Talk:5-inch/38-caliber gun

Assessment
Large, organised with pictures and tables. Worthy of a B, though barely since it lacks bibliography and references. If this gun was on Fletcher-class destroyers it served then with the Hellenic and Turkish navy well into the 1990's. I'll check this out later Ikokki 11:14, 29 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I believe that suffient references are now made. Might even qualify for A rating.--MChew (talk) 17:34, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

27 gun mounts of this type gun were refurbished and placed on 17 ships build during the 1960s by the US Navy. These ships served into the later portion of the 1980s at which time they were decommissioned. Those are the Garcia class (10 ships FF-1040-1049), Brooke Class (FFG-1 to 6) and Glover. Wfoj2 (talk) 01:03, 2 February 2013 (UTC)

Title?
Should the metric conversion really be in the title of the article? —wwoods 19:21, 18 November 2006 (UTC)


 * It's one of the least wise/intelligent/appropriate things I've seen on Wikipedia, but I didn't want to offend anybody by changing it all by myself. IMHO we should get rid of the "(127 mm)". Lou Sander 20:48, 18 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I noted it a while ago as well, and I thought the name was a bit as silly as changing Otobreda 76 mm to Otobreda 76 mm (3 inch). There was lengthy discussion (that I didn't notice until it was over) at Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Ships/Archive03. You may want to reread that before changing the name, or bring up the question to Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Ships since they have discussed it before. --Dual Freq 21:44, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Requesting premission to do a major expansion of this article
I'm an old retired Fire Control Technician. Since it was the policy on many ships to cross train people in the Ordnance Division, I have also taken Gunner's Mate courses. And I have served as part of a Mk 12 gun crew, although only during practice shoots.

With your permission, I would like to expand this article, and make some minor corrections. For example the Mk 12 5"/38cal Gun is only the equipment inside the trunnions. Everything outside the trunnions is called the mount.  There are Mk 21 mounts, Mk 30 mounts, Mk 28 mounts, and etc.  They are mounts that carry one or two Mk 12 5"/38cal Gun Assemblies.

I would like to have a section dedicated just to the Mk 12 Gun Assembly. Including the slide, housing, breech bloc, recoil system, counter recoil system, power rammer, barrel, safety equipment, ammunition, and etc.

Then I would like to describe the various mount types. There is the single open pedestal, single open base ring, single enclosed base ring, and twin enclosed base ring.

I hope I can help. FTC Gerry 23:54, 17 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Permission granted.Fl295 00:59, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Yes, but what about the ammo - shell weight etc. ?
I looked in vain for the weight of the shell and info on its filling. Rcbutcher (talk) 12:40, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

Lead photo
The present lead photo in the Infobox is not very representative of the GUN, it better fits down in the Gun Mounts chapter. I would suggest a photo of an open mount gun. The image of the open mount gun later in the article surrounded by the crew wouldn't be my first choice though, as the gun isn't the focus of that photo either. --J Clear (talk) 01:49, 24 March 2011 (UTC)

Clearing charge
"The clearing charge (also called, "the short round") is a short case, cut off and plugged just above the wad, with a full charge. It is used to clear the gun after a misfire". This leaves the reader asking why the special short case rather than just a regular case. Without an explanation of how it worked the information does not mean much. Explanation please. Rcbutcher (talk) 11:06, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

I hope this clear things up. FTC Gerry (talk) 11:13, 4 September 2013 (UTC)


 * Still needs some work IMHO : "After hand extracting the bad case from the chamber, the clearing charge is removed from its special container and is hand rammed into the chamber". The bit about removing from special container is ambiguous, may be interpreted as the powder is removed from the cartridge case. Just saying "the cartridge case containing the clearing charge is hand-loaded" is more precise. Rcbutcher (talk) 14:50, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

5"/38
I can find nowhere on the web a definition of 5"/38. Google finds only Biblical references, or this article. But what the heck does that mean? Is it a five inch in diameter bore? what is 38 caliber referring to? I am totally ignorant of what this means. To my knowledge 38 caliber means 0.38 inches, and refers to the diameter of the bore of the barrel. Or of the diameter of the bullet that the barrel is designed for. Nick Beeson (talk) 19:03, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
 * The explanation is in the lead paragraph of the article: "United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun fired a projectile 5 inches (127 mm) in diameter, and the barrel was 38 calibers long...." (barrel length = 38 x 5 inches or 190 inches) The internal link may help. Thewellman (talk) 20:01, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Not strictly true AFAIK... 5 inches refers to the barrel internal diameter, projectiles are a few thousands of an inch smaller to fit. Rcbutcher (talk) 14:57, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 7 external links on 5"/38 caliber gun. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070921224633/http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-38_mk12.htm to http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-38_mk12.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070921224633/http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-38_mk12.htm to http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-38_mk12.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080905181826/http://navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-38_mk12.htm to http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-38_mk12.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070921224633/http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-38_mk12.htm to http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-38_mk12.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070205233415/http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-38_mk12.htm to http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-38_mk12.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070921224633/http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-38_mk12.htm to http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-38_mk12.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080905181826/http://navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-38_mk12.htm to http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_5-38_mk12.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 01:59, 23 June 2017 (UTC)