Cannone-Mitragliera da 37/54 (Breda)

Società Italiana Ernesto Breda

Industry	Defense, weapons manufacturing
Founded	1886
Headquarters	Italy
Products	Firearms, artillery including Cannone-Mitragliera da 37/54 (Breda)

The Cannone-Mitragliera da 37/54 (Breda) is a 37 millimetres (1.5 in) caliber automatic anti-aircraft gun developed and manufactured by the Italian firm Società Italiana Ernesto Breda.

During World War II, it was deployed by both the Regia Marina and the Regio Esercito, with the navy adopting it as the primary light anti-aircraft armament on battleships and cruisers. Following Italy's surrender of Italy in 1943, captured units were utilized by Nazi Germany under the designation 3.7 cm Breda (i).

Design

The initial Model 1932 variant featured a water-cooling system, whereas the subsequent Models 1938 and 1939 employed air cooling. Ammunition was supplied via a flat magazine containing six rounds, which could be loaded sequentially to sustain rapid firing. Operators could choose between three firing rates: 60, 90, or 120 rounds per minute. Twin mount configurations for Models 1932 and 1938 were notably heavy, necessitating robust support structures. Conversely, the single mount of Model 1939—installed aboard the Andrea Doria-class battleship and Littorio-class battleship vessels—was collapsible and incorporated an equilibrator, significantly reducing vibration compared to earlier versions. This improvement allowed installation on smaller naval platforms.

The following ship classes were equipped with the Breda 37/54:

• Capitani Romani-class cruiser
• Conte di Cavour-class battleship
• Giussano-class cruiser
• Navigatori-class destroyer
• Oriani-class destroyer
• San Giorgio-class cruiser
• Soldati-class destroyer
• Trento-class cruiser
• Zara-class cruiser

Additionally, the Breda 37/54 was integrated into the Model 39 37/45 variant fitted on the CANSA FC.20bis ground attack aircraft prototype.

Performance

While the Regia Marina valued this weapon, its overall effectiveness was constrained by its gas-operated mechanism, which limited its firing speed, and significant vibrations caused by the fixed mounting system, which negatively affected precision. The introduction of the single collapsible variant addressed the vibration problem to a large extent and was regarded as a notable advancement. Nevertheless, it remained quite heavy, and production volumes were inadequate to fully meet operational demands.

Comparison of anti-aircraft guns

Country	Gun Model	RPM	Projectile Weight
Template:ITA	Cannone-Mitragliera da 37/54 (Breda)	60-120	0.82 kg (1.8 lb)
Template:Country data Nazi Germany	3.7 cm SK C/30	30	0.74 kg (1.6 lb)
Template:FRA	Canon de 37 mm Modèle 1925	15-21	0.72 kg (1.6 lb)
Template:USA	37 mm Gun M1	120	0.87 kg (1.9 lb)
Template:Country data Nazi Germany	3.7 cm Flak 18/36/37/43	150	0.64 kg (1.4 lb)
Template:USSR	37 mm automatic air defense gun M1939 (61-K)	80	0.73 kg (1.6 lb)
Template:GBR	QF 2-pounder naval gun	115	0.91 kg (2.0 lb)
Template:SWE	Bofors 40 mm gun	120	0.9 kg (2.0 lb)

Bibliography

• Bagnasco, Erminio. Le armi delle navi italiane nella Seconda Guerra Mondiale. Parma, Albertelli, 1978 (edizione 2007) ISBN 88-87372-40-3
• Gander, Terry and Chamberlain, Peter. Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939-1945. New York: Doubleday, 1979 ISBN 0-385-15090-3

External links

• File:Commons-logo.svg Media related to at Wikimedia Commons