40/60 Bofor

[Tiger-pie]

Hi all,

The last of the Fremantle Patrol boats paid off last week, thus ending their 25 year career and the use of the 40/60 Bofor in the RAN (and ADF) after having been bought into service from circa 1939 with the Australian military. They were built here by various firms, most notable being General Motors-Holden.

Most that I have worked on were dated 1943-44, though the newest ordnance I have ever seen was 1953. The mounts (the bit the bang-stick [ordnance] sits on), were of course much younger. The RAN started using hydraulic powered mounts in the early sixies, before that they were either hand-draulic or electrically driven. The mounts went through various style changes until they settled on a final design in the early seventies, and these were refurbished every 5 years.

They have been on all types of Aussie ships, both merchant and naval. Their decline from the main fleet in recent history started when they were removed from HMAS Success and Tobruk, the Freo's being the last class they were used on.

It is hard to believe they are gone, of the 19 years I have served in the RAN, I spent nearly 12 years of that time working in, on or around them, from training young "gunbusters" (weapons techs), workshop overhauls to actually firing them. They made for a great light-show at night, especially when the self-destruct fuse detonated.

Regards;

Johnsy

[Tiger-pie]

From Navy News Volume 50, No. 14, August 09, 2007

Last blast for Bofors

After 62 years? service to the RAN, the last three 40/60 Bofors guns were fired for the final time at West Head Gunnery Range at HMAS Cerberus on July 19.

It took about an hour for staff to fire 432 round of ammunition from the AN4 Mod 2 guns.

?These weapons have provided outstanding service to the RAN. A very simple weapon to operate, the gun operated on a feed pull mechanism and was easy to maintain,? Weapon Training Officer LEUT Mal Bonehill said.

The Fremantle Class patrol boats were the last in the RAN fleet to have operational 40/60 guns but, and with the decommissioning of the last two boats, HMAS Ipswich and Townsville in 2007, the only remaining firing gun mounts were retained at West Head Gunnery Range.

One gun will be retained at West Head Gunnery Range; one will be donated to the HMAS Cerberus Maritime Museum; and the other one will be returned to stores.

LEUT Bonehill spoke on the history of the guns.

?Prior to WWII the RN and RAN anti-aircraft weapon of choice was the 2 Pounder or ?Pom Pom? in a variety of mounting up to eight barrels for capital ships and some cruisers. The British Army adopted the Bofors 40/60 and it proved very successful an anti-aircraft weapon in the Africa campaign.

?With a breech capacity of eight rounds and taking four round clips, the gun could achieve a rate of fire of 120RPM and a range of 5000 yards. Ammunition retained a contact fuse and a tracer making it easy to aim.

?At one stage nearly all RAN ships carried some form of Bofors 40mm gun in their life. The Battle Class Destroyers Anzac and Tobruk retained up to 12 Bofor Guns, while the early Type 12 Destroyer Escorts were originally fitted a twin mounting in lieu of Seacat Missile System.

?The Daring Class Destroyers Vampire, Vendetta and Voyager mounted two twin and two single 40/60 guns. The carriers Sydney, Vengeance and Melbourne mounted up to eight single and eight twin guns, which included a twin gun being mounted forward of the island on the flight deck.

?Commissioned in the RAN in 1955, the fleet oiler HMAS Supply retained two twin mounts. Stalwart also mounted 40/60 mounts forward and aft, while Success and Tobruk had their mounts removed in the mid nineties. The old Attack Class Patrol Boats and Ton Class Sweepers mounted the old AN 2 Mod forward, while the survey ship HMAS Moresby mounted two single guns in 1965.?

[AndyD]

Johnsy,

You wouldn't happen to know the dimensions of a 40/60 flash hider would you?

I think the flash hider in my collection is from this gun,then again,it could be from the 40/70.

Cheers,

Andy

[AndyD]

some pics.

[AndyD]

.

[Hugh]

This is really the end of an era. I suspect the Bofors 40/60 may have been one of the most widespread guns in history, and served with distinction for many decades. I remember hearing of the selection of the 40 / 60 for the Fremantles and wondered why the RAN had not gone for the 40 / 70. (I was in the weapons business at the time, and had the "everything new" mindset). One of your gunnery officers gave me a whole series of very cogennt reasons. It's a great gun, and I suspect it'll be in use for a few more decades in some more obscure parts of the world. .

[Tiger-pie]

This is really the end of an era. I suspect the Bofors 40/60 may have been one of the most widespread guns in history, and served with distinction for many decades. I remember hearing of the selection of the 40 / 60 for the Fremantles and wondered why the RAN had not gone for the 40 / 70. (I was in the weapons business at the time, and had the "everything new" mindset). One of your gunnery officers gave me a whole series of very cogennt reasons. It's a great gun, and I suspect it'll be in use for a few more decades in some more obscure parts of the world. .

G'da Hugh;

Yes it is a great gun, and it very much an end of an era for our navy now that it has gone. Countless weapons technicians have been trained on this gun as it is easy to strip down and put back together and it has all the basic principals that can be applied to larger calibre weapons.

Bofors still produce the ordnance, but it is a self loader within a turret. I think we should have bought it for the new Armidale patrol boats. In the picture below the 40mm is in the foreground. They have developed advanced munitions for the 40mm and 57mm:

Programmable for optimized effect and tactical flexibility.

Air-burst capability. Immune to ECM. Powerful pre-fragmented shell.

Maintained fuze triggering distance even at long firing ranges.

Qualified as Insensitive Munitions with PBX explosives and LOVA-propellant.

Each 3P fuze is automatically and individually programmed by a Proximity Fuze Programmer (PFP) which continuously receives data from the Fire Control Computer.

Immediately before firing the fuze is programmed to the selected mode.

The following modes can be selected:

Gated proximity mode (air defence).

Gated proximity mode with impact priority (air defence, large targets).

Time mode (small fast, manoeuvring surface targets and concealed on-shore targets).

Impact mode (surface targets).

Armour piercing mode (armoured surface targets).

Proximity mode (default mode).

Regards;

Johnsy

[Tiger-pie]

Johnsy,

You wouldn't happen to know the dimensions of a 40/60 flash hider would you?

I think the flash hider in my collection is from this gun,then again,it could be from the 40/70.

Cheers,

Andy

G'da Andy

I am fairly confident that it is the 40/70 Flash Guard you, I can confirm that is not for the 40/60. With the 40/60 FG the base of the collar was designed so that a huge spanner could fit onto it to loosen the FG so you could remove it. With the FG you have there it has interrupted thread, the 40/60 was fully threaded, which made it a nigtmare to get off, especially if there was any corrosion. Your example has a locking device at the base, again this was not fitted to the 40/60 as the barrels would not be able to accept this. The 40/40 barrels were pre-drilled for three Allen key grub screws to hold the FG in place, again a problem if there was any corrosion, and a pain in the 'arriss when you tried to line them up.

Considering how long this weapon has been around it is almost impossible to find decent images. The shots I have supplied below should illustrate the difference, the naval mounts being the 40/60, the other an 40/70 AA mount.

Regards;

Johnsy

Edited August 17, 2007 by Tiger-pie

[Tiger-pie]

#2 Note how the collar is shaped like yours i.e. tapers in and then squares off.

Edited August 17, 2007 by Tiger-pie

[Tiger-pie]

Another view of the 40/60 showing the difference in shape.

[AndyD]

Many thanks Johnsy,much appreciated!

Cheers,

Andy