BL 9.2 inch, (234mm), gun Mk.X on barbette Mk.V

The BL 9.2 inch, (234mm), Mk.X coastal defense gun entered service in 1899 with the Mk.V barbette assembly and was the standard counter-bombardment gun in the entire British Empire in 1914. It was mounted on a barbette formed by a steel drum bolted to the floor of a concrete pit of 10.64 meters in diameter and 3 meters deep. There were 2 lifts, one for the shells and one for the cartridges that hoisted the ammunition from the underground magazines below the pit to the pit wall. The whole set was moved by a hydraulic system, and consisted of a piston and a cylinder that were activated with the recoil of the gun after the shot. This model was in service until 1956 in the UK but remain in service until 1998 in Portugal, almost a century after its baptism. Those guns was also mounted on armored cruisers, monitors and battleships of the Royal Navy and the Greek Navy.

BL 9.2inch Mk.X gallery and more info