The weapon was originally designed for ship use and was produced in large numbers during 1944. The gun was also adapted for land use as a dual-purpose gun. The barrel was of autofretted mono-block construction and was held in a sleeve cradle mounted on a pedestal mount which permits 360° of traverse. The gun uses a hydro-spring recoil mechanism attached to the sleeve cradle and there are three recoil cylinders located on top of the breech with the two outside cylinders housing the recoil springs, and the center cylinder housing the hydraulic recuperator.[1] The elevating handwheel is on the right side of the mount, while the traversing handwheel is on the left. To compensate for muzzle preponderance, spring equilibrators are mounted below the gun barrel. The gun is said to be well balanced, and easy to elevate. A semi-automatic horizontal sliding-wedge breech is used and Fixed QF 120 x 708R ammunition was used. The gun fired either high explosive or incendiary shrapnel shells that weighed 20.6 kg (45 lb 7 oz), with a complete round weighing 32.4 kg (71 lb 7 oz).[3]
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