List of British Ordnance Terms - Wire-wound

Wire-wound

"Wire-wound" or simply "Wire" guns were a gun construction method introduced for British naval guns in the 1890s in which one or more central "A" tubes were tightly wound for part or the full length with layers of steel wire, and the wire was covered by a jacket. It was first used on the QF 6 inch Mk II (40 calibre) of 1892, and the first large calibre gun was the BL 12 inch Mk VIII (35 calibre) of 1895. It provided greater radial strength, i.e., it better withstood the gas pressure attempting to expand the gun's diameter, than previous "hoop" construction methods of similar weight. This was necessitated by the introduction of cordite as a propellant in 1892, which generated higher pressures along the length of the barrel than the gunpowder used before. However, it provided less axial strength, i.e. lengthwise rigidity, and early longer wire-wound guns suffered from droop and inaccuracy. A combination of wire and traditional methods was eventually adopted to solve this problem. The successful British wire naval guns of World War I were typically shorter than German and US guns of the same calibre, which did not use wire-wound construction, e.g. British 45 calibres in length, or only 42 calibres in the 15-inch gun, compared to 50 calibres in guns of other countries. The method was found satisfactory for use with field guns and howitzers which had much shorter barrels than naval guns. Britain abandoned wire-wound construction for naval guns after the 16 inch Mk I of the 1920s, and later 1930s - 1940s designs used monobloc (single-piece) (e.g. 12-pdr 12 cwt Mk V) or built-up all-steel construction (e.g. 6 inch Mk XXIII and 14 inch Mk VII).