Greenland uses 50 mm KV cannons in the hunt for minke, bowhead, fin, and humpback whales. Norway uses 50 mm KV cannons in the minke whale hunt, as well as muzzle-loading 60 mm Henriksen cannons. It also uses 50 mm cannons built by KV in the minke whale hunt. Iceland uses 90 mm cannons built by Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk (KV) in the fin whale hunt by Hvalur HF. The inner barrel and breech would bounce back on the recoil, while the handle and swivel in the deck would be mounted on a stationary outer cylinder. The gun was solid steel, and had a glycerin recoil cylinder mounted under the barrel. This handle was directly adjacent to the firing trigger on the block. Then another rotating handle on the side of the breechblock would be pulled back to cock the firing pin. A new cartridge would be prepared and slid up into the firing chamber, the breechblock would be closed by rotating the handle counterclockwise, the rear cover would be rotated back to cover the rear chamber, a harpoon would be prepared, inserted into the muzzle, and tied on. The spearhead is shaped in a manner which allows it to penetrate the thick layers of whale blubber and stick in the flesh. The breechblock would be opened by rotating a handle on the top of the breech, and the spent cartridge case removed, to be reloaded with powder and wadding. Modern whaling harpoon The modern whaling harpoon consists of a deck-mounted launcher (mostly a cannon) and a projectile which is a large harpoon with an explosive (penthrite) charge, attached to a thick rope. To load, the rear cover plate would be rotated, exposing the back of the rectangular breechblock. With a trigger mounted on the back of a steel handle which would lever a thin rod up to the firing device in the horizontally sliding breechblock. In the early 20th century, almost all cannons were similar to the Kongsberg 90 mm design. Lines made from braided whale sinew, spruce root, cedar bark or sea lion gut were attached to whalers harpoons. These are used in modern whaling, with the exception of many Norwegian cannons which utilize an improved muzzle-loading design, with a breech firing system. Early cannons were muzzle-loading, but were replaced later with breech-loading models.
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