HMS Collingwood takes delivery of gate guard

HMS Collingwood has taken delivery of a Vickers 4.5 inch Mk 8 Mod 0 Medium Range Naval Gun as its Gate Guard.

It is traditional for Her Majesties Establishments to have a suitable guardian located at the point of entry. The 4.5 Mk8 Gun has been a mainstay of Naval surface warfare in modern times, variants of the weapon are still serving proudly in the Fleet and this gun was last fitted to the Type 23 Frigate HMS St Albans.

The project to have the gun as the Gate Guard was conceived 2 years ago by the establishment’s Executive Department and was Project Managed by the on-site Training Equipment Project Management Team (TEPMT).

The Photograph shows the Team manoeuvring the gun weighing, 23.8 tons, into its final resting position adjacent to Royal Sovereign Avenue. This Gun was kindly donated to Collingwood by DE&S.

The 4.5 Gun system has a combination of electrical and hydraulic components and the full system penetrates up to three deck levels below the weather deck; deep magazine, gun control room and power room, gunbay and the gunhouse.

The weapon is semi-automatic and can be operated by a smaller crew than its predecessors. With no personnel in the gunhouse, loading is supported by personnel in the gunbay who load the feed ring and in the deep-magazine to pass ammunition to the gunbay.

The captain of the gun in the control room ensures continued weapon readiness and the gun controller in the operations room aims and fires the weapon.

The gun has a rate of fire of about 25 rounds per minute and a range of 12 nm (22 km; 27.5 km with the newer High Explosive Extended Range round). The first Mk8 entered Royal Navy service in 1973 on the then new destroyer HMS Bristol.

The Photograph shows the Team maneuvering the gun weighing, 23.8 tons, into its final resting position adjacent to Royal Sovereign Avenue.