle in September 1943. In July 1944, HMS Loch Killin sank the first submarine (U-333) to be destroyed by a Squid. Many RCN destroyers, destroyer escorts, and frigates were equipped with one or frequently two Squids. Normally fired ahead of the ship, the Squid could be aimed up to 30° either side of the bow. The elevation of the tubes could be varied to produce different impact patterns. The pattern was intended to encircle the target and the simultaneous explosions would crush the pressure hull of the submarine. CWM.

(Alex Comber Photo)

FMC 3-inch/50 Twin Gun Mk. 33, HMCS Qu’Appelle McKenzie class destroyer.

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