# Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50

Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50 (full English name: Bofors 120 mm Automatic Gun L/50 In Naval Twin Turret), also known as Bofors 120 mm gun model 1950 and the like, was a Swedish twin-barreled 120 mm (4.7 in) caliber fully automatic dual purpose naval gun turret system designed by Bofors from the end of the 1940s to the early 1950s to meet a request from the Dutch Navy. Besides the Dutch Navy, the weapon was also adopted by the Swedish and the Colombian Navy.

## Use in the Dutch Navy

The Dutch were the initial users of the Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50. As part of rebuilding the Dutch Navy post WWII, the Dutch Navy had requested several naval gun systems to be developed by Bofors for their next generation of naval-vessels, one being a twin-barreled 120 mm dual-purpose gun for the then planned Holland-class destroyers. This request led to the creation of the Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50.
* Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50 from the back onboard the stern of the Holland-class destroyer HNLMS Holland (D808).
* Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50 from the back left onboard the stern of the Holland-class destroyer HNLMS Noord-Brabant (D810).
* Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50 from the front left onboard the stern of the Holland-class destroyer HNLMS Gelderland (D811).
The gun entered active service with the Dutch Navy in 1954 mounted on the Holland-class destroyers. Even before the first Holland-class destroyer had been completed the Dutch Navy decided to order yet another class of destroyer armed with the Bofors 120 mm L/50, the Friesland-class destroyer. The Dutch really liked the design and decided in the mid 1970s to save two turrets from the Holland-class destroyer HNLMS Gelderland (D811) when she was decommissioned in 1973, and then fit them to the new Tromp-class frigates under construction.

## Use in the Swedish Navy

Following the Dutch example, the Swedish Navy decided to acquire the new 120 mm system being developed for them and fit it to a new generation of destroyers in 1950. In Swedish service the weapon was fitted to the Halland-class destroyers HSwMS Halland (J18) and HSwMS Småland (J19), both of which entered service in 1956. The weapon was initially designated 12 cm automatkanon m/50 (12 cm akan m/50), lit. "12 cm autocannon m/50", but around 1970 the weapon was redesignated to 12 cm torndubbelautomatpjäs m/50 (12 cm tdblapjäs m/50), lit. "12 cm turret double automatic (artillery)piece m/50".
The gun was in use until the Halland-class destroyers were taken out of service.
* Swedish 12 cm akan m/50 stern-turret on Destroyer HSwMS Halland (J18) 1960's.
* Swedish 12 cm akan m/50 bow-turret on Destroyer HSwMS Småland (J19) 1960's.
* Swedish 12 cm akan m/50 bow-turret on Destroyer HSwMS Småland (J19) 2010.

## Use in the Colombian Navy

In Colombian service the Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50 was fitted to the destroyers 7 de Agosto (D-06) and 20 de Julio (D-05), both of which were Swedish built Halland-class destroyers. Unlike the Swedish Halland-class destroyers, the Colombian version carried three Bofors 120 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/50 turrets instead of two.