1/600 Royal Navy 4.5"/45 (11.4cm) RP41 MKVI

1/600 Scale Royal Navy 4.5"/45 (11.4cm) RP41 MKVI x1 as used by the Royal Navy and Allied Navies on Lion (1945), Malta, Daring, County, Leander, Leopard (Type 41), Whitby (Type 12), Salisbury (Type 61AD), Modified Battle, Daring, River (Type 12M/I), Almirante Condell and Van Speijk classes. These are highly detailed parts modelled using plans and many reference photographs.

• 1x Mount
• Highly detailed and accurate parts, modelled from the John Lambert plans and photographic reference
• Details include: Rivets and Hex nuts, Venting, Open Sighting Position, Crew Access Doors and Ladders
• Barrels are printed separately and can be angled as desired.

HISTORICAL DATA
This gun was intended to correct the many deficiencies of British destroyer weapons of World War II and was extensively used on ships built after the war. Unlike previous types, this weapon was designed from the outset for high elevations, automatic aiming (RPC) and a fast rate of fire. The weapon had many novel features, notably a loading tray, with which the gun recoils, and a rammer, which is pushed clear of the gun's axis by the vertically closing breech block. Ammunition was supplied by two magazines, each with a separate shell hoist, one for AA and one for HE/SAP. A third hoist supplied the cartridges.

The ramming mechanism proved to be overly complex and prone to faults. For this reason, the high rate of fire initially expected could not be realized in practice and most gun crews relied upon hand-loading in order to maintain a steady rate of fire. Despite this problem, these guns proved to be reliable in service and gave a good account of themselves during the Falklands War.

Service introduction was on the Australian "Modified Battle" class destroyers HMAS Anzac and HMAS Tobruk. In Britain, these weapons were first used on the Daring class destroyers, about which was said: "At last the RN had a modern destroyer with a longitudinally framed, welded hull, efficient and compact machinery, AC electrics and an effective dual-purpose armament. These 'innovations' were introduced a decade later than in the USN" - D.K. Brown RCNC.

Nomenclature note: In the 1950s the British weapon designation system changed from being per the gun itself to being per the mounting the gun was used in. At the same time, arabic numerals replaced roman numerals. Some confusion was created under this new system because older weapons were redesignated, even though the weapons and mountings themselves did not change. Under this new system, the combination of the 4.5-in Mark V gun as used in the Mark VI twin mounting was redesignated as the 4.5-in Mark 6 gun mounting. As could be expected, these changes have led to much confusion as to what weapons were actually used on any particular ship. For this reason, at the top of this datapage I show both the original per-the-gun designation and, in parenthesis, the per-the-mounting redesignations.

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