3 inch Mk.33 (76 mm)

3 inch Mk.33 on Chikugo

Description

The 3-inch Mark 33 is an American naval anti-aircraft gun, but ironically for being part of a long-serving American naval cannon it is mostly found in the Japanese tech tree where it was introduced on post-war Japanese designs.

Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• Chikugo
• Ikazuchi
• Isuzu
• Geniere
• JDS Ayanami (DD-103)
• HMCS Terra Nova
• USS Pittsburgh
• USS Des Moines
• USS Newport News

General info

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Available ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		100 m	1,000 m	2,000 m	3,000 m	4,000 m	5,000 m
HC Mk.27	HE	8	8	8	8	8	8
APHE	APHE	121	98	77	61	49	39

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (s)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
HC Mk.27	HE	823	5.9	0	0.1	500	79°	80°	81°
APHE	APHE	823	5.9	0.01	4	63.7	47°	60°	65°

Proximity-fused shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Arming distance (m)	Trigger radius (m)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
									0%	50%	100%
AA Mk.31	HE-VT	823	5.85	0	0.1	548	15	352.8	79°	80°	81°

Comparison with analogues

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Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

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Pros:

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History

In late 1944, the 20 mm Oerlikon and Bofors L/60 were found to be insufficient to defend ships against Japanese Kamikaze attacks and it was eventually settled on developing a 3-inch gun based on a design that was in service since the 1890s. The reason for the 3-inch gun calibre was that they wanted to use radio proximity or VT fuses and the 3-inch was the smallest calibre capable of using these shells. The first gun to enter production in the anti-aircraft role of this capacity was the Mark 24, but later the twin mounts Mark 27 to the Mark 33 which featured a new slide. While the Mark 33 had a higher rate of fire compared to the earlier predecessors and used the same mount as the Bofors, it suffered from a short barrel life. The Mark 33 and the other variants of the gun entered service after the war and had long service history in the United States Navy from the late 1940s until the '80s. The gun also saw action in multiple other navies including Spain, where it is in service to this day, Norway, Japan, and Italy.

During the post-war period, the majority of the Japanese and Italian naval strength was disbanded or destroyed, but the rebuilding of the nations along with the geopolitics of the Cold War made the United States more amiable to the idea of these nations getting reformed navies with former US Navy destroyers serving as the first ships in these new services. For the Italians, they got former Fletcher-class destroyers such as the Geniere. The Japanese meanwhile got the Mark 33 for locally made destroyers such as the JDS Ayanami (DD-103) which was the first ship to mount these guns and later destroyer escorts such as the Ikazuchi-class.

Media

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See also

• 3-inch Mk.34 (76 mm) - Single mount variant.

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.

Japan naval cannons
20 mm	JM61 · Type 98
25 mm	25 mm/60 Type 96
37 mm	Type 4 · Type 11 pattern 1922
40 mm	40 mm/62 Vickers
57 mm	Type 97
75 mm	Type 88 AA
76 mm	3-inch/40 Type 41 · 8 cm/40 3rd Year Type · 8 cm/60 Type 98
100 mm	100/65 mm Type 98 mod A
120 mm	120 mm/45 3rd Year Type · 120 mm/45 10th year type
127 mm	5 inch/40 Type 89 · 127 mm/50 3rd Year Type
140 mm	140 mm/50 3rd Year Type
152 mm	6-inch/45 Type 41 · 15 cm/50 Type 41
155 mm	155 mm/60 3rd Year Type
200 mm	20 cm 3rd year type No.1
203 mm	20 cm/45 Type 41 · 20 cm/50 3rd year type No.2
356 mm	36 cm/45 Type 41
410 mm	410 mm/45 Type 3
	Foreign:
20 mm	20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mk.II (USA/Britain)
40 mm	Bofors L/60 Mark 1 (USA) · Bofors L/60 Mark 2 (USA) · Bofors L/60 Mark 3 (USA)
47 mm	3 pdr QF Hotchkiss (Britain)
76 mm	3-inch Mark 10 (USA) · 3 inch Mk.33 (USA) · 3-inch Mk.34 (USA)
120 mm	4,7-inch/40 Armstrong (Britain)
127 mm	5 inch/38 Mk.12 (USA)
305 mm	12-inch/45 Vickers (Britain) · 12-inch/50 Vickers (Britain)