The Royal Navy Is Scrapping Its Most Famous Gun — And Its Replacement Is American

The Royal Navy is retiring its most famous naval gun, the 4.5-inch Mark 8, and replacing it with the American-designed 5-inch Mark 45 on the new Type 26 frigates. This is the full story of how the gun works, why it is being withdrawn, and the twist hidden inside its "American" replacement. Chapters: 0:00 A drone in the Red Sea 1:07 The 4.5-inch Mark 8 1:52 Four questions 2:26 How the gun works 3:19 The empty turret 3:46 Ten seconds 4:34 The Falklands, 1982 5:38 The first warning 6:13 Libya, 2011 7:41 The drone problem 8:51 The price tag 9:58 The American 5-inch 11:16 USS Stockdale, 2024 12:02 Not so American 13:17 Side by side until 2038 13:51 What Britain gains and loses ━━ WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS ━━ › How a modern automated naval gun works, from the magazine to the muzzle › Why the 4.5-inch Mark 8 became the Royal Navy's signature weapon › Its service record, from the Falklands to operations off Libya › Why the gun was left out of the drone era in the Red Sea › The 5-inch Mark 45, its robotic Ammunition Handling System, and the Type 26 City-class frigates › The irony that the "American" gun is built by Britain's own BAE Systems › What ammunition commonality with the US, Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea really means ━━ KEY TOPICS ━━ Royal Navy › 4.5-inch Mark 8 › 5-inch Mark 45 › Type 26 frigate › Type 45 destroyer › naval gunfire support › BAE Systems › naval engineering › defence procurement ━━ MAJOR RESEARCH SOURCES ━━ › Royal Navy and UK Ministry of Defence releases › Navy Lookout › USNI News (United States Naval Institute) › NavWeaps › BAE Systems › Janes › UK Defence Journal ━━ FURTHER READING ━━ › Navy Lookout, the 127mm Mk 45 gun for the Type 26 frigates: https://www.navylookout.com/in-focus-the-1... › NavWeaps, Britain 4.5"/55 QF Mark 8: https://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_45-5... › UK Defence Journal, Type 45 destroyers in service to 2038: https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/type-45-de... ━━ SUBSCRIBE ━━ For documentaries on modern warships, naval technology and the engineering behind the world's navies, subscribe to Task Force and turn on notifications. ━━ ABOUT TASK FORCE ━━ Task Force explores the machines, history and decisions behind modern naval power, clear, accurate and deeply researched. All footage and images are used for educational and documentary purposes. #RoyalNavy #NavalHistory #Type26