 The secondary armament consisted of sixteen 4 in ( 102 mm ) BL Mk VII guns positioned in the superstructure . All of the guns were enclosed in casemates and given blast shields during refits in 1914 and 1915 to better protect the gun crews from weather and enemy action , although two guns were removed at the same time . The guns on their PII * mounts had a maximum depression of 7 ° and a maximum elevation of 15 ° . They fired 31 @-@ pound ( 14 kg ) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2 @,@ 864 ft / s ( 873 m / s ) ; this gave a maximum range of 11 @,@ 600 yd ( 10 @,@ 600 m ) . Their rate of fire was 6 – 8 rounds per minute . They were provided with 100 rounds per gun . 
