Special
  • 1/700 French Navy Quad 330mm/50 (13") Model 1931 x2 (Dunkerque)
  • 1/700 French Navy Quad 330mm/50 (13") Model 1931 x2 (Dunkerque)
  • 1/700 French Navy Quad 330mm/50 (13") Model 1931 x2 (Dunkerque)
  • 1/700 French Navy Quad 330mm/50 (13") Model 1931 x2 (Dunkerque)
MM0131P

1/700 French Navy Quad 330mm/50 (13") Model 1931 x2 (Dunkerque)

  • $24.20
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

1/700 French Navy Quad 330mm/50 (13") Model 1931 x2 (Dunkerque). Modelled from ship builders plans and many reference photographs. These were the main weapons on the Dunkerque. See French Navy for the 1/700 Strasbourg Turrets (slight difference).

  • Contains x2 Quad Mounts
  • Details include: Rivets & Hex Nuts, Sighting Port Hatches, Periscope Tower (Turret II), 12m Rangefinder in each Turret, Armour Join Lines, Venting, Crew Handrails, Access Hatches and Ladders to Turret Roof
  • Barrels are printed separately and can be angled up to a maximum of 35º


HISTORICAL DATA
These guns were used to arm the first French capital ships built since World War I, the Dunkerque class. These weapons had a high muzzle velocity, which gave them long range and good vertical armor penetration at the cost of having poor deck penetration. They were mounted in quad turrets, which were really more of a dual-twin arrangement. The design of the quad turret was based upon one designed but never built for the Normandie class.

Although equipped with RPC, the Sautter-Harlé-Blondel gear for these turrets was apparently far from satisfactory. As the guns were closely spaced together, these ships also suffered from problems with excessive dispersion.

The dual quad-gun turret arrangement was calculated to be 27.6% lighter than a quad twin-gun arrangement, but it did mean that a single hit could eliminate half of the main battery.

The construction of these weapons is not clear, but it is believed to have been similar to that of the 380 mm/45 (14.96”) guns used on the Richelieu. This would make the construction a loose autofretted liner and A tube reinforced at the breech by a single row of short hoops along with an outer jacket. The breech mechanism was a Welin screw breech block, hydro-pneumatically powered and balanced by counterweights. The breech plug opened upwards. Actual bore length was 50.44 calibers.

Some of the APC shells for these guns were converted to aircraft AP bombs.

 

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