[3] The first ships armed with the 13.5 in gun were four of the Admiral-class battleships: Anson, Camperdown, Howe and Rodney, which were laid down in 1882-83 and completed in 1888-89.

[6] Guns were also sold to Italy to arm the Re Umberto-class ironclads Re Umberto, Sicilia, and Sardegna, laid down in 1884 and finally commissioned in 1893 and 1895.

The cause of the delays was "the faulty principle of placing liners in the bores which cracked during proof and it took a long time to repair these and make the guns efficient.

This gave the projectile a muzzle velocity of 2,016 feet per second (614 m/s), which would penetrate 28.2 inches (720 mm) wrought iron at 1,000 yards (0.91 km).

[7][8] When smokeless propellant was introduced, the gun had a 187 pounds (85 kg) cordite-44 charge, giving the 1,250 lb projectile a muzzle velocity of 2,099 feet per second (640 m/s).

Once a gun had fired about 100-110 rounds with full (brown powder) charges, the rifling became worn near the breech, such that it was necessary to augment the width of the driving bands.