Whose Name We Share

118 Breech Loading 5.5 Inch Gun The medium gun batteries of the British Army had been equipped with the 5.5 Inch Guns during World War II and Australia decided it wanted a piece of the action. An order for 70 guns was placed, but by 1944 only 27 of them reached Australian shores. By the time the order was filed only 40 of them had arrived and the ill-omened ordeal saw that they were never used in operations by Australian gunners. It was a well proven piece however, seeing service up until its replacement sometime in the 1980s. The 140mm gun could fire shells that weighed up to 100lbs at a break-neck 500m/s and it also featured the lighter 80lbs shells that could clock in at 590m/s. The range was a generous 16km, but the trade-off for the sheer power was dropping the rate of fire. A light gun will always outpace a medium one, but a well-disciplined and well-practised detachment could get around this with its quick loading device, which swung the barrel down to an acceptable level for loading before returning it to its previous elevation. The gun’s most prominent feature are the forward mounted equilibrators, located in front of the trunnions. This design takes up the strain of the front-heavy barrel design and the load bears down on the cradle. The trunnions themselves are located towards the rear to allow for full recoil at high elevation and the split trail design allows for easy access to load the separate loading ammunition. The 5.5in gun marks a significant change in 103’s SOPs as it’s the first medium gun that had been employed.