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The BL 13.5 inch was a British naval gun, introduced in 1912 as the main armament for the new super-dreadnought battleships of the Orion class. The calibre was 13.5 inches (343 mm) and the barrels were 45 calibres long i.e. 607.5 inches (15.43 m). They were classified as breech loading, hence the designation BL. The weapons were distinct from, and greatly superior to, the earlier 13.5 inch/30 30-calibre guns used on the Admiral and Royal Sovereign classes in the 1890s.

According to the navweaps.com website,^[1] the gun weighed approximately 168,000 lb (76 tonnes) (excluding the breech), and in its original form fired a 1,250 lb (567 kg) armour-piercing capped (APC) or high-explosive (HE) round a distance of 23,800 yards (21,800 m) at a 20-degree elevation. Due to the excellent characteristics of the gun, it was decided to increase the weight of shell to 1,400 lb (635 kg) with an increased firing charge to achieve much the same range.

The gun as developed for the Royal Navy was designated Mark V(L) (for "light") and Mark V(H) (for "heavy"), according to whether it fired the 1,250 lb (567 kg) or the 1,400 lb (635 kg) round.^[2] A very similar gun, designed for the Turkish battleship Reshadeih, received the designation Mark VI; this was assigned when the ship was requisitioned by the British government after the outbreak of the First World War, eventually being commissioned as HMS Erin.^[3] The Mark VI gun fired the 1,400 lb round.

Four BL 13.5 inch /45 Mark V guns were mounted on railway chassis during World War I for use as railway guns, named Boche-Buster, Gladiator, Piecemaker and Sceneshifter^[4] . In 1939, Gladiator, Piecemaker, and Sceneshifter were issued to the Royal Marines Siege Regiment at Dover in Kent to bombard German batteries and shipping in the Calais area^[5]. These guns could be hidden in railway tunnels when not in use, to protect them from air attack and counter-battery fire.

British warships with the BL 13.5 inch /45 gun;

• Orion class battleships: Mark V(L)
• King George V class battleships of 1911: Mark V(H)
• Iron Duke class battleships: Mark V(H)
• HMS Erin, a battleship: Mark VI
• Lion class battlecruisers: Mark V(L)
• HMS Queen Mary, a battlecruiser : Mark V(H)
• HMS Tiger, a battlecruiser : Mark V(H)

• 15 inch (381 mm) /42 calibre Mark I naval gun

• Vickers Photographic Archives
• navweaps.com

1. ^ navweaps.com - 13.5-in/45 Mark V
2. ^ ibid.
3. ^ navweaps.com - 13.5-in/45 Mark VI
4. ^ http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/cgi-bin/res.pl?keyword=Sceneshifter&offset=0 Sceneshifter entry from the Probert Encyclopaedia
5. ^ http://www.doverpages.co.uk/big_guns.htm The Big Guns At Dover WW2 World War Two

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