RML 12 inch 35 ton gun

RML 12 inch 35 ton guns were large rifled muzzle-loading guns used as primary armament on British battleships. They were the longer and more powerful of the two 12-inch British RML guns, the other being the 25-ton gun.

Design
This gun design originated in 1871 as an 11.6 inch gun firing a 700-pound shell. Results were unsatisfactory, leading to the gun being bored out to 12 inches and firing a 706-pound 12-oz shell.

Naval service
Guns were mounted on :
 * Devastation-class battleships of 1873

Note : The two 12-inch guns installed in HMS Thunderer's forward turret were 12.5 inch 38-ton guns bored instead to 12 inches, and designated "12-inch 38-ton", as the necessary 12-inch 35-ton guns were not available. These 2 guns used the same charges and projectiles as the standard 12-inch 35-ton guns installed in Thunderer's aft turret which simplified the supply of ammunition. It was one of these "12-inch 38-ton" guns that was accidentally double-loaded and exploded on 2 January 1879.

Ammunition
The gun's primary projectile was 706-pound "Palliser" armour-piercing shot, which were fired with a "battering charge" of 110 pounds of "P" (gunpowder) for maximum velocity and hence penetrating power. Shrapnel and common (exploding) shells weighed 613 pounds and were fired with a "full charge" of 85 pounds "P" or 67 pounds "R.L.G.".