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ICONIC FIREPOWER
The 40mm Bofors
EVERY ATTACKERS NIGHTMARE BY BARRETT TILLMAN
H
How often have we seen the lm clips? A
U.S. Navy task group steaming beneath
the Pacic sun as Japanese aircraft race
through a ak-speckled sky intent on
immolating themselves against the gray
steel vessels. All the while, twin and
quad-mount cannon churn out a wall
of 40mm shells to deect or destroy the
raiders.
Ironically, those guns originated with
one of the least warlike nations on Earth.
Dating from the 17th century, Bofors
was a Swedish rm known for its steel
and artillery. The Model 1936 40mm
cannon became the basis for arguably
the most famous antiaircraft weapon of
World War II.
The Swedish Navy rst purchased an-
tiaircraft guns from Bofors in the 1920s
but desired a stronger, faster-ring weap-
on. Subsequent development produced
a prototype in 1931, adopted the next
year as the 40mm M/32. Bofors were air-
or water cooled, though the latter was
preferred since a high rate of re caused
barrels to become overheated.
The Swedes, leaders in military ex-
ports, found foreign customers for the
M/32 throughout Europe. The British
Army purchased single-barrel models
from Bofors Polish factory and the Roy-
al Navy ordered its rst batch in 1937,
installing them aboard battleships and
cruisers ve years later. Eventually, the
British produced about a dozen versions,
mainly for naval use.
American reaction was slow at rst,
largely because the European weapons
were produced in metric measurements.
Additionally, early ammunition was not
considered bore safe owing to twitchy
fusing that could detonate a round at
the muzzle or from careless handling.
However, the weapons utility was obvi-
ous and U.S. ordnance engineers modi-
ed both the design and production
techniques.
The U.S. Army recognized the Bofors
advantages and ordered thousands of
single-barrel 40mm guns with Chrysler
beginning production in 1940.
The U.S. Navy moved quickly to
adopt the Swedish design, elding the
rst experimental mounts in early 1942.
Over the next three years, production
approached 40,000 units; by 1945, the
Army was paying $9,500 per weapon.
The basic water-cooled gun weighed
nearly 1,200 pounds; the army air-
cooled model, usually on a wheeled
mount, ran barely 1,000.
With a muzzle velocity of 2,700 feet
per second, maximum range of the
1.57-pound projectile was 11,200 yards
at 40 degrees elevation, with effective al-
titude rated at 6,000 feet. The Navy shell
contained a bursting charge of 2.4 ounc-
es, sometimes enough for a solid hit to
inict fatal damage on a single-engine
aircraft. The barrel life was reckoned at
9,500 rounds, and the Navy ordered ap-
proximately two spares per gun.
The Bofors was strip-fed with four
rounds per clip, two clips capacity per
gun. Coordination between the two
loaders per barrel was essential to main-
taining a high rate of re, with a typical
single-barrel cyclic of 120 rpm but up-
wards of 160 was possible when serviced
by two beefy, well trained crewmen. The
American 40mm round weighed 4.75
pounds, so a four-round clip ran nearly
20 pounds.
The naval guns were select-re weap-
ons capable of semi or full-auto mode,
which is why some lm clips show a two-
gun mount ring one barrel single-shot.
Firing was accomplished by a foot pedal
for each barrel, and the pedal(s) had to
be kept depressed for sustained re.
Naval re control usually was provid-
ed by the Mark 51 director built around
the Mk 14 gyroscopic sight, proven ef-
fective to 3,000 yards or 1 nautical
Quad-mount gun
captain and loaders
prepare for action
aboard the USS Alaska
CB-1 o San Diego
prior to its Pacic
deployment in January
1945.
10_40mm Bofors.indd 58 2/28/14 5:22 PM
JUNE 2014 59
miles. Tracers allowed the director op-
erator to lead or lag the computing
sight as needed, depending on target
speed and angle.
The Bofors manual cited a 10,000-yard
maximum range or ve nautical miles,
but fusing usually was set to detonate
rounds at about 5,000 yards to reduce
friendly casualties. Time of ight to 4,500
yards was 10 seconds, and an inbound
suicider making 250 knots covered that
distance in barely 30 seconds. Therefore,
a thick barrage of semi- and automatic
re was crucial to defending a ship.
