Calibre is actually a French term meaning the inside diameter of the barrel. A .50 calibre machine gun has an inside diameter of .50 inches, or 1/2 inch.
With a naval rifle (as the deck guns are actually called, the first number is the diameter, or calibre. A 4" gun is 4 inches in diameter. The /50 refers to the length of the gun in calibres, or barrel diameters. Thus, a 4"/50 is four inches in diameter, and the length of the interior of the barrel is 4 inches x 50, or 200 inches, or aproximately 16.666 feet, or 16 feet 8 inches.
:rotfl:
Anteater, you must have posted right as I started typing!:rotfl:
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