Designed to remain light enough for rapid manual training, the five-inch/25 armed a broad range of American cruisers, carriers, and battleships. It could elevate from minus ten to plus eighty-five degrees and reach aircraft at roughly 27,400 feet. Each gun weighed about two metric tons yet could still be swung by its crew with hydraulic assistance. The weapon formed the fleet's standard heavy anti-aircraft layer in the 1920s and 1930s before the five-inch/38 displaced it, while removed battleship guns later found service aboard submarines.
Notable Point · 21:55-24:21
The five-inch/25 as the interwar heavy anti-aircraft gun
The manually trained five-inch/25 became a widespread heavy anti-aircraft weapon before the five-inch/38 displaced it.