Pom-Pom guns carried by HMS Durban

[Fatboy Coxy]

Hi all

I have a question about what Pom-Pom guns were carried by HMS Durban, a Danae class light cruiser, when were they fitted and were they removed.

I believe the gun used was the QF 2pdr Mk II, see http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_2pounder_m2.php

Reading about the Danae class, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danae-class_cruiser the Pom-Pom was installed interwar.

But also this article suggests that they were changed out for single mount 20mm Oerlikons, which might make sense given the problems the navweaps article mentions.

And when was radar added, was any of it used to provide fire control for the Pom-Poms or Oerlikons

[Byron Angel]

Hi all

I have a question about what Pom-Pom guns were carried by HMS Durban, a Danae class light cruiser, when were they fitted and were they removed.

I believe the gun used was the QF 2pdr Mk II, see http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_2pounder_m2.php

Reading about the Danae class, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danae-class_cruiser the Pom-Pom was installed interwar.

But also this article suggests that they were changed out for single mount 20mm Oerlikons, which might make sense given the problems the navweaps article mentions.

And when was radar added, was any of it used to provide fire control for the Pom-Poms or Oerlikons

FWIW, here is what I could find from Raven and Roberts, "British Cruisers of World War Two" about HMS DURBAN's armament outfit and wartime refits -

Armament as commissioned
6 x 6-inch 45cal Mk XII on single mountings CP XIV
2 x 3-inch QF Mk II on single HA mounting Mk II; later modified to carry 3 x 4-inch Mk V AA.
2 x 2-pdr Mk II on single HA mounting Mk II
12 x 21-inch torpedo tubes on triple mountings TRI

1 x pedestal-type director (Dreyer Table Mk III)
3 x 12-ft rangefinders
after control rangefinder replaced by 15-ft sometime in the late 1920s.

Apr 1942 (New York) - post Singapore repairs
8 x single 20mm fitted.

Jun-Aug 1942 (Portsmouth) - Major Refit
RDF Type 290 and RDF Type 273 fitted.
Note - As I understand it -
Type 273 was a centimetric surface search and ranging radar.
Type 290 was TTBOMK an air search radar which replaced the Type 286, but was itself very quickly replaced by the Type 291 family. I'm only speculating here but the Type 290 may have had a fixed antenna array like its predecessor Type 286; the interweb claims that its replacement, the Type 291, had a manually rotated antenna array and the Type 291M a power operated antenna array.

FWIW.

B

[Fatboy Coxy]

Thank you Byron, that's most helpful

[OpanaPointer]

Do pom-pom guns fire Poms?

[Fatboy Coxy]

Do pom-pom guns fire Poms?

No, just ask any Australian, its the "Poms" who fire the guns.

[OpanaPointer]

Do pom-pom guns fire Poms?

No, just ask any Australian, its the "Poms" who fire the guns.

Mystery resolved.

[Steve Crandell]

Somebody tell an ignorant Yank what "pom" means, please.

[OpanaPointer]

Somebody tell an ignorant Yank what "pom" means, please.

Yeah, 67 years of studying wwii have given me no clues. Better late than never, so lay on McDuff.

[Fatboy Coxy]

You're going to need a bit of an explanation, there's a good one here about half way down,
https://slll.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/an ... =pom,Grant)%2C%20recorded%20in%201844.

[Steve Crandell]

Huh. From here it appears that ALL white Australians are immigrants from the British Isles. So why would some of them call the more recent ones by a derogatory name? Come to think of it we in the States have derogatory names for immigrants who are more recent than the rest of us, so go figure. The human condition, I guess.