| |
|
|
|
|
ARTILLERY REGISTER |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Type of Gun: |
20 mm Oerlikon Anti Aircraft Gun |
| Location: |
Navy Heritage Centre, Garden Island, NSW |
| GPS Location: |
°33 51' 34" S - °151 13' 49" E |
| Serial Number: |
|
| Date of Manufacture: |
|
| Manufacturer: |
|
| Calibre: |
20 mm |
| Weight of Projectile: |
|
| Range: |
2,000 metres |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| Historical Specifics: |
The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a single-barrelled cannon with a large spring coil surrounding the barrel. Ammunition feed is by a 60-round drum magazine on the top of the gun. Its rate of fire is 450 rounds per minute.
The 20 mm cannon was developed during World War I and used on a limited scale as an anti aircraft gun. In 1919 the patent was sold and the company eventually bought by the Swiss Company Werkzeug Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon.
The Royal Navy were not in favour of the gun but in early 1939 an order for 1,500 guns was placed in Switzerland. By June 1940 and the fall of France only 109 guns had been delivered to Britain but two weeks earlier the Oerlikon factory approved manufacture of their gun in the United Kingdom, under license.. The production of the first British-made Oerlikon guns started in Ruislip, London, at the end of 1940; and the first guns were delivered to the Royal Navy in March or April, 1941. The gun was eventually abandoned in 1944 as a major anti-air weapon due to its lack of stopping power against heavy aircraft. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| General Information on Gun Type: |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| Additional Photos: |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
