The Royal Navy Has Trained The First Two Sailors On New Five Inch Gun

There are now two sailors who know the ins and outs to operate the Fleet’s new main gun after intensive training Stateside.

HMS Glasgow is the first Royal Navy warship to be equipped with the 5in Medium Calibre Gun – succeeding the battle-proven 4.5in gun which has been the mainstay of the Fleet since the 1970s.

The 5in is also a proven weapon. The Mk45 Mod 4A is the latest variant of a US Navy gun which is provides the punch of more than 280 warships in 11 navies including those of Australia, New Zealand, Japan and several NATO allies.

As well as firing larger calibre shells than the 4.5in to deal with targets as varied as enemy installations ashore, drones, fast inshore attack craft and hostile boats, the new gun is fed a constant supply of shells during a shoot automatically by an automated handling system.

Whilst it saves sailors having to lug heavy shells around the ship, it also has to be maintained to the highest standards to prevent any jams.

To learn how to maintain the whole system, weapons engineers Petty Officers Dave Strachan and ‘Tiny’ Sanderson spent three months in San Diego on a comprehensive course covering every aspect of the new weapon.

Their training spanned basic operation, maintenance requirements, defect analysis and, where necessary, repairs, in the classroom, on simulators and replicas of the gun/system.

It built up over 11 weeks to a final assessment: a four-hour-long multiple-choice exam, followed by a practical session, testing the engineers’ knowledge to bring the gun online, load rounds in simulation mode as well as a solitary physical round, all while dealing with various defects ranging from blown lamps to broken sensors and damaged components. 

To read more, please visit the Royal Navy's website.