Italian 120 millimetre naval guns were standard main armament on Italian destroyers and were widely used on various other ships and

coastal artillery Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of ...

. The 50-

calibre In guns, particularly firearms, but not artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or wher ...

guns used a charge of of

smokeless powder Finnish smokeless powder Smokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to black powder. Because of their similar use, both the original black powder formula ...

to push a projectile to a velocity of . Velocity was later reduced to , which gave a maximum range of at 45° elevation or at 35° elevation. Variants of similar designs were built by

Ansaldo Ansaldo Energia S.p.A. is an Italian power engineering company based in Genoa, Italy. The original parent company, Gio. Ansaldo & C., was founded in 1853, and merged with Finmeccanica in 1993 (now Leonardo S.p.A.). In 2024, the company's share ...

, OTO,

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

, Schneider, Canet and Armstrong. Older and shorter-barreled guns have different ballistics as noted below.

40-caliber Armstrong 1889 and 1891

These were British QF Mark I and III guns used as coastal artillery and as

star shell A shell, in a modern military context, is a projectile whose payload contains an explosive, incendiary, or other chemical filling. Originally it was called a bombshell, but "shell" has come to be unambiguous in a military context. A shell c ...

guns aboard ''Littorio''-class

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

50-calibre M1909

These guns formed the original secondary battery of ''Andrea Doria'' and ''Conte di Cavour''-class battleships and were later used for coastal artillery. They fired a projectile at .

45-caliber Armstrong 1918

These guns were developed from the older 40-calibre models and installed as coastal artillery and aboard

troopship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable to land troops directly on shore, typic ...

s and

armed merchant cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...

s. They fired a projectile at . Range was at the maximum elevation of 30° .

45-calibre Schneider-Canet-Armstrong 1918

These guns with a maximum elevation of 30° were installed as coastal artillery and aboard

auxiliary ship An auxiliary ship is a naval ship designed to support combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliary ships are not primary combatant vessels, though they may have some limited combat capacity, usually for purposes of self-defense. Auxili ...

45-calibre Schneider-Canet-Armstrong 1918/19

This gun was a twin mounting of the 1918 gun with maximum elevation increased to 32° . These guns were the main armament of ''Leone'' class destroyers and the sloop ''Eritrea''.

45-calibre Vickers Terni 1924

These guns were the main armament of ''Sauro''-class destroyers. A charge of of

pushed projectiles at to a range of at the maximum elevation of 33° ; but dispersion was increased by using a common cradle for the 16.6-ton twin mount.

27-calibre OTO 1924

These were the original

deck gun A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret. The main deck gun was a dual-purpose w ...

s aboard ''Ettore Fieramosca'' and ''Balilla''-class

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s. When replaced by the 45-caliber OTO 1931, these guns were installed as an anti-aircraft battery at

Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants ...

where they fired projectiles at a velocity of to a ceiling of .

45-calibre OTO 1926

These guns were the OTO version of the Vickers Terni 1924 guns. ''Turbine''-class destroyers were built with these guns as the main armament, and ''Sella''-class destroyers were re-armed with these guns.

50-calibre Ansaldo 1926

These horizontal sliding breech block guns in 20-tonne common-cradle twin mountings with maximum elevation of 45° were the main armament of ''Navigatori'', ''Freccia'' and ''Folgore''-class destroyers.

45-calibre OTO 1931

These 3.2-ton

quick-firing gun A quick-firing or rapid-firing gun is an artillery piece, typically a gun or howitzer, that has several characteristics which taken together mean the weapon can fire at a fast rate. Quick-firing was introduced worldwide in the 1880s and 1890s and ...

s with a horizontal sliding breech block were mounted aboard ''Ettore Fieramosca'', ''Pietro Micca'', ''Balilla''-class and ''Calvi''-class submarines. They fired a projectile at . Range was at the maximum elevation of 32° .

50-calibre OTO 1931

These horizontal sliding breech block guns in common-cradle twin mountings with maximum elevation of 33° were the main armament of ''Maestrale''-class destroyers.

50-calibre OTO 1933

These horizontal sliding breech block guns in 34-tonne common-cradle twin turrets with maximum elevation of 42° formed the secondary battery of the rebuilt ''Conte di Cavour''-class battleships.

15-calibre OTO 1933 and 1934

These were star shell

howitzer The howitzer () is an artillery weapon that falls between a cannon (or field gun) and a mortar. It is capable of both low angle fire like a field gun and high angle fire like a mortar, given the distinction between low and high angle fire break ...

s installed aboard ''Zara''-class cruisers and ''Maestrale'', ''Oriani'' and ''Soldati''-class destroyers. The guns elevated to 50° to fire a shell at to an effective range of .

50-calibre OTO 1936

These horizontal sliding breech block guns in common-cradle twin mountings weighing 22.8 tonnes with maximum elevation of 35° were the main armament of ''Oriani''-class destroyers.

50-calibre Ansaldo 1936

These horizontal sliding breech block guns in common-cradle twin mountings weighing 21.6 tonnes with maximum elevation of 40° were the main armament of some ''Soldati''-class destroyers.

50-caliber Ansaldo 1937

These horizontal sliding breech block guns in common-cradle twin mountings weighing 21.6 tonnes with maximum elevation of 42° were the main armament of other ''Soldati''-class destroyers.

50-caliber Ansaldo 1940

These horizontal sliding breech block guns in 12-tonne single mounts with maximum elevation of 45° replaced the star shell howitzer of ''Soldati''-class destroyers ''Bombardiere'', ''Camicia Nera'', ''Carabiniere'', ''Corsaro'', ''Geniere'', ''Lanciere'', ''Legionario'', and ''Mitragliere''.

Sources

{{reflist Naval guns of Italy 120 mm artillery