During the war, the Navy built more
than 2,400 quad mounts and nearly
10,000 each twin and single mounts.
Costs were proportionate, at $67,500 for
a quad and nearly $44,000 for a twin.
However, the size and complexity of Bo-
fors mounts required close coordination
between the Navys Bureau of Ordnance
and Bureau of Ships to accommodate
the electrical and hydraulic plumbing.
The expanding two-ocean navy need-
ed all the mounts the nation could pro-
duce, as an Essex class carrier often de-
ployed 10 or more quads and Iowa class
battleships of 1943-1944 were built with
20. The nine Independence class light
carriers employed both dual and quad
mounts.
Usually, a quad 40 was crewed by 11
men including a mount captain, pointer
(controlling elevation), trainer (control-
ling azimuth), a rst loader for each
barrel, and second or other assistant
loaders/handlers to move ammunition
from ready-storage shelves in the mount
and from below-decks magazines to the
deck. Twin mounts generally required
seven men. The director usually was
manned by a pointer and a range setter.
The 40mm was reasonably fast for
point and shoot scenarios, elevating
at 24 degrees per second and traversing
30 degrees per second. However, wide-
angle shots were relatively rare because a
bomber or kamikaze attacking a specic
ship normally presented
a low or no-deection
target aspect.
Perhaps the best exam-
ple of the Pacic Wars
increasing antiaircraft re-
quirement was USS Enter-
prise (CV 6), The ght-
ingest ship in the U.S. Navy. In 1938
she was commissioned with eight 5-inch
guns, four 1.1 inch mounts, twenty-two
20mm cannon, and two dozen .50 cali-
bers. But combat experience in 1942
showed a need for more defensive arma-
ment with a greater volume of re.
Prolonged air attacks required prodi-
gious amounts of AA ammunition. Dur-
ing the day-long Battle of Santa Cruz in
October 1942, Enterprise consumed more
than 50,000 rounds of AA ammo includ-
ing 4,000 rounds of Bofors to claim 30
shootdowns.
Concluded historian Steve Ewing,
Well never know for obvious reasons,
but Enterprise gunners shot down more
planes at Eastern Solomons (August 24)
in 15 minutes and 25 minutes at Santa
Cruz than did the majority of all battle-
ships, carriers, cruisers, and destroyers
throughout the entire war.
After The Big Es 1943 upgrade, she
emerged with six quad 40s, eight twin
mounts (40 barrels), and 50 20mm Oer-
likons.
The 40mm was effective but it seldom
provided a one-shot kill. The projectile
was too small to accept the variable-time
(VT) proximity fuse that made 5.38 inch
shells so deadly, meaning that 40mm
direct hits were required. Nonetheless,
Bofors guns were credited with half of
enemy aircraft splashed by shipboard
gunre from October 1944 through Jan-
uary 1945.
In a dramatic reversal of prewar doc-
trine, battleships became supporting
players. Their size and speed permitted
them to provide intense screening re as
escorts to carriers, hence the heavy AA
emphasis on Americas last battlewag-
ons, the four Iowa class ships. Nonethe-
less, the Navys desire for more VT fuses
hastened the Bofors postwar exit in fa-
vor of rapid-re three-inch guns.
Meanwhile, the Bofors fought a truly
world war. Apart from the U.S. and Brit-
ain, the type was adopted by Germany
as the Flak 28 and Japan as the Type 5,
adapted from captured British examples.
In U.S. service the Bofors remained a sec-
ondary weapon through the Vietnam era,
though its utility largely ended in 1945.

Left: Compact gun-laying radar increased the

eectiveness of this light cruiser's anti-aircraft
protection. Above: Te air-cooled Bofors single-mount
was ideal for small patrol craft and submarines. (Photos
courtesy of Stan Piet)
Firing was accomplished by a foot pedal for each barrel, and
the pedal(s) had to be kept depressed for sustained fire.
10_40mm Bofors.indd 59 2/28/14 5:22 PM