Concept

Weapon mount

Summary
A weapon mount is an assembly or mechanism used to hold a weapon (typically a gun) onto a platform in order for it to function at maximum capacity. Weapon mounts can be broken down into two categories: static mounts and non-static mounts. A static mount is a non-portable weapon support component either mounted directly to the ground, on a fortification, or as part of a vehicle. gun turret A gun turret protects the crew or mechanism of a weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions. A turret is a rotating weapon platform, strictly one that crosses the armour of whatever it is mounted on with a structure called a barbette (on ships) or basket (on tanks) and has a protective structure on top (gunhouse). If it has no gunhouse it is a barbette, if it has no barbette (ie, it is mounted to the outside of the vehicle's armour) it is an installation. Turrets are typically used to mount machine guns, autocannons or large-calibre guns. They may be manned or remotely controlled. A small turret, or sub-turret on a larger one, is called a cupola. The term cupola also describes rotating turrets that carry no weapons but instead are sighting devices, as in the case of tank commanders. A finial is an extremely small sub-turret or sub-sub-turret mounted on a cupola turret. Typically the gun is fixed on its horizontal axis and rotated by turning the turret, with trunnions on the gun used to allow it to elevate. Alternatively, in an oscillating turret the entire upper section of the turret moves to elevate and depress the gun. casemate A casemate is an armoured structure consisting of a static primary surface incorporating a limited-traverse gun mount: typically, this takes the form of either a gun mounted through a fixed armour plate (typically seen on tank destroyers and assault guns) or a mount consisting of a partial cylinder of armour "sandwiched" between plates at the top and bottom (as with the sponson guns of early tanks and the secondary armament of Dreadnought-era battleships).
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