QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss

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QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss
300px
Early Elswick gun on recoil mounting
Type Naval gun
Coast defence gun
Tank gun
Place of origin  France
Service history
In service 1885 - 1940s
Used by 23x15px Denmark
France France
Iceland Iceland
United Kingdom United Kingdom
 United States
Russia Russia
Japan Japan
Wars Sino-French War,
Third Anglo-Burmese War
First Sino-Japanese War,
Russo-Japanese War
World War I
Russian Civil War,
Second Sino-Japanese War
World War II
Cod Wars
Production history
Designer Hotchkiss et Cie
Number built 3,984 (UK)
Specifications
Weight 821-849 lb
(372-385 kg)
Barrel & breech[1]
Barrel length various. 40-58 calibres

Shell Fixed QF 57x307R, Steel Shell 6 lb (2.7 kg)
Calibre 57-millimetre (2.244 in)
Breech Vertical sliding block
Recoil Hydro-spring, 4 inch
Rate of fire 25 / minute[2]
Muzzle velocity 1,818 feet per second (554 m/s)[3]
Effective range 4,000 yards (3,700 m)[4]

The QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss was a light 57 mm naval gun and coast defence gun of the late 1800s used by many countries, and was adapted for use in the early British tanks in World War I.

French History


Canada History

These guns were used as examination guns at coastal forts in WWII, including Barrett Point battery near Prince Rupert, British Columbia

United Kingdom

The UK adopted a 40-calibres (i.e. 90 inch bore) version as Ordnance QF Hotchkiss 6 pounder gun Mk I and Mk II or QF 6 pounder 8 cwt. It was manufactured under licence by the Elswick Ordnance Company.

United Kingdom Naval service

They were originally mounted for use against the new (steam-driven) torpedo boats which started to enter service in the late 1870s.

The original 1885 Mk I lacked a recoil system. The Mk II of 1890 introduced a recoil system, with a pair of recoil/recuperator cylinders.[5]

During World War I the navy required many more guns and a version with a single-tube barrel was developed to simplify manufacture, identified as "6 pdr Single Tube". Initially these guns were only allowed to be fired with a special lower charge but in 1917 they were relined with A tubes as Mk I+++ which enabled them to use the standard 6 pounder ammunition.[5]

After World War I the gun was considered obsolete for combat use, but continued in use as a saluting gun and as a sub-calibre training gun. Many were brought back into active service in World War II for arming small vessels for coastal and anti-submarine warfare, and for coastal defence. The vessels so armed included early models of the famous Fairmile D Motor Gunboats, some of which were not re-armed with the modern autoloading 6 pdr MkIIA until late 1944[6].

United Kingdom tank service

File:German photo with English Tank.jpg
German troops with captured Mk II tank, showing the unwieldy length of the gun barrel

The gun was used to equip Male versions of the early British tanks, Mk I - Mk III. In 1916 the British were faced with the difficulty of quickly providing a new class of weapon with no prior battlefield experience, and the existing Hotchkiss 6 pounder naval gun appeared to most closely meet the need. A single gun was mounted in each sponson (side barbette), i.e. 2 per Male tank (tanks armed only with machine guns were designated Female), able to fire forwards or to the side.

The gun turned out to be too long for practical use in action in side sponsons, as it could come into contact with the ground or obstacles when extended to the side as the tank travelled over uneven ground. The British chose to shorten the gun rather than change its location, and replaced it in 1917 in the Mk IV tank onwards by the shorter QF 6 pounder 6 cwt.

United Kingdom anti-aircraft service

Britain lacked any dedicated air defence artillery early in World War I and up to 72[7] 6 pounders were adapted to high-angle pedestal mountings at key establishments in Britain for close air defence by 1916. They are not listed as still being in service in this role at the end of the war[8], presumably because German bombing attacks were conducted from relatively high altitudes which would have been beyond this gun's range.

United Kingdom ammunition

Icelandic History

The 57 mm Hotchkiss naval gun was used by the Icelandic Coast Guard, and served as the main gun of most of its patrol vessels between the 1920s until 1990 when it had been completely replaced with 40 mm Bofors autocannons.

US History

Russian History

The Russian navy tried 40, 50 and 58-calibres versions of the gun from 1904, and later transferred them to the army.[9]

Japanese History

The 57 mm Hotchkiss naval gun was the standard secondary or tertiary armament on most Japanese destroyers built between 1890 and 1920, and was still in service as late as the Pacific War.

Surviving examples

See also

Notes

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References

External links

Template:GreatWarBritishWeapons Template:VictorianEraBritishNavalWeapons

Template:GreatWarBritishNavalWeapons
  1. Hogg & Thurston 1972 quote 821 lb (372 kg) for the UK 40-calibres coast defence gun. DiGiulian quotes 849 lb (385 kg) for the naval gun. Weights varied according to barrel length.
  2. 25 rounds per minute is the figure given by Elswick Ordnance for their 40-calibres model. Quoted in Brassey's Naval Annual 1901
  3. 1818 ft/s in British service, with 90-inch (2.3 m) bore, using propellant of 1 lb 15 oz (0.88 kg) Q.F. black powder or 7¾ oz cordite size 5. Text Book of Gunnery, 1902, Table XII, Page 337.
  4. Hogg&Thurston 1972, Page 36-39 quote 7,500 yards (6,900 m) maximum for the British version. Text Book of Gunnery 1902 quotes 4,000 yards (3,700 m).
  5. 5.0 5.1 Hogg & Thurston 1972, Page 36-39
  6. See Reynolds 'MGB 658'
  7. Routledge 1994, Page 17
  8. Routledge 1994, Page 27
  9. Tony DiGiulian, Russian 57 mm/40, 57 mm/50 and 57 mm/58 (2.244") 6-pdr (2.72 kg) Hotchkiss guns