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EPISIODES OF WWII: HMAS KAPUNDA'S Oerlikon at high elevation.Photo Derek Simon [1919-2004] courtesy Graeme Andrews.
4381. Harnessed to his swivel-mounted, ammunition drum-fed weapon, HMAS KAPUNDA swings it towards its maximum 85 elevation.
Named for the ancient Zurich suburb where its Swiss manufacturers were located, the 20mm Oerlikon gun was based on an early WWI design by German Reinhold Becker. Continued development into the 1930s produced a number of variants, including an anti-tank gun and an aircraft cannon.
In its naval applications, it was to become one of the most widely used close-range AA weapons of WWII, although the Oerlikon was at first spurned by the Royal Navy. An unyielding campaign by Lord Louis Mountbatten to have it trailed was in vain until Sir Roger Backhouse became first Sea Lord and the first Oerlikons were ordered.
When licensed for manufacture in britain, the plans were smuggled from Switzerland in 1940, after the fall of France.
The Oerlikon fired at 450 rpm. Reports of its range vary from 1000 yards to more than twice that height in the arms. The weapon's problem was that it lacked hitting power against heavier aircraft, or Japanese kamikaze, and the 40 bofors gun was a major step up in that regard.
Nonetheless the Oerlikons were a significant improvement on the machineguns mounted on many lighter vessels, and it was an ideal size for ships such as the Bathurst Class corvettes, on which it had a number of successes against Japanese aircraft [we don't know how many, but recorded successes seem not uncommon]. The gun was also used for enemy shore strafing, and from its depictions in war art it seems to have been a popular weapon in the Australian Navy.
The most famous Oerlikon gunner in the RAN was Ordinary Seaman Edward 'Teddy' Sheean, who famously went down with HMAS ARMIDALE still firing, in the Arafura Sea on Dec. 1, 1942, as survivors from the ship were being strafed in the water. The youngest of 14 children from Lower Barrington Tasmania, the 18-year-old Sheean had been a former farm labourer. The Collins Class submarine is named for him, and in 2011 his name was one of 10 service personnel to be considered by an awards review committee for a posthumous award of the Victoria Cross.
*Most facts reported here on the Oerlikon gun are extracted from Wikipedia.
Photo: Derek Simon [1919-2004], courtesy Graeme K. Andrews [RAN 1955-1968, RANR 1980].
EPISIODES OF WWII: HMAS KAPUNDA'S Oerlikon at high elevation.Photo Derek Simon [1919-2004] courtesy Graeme Andrews.
4381. Harnessed to his swivel-mounted, ammunition drum-fed weapon, HMAS KAPUNDA swings it towards its maximum 85 elevation.
Named for the ancient Zurich suburb where its Swiss manufacturers were located, the 20mm Oerlikon gun was based on an early WWI design by German Reinhold Becker. Continued development into the 1930s produced a number of variants, including an anti-tank gun and an aircraft cannon.
In its naval applications, it was to become one of the most widely used close-range AA weapons of WWII, although the Oerlikon was at first spurned by the Royal Navy. An unyielding campaign by Lord Louis Mountbatten to have it trailed was in vain until Sir Roger Backhouse became first Sea Lord and the first Oerlikons were ordered.
When licensed for manufacture in britain, the plans were smuggled from Switzerland in 1940, after the fall of France.
The Oerlikon fired at 450 rpm. Reports of its range vary from 1000 yards to more than twice that height in the arms. The weapon's problem was that it lacked hitting power against heavier aircraft, or Japanese kamikaze, and the 40 bofors gun was a major step up in that regard.
Nonetheless the Oerlikons were a significant improvement on the machineguns mounted on many lighter vessels, and it was an ideal size for ships such as the Bathurst Class corvettes, on which it had a number of successes against Japanese aircraft [we don't know how many, but recorded successes seem not uncommon]. The gun was also used for enemy shore strafing, and from its depictions in war art it seems to have been a popular weapon in the Australian Navy.
The most famous Oerlikon gunner in the RAN was Ordinary Seaman Edward 'Teddy' Sheean, who famously went down with HMAS ARMIDALE still firing, in the Arafura Sea on Dec. 1, 1942, as survivors from the ship were being strafed in the water. The youngest of 14 children from Lower Barrington Tasmania, the 18-year-old Sheean had been a former farm labourer. The Collins Class submarine is named for him, and in 2011 his name was one of 10 service personnel to be considered by an awards review committee for a posthumous award of the Victoria Cross.
*Most facts reported here on the Oerlikon gun are extracted from Wikipedia.
Photo: Derek Simon [1919-2004], courtesy Graeme K. Andrews [RAN 1955-1968, RANR 1980].