The 8-inch/55 Mark 16 provides the far endpoint of the century-long comparison. Its ammunition remained divided into two components, but self-loading machinery handled a process once dominated by human muscle, ropes, and close-range gun drill. The mount could train and elevate while firing different shell types at a rate unimaginable on an age-of-sail gun deck. Its machinery shows how completely naval gunnery changed between the ironclad and mechanised-gunnery eras.
Notable Point · 15:01-16:25
The Mark 16 self-loading gun shows a century of change
The 8-inch/55 Mark 16 used self-loading machinery and semi-fixed ammunition, offering a sharp contrast with the manually worked broadside cannon of 1860.