View source for QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss

{{otheruses4|the 1880s Hotchkiss gun|the World War II anti-tank and Molins Class M gun|Ordnance QF 6 pounder}}
{{Infobox Weapon
|image=[[Image:Elswick6PounderGuncirca1897.jpg|300px]]
|caption=Early [[Armstrong Whitworth#Elswick Ordnance Company|Elswick]] gun on recoil mounting
|name=QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss
|target=general
|origin={{FRA}}
|is_artillery=yes
|is_UK=yes
|is_ranged=yes
|used_by={{DEN}}<br>{{flagicon|France}} [[French Third Republic|France]]<br>{{flagicon|Iceland}} [[Kingdom of Iceland|Iceland]]<br>{{Flagicon|United Kingdom}} [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]<br>{{USA}}<br>{{flagicon|Russia}} [[Russian Empire|Russia]]<br>{{flagicon|Japan}} [[Empire of Japan|Japan]]
|wars=[[Sino-French War]],<br>[[Third Anglo-Burmese War]]<br>[[First Sino-Japanese War]],<br>[[Russo-Japanese War]]<br>[[World War I]]<br>[[Russian Civil War]],<br>[[Second Sino-Japanese War]]<br>[[World War II]]<br>[[Cod Wars]]
|designer=[[Hotchkiss et Cie]]
|design_date=
|manufacturer=
|prod_date=
|type=[[Naval gun]]<br>[[Coastal artillery|Coast defence gun]]<br>[[Tank gun]]
|date= 
|service=1885 - 1940s
|caliber={{convert|57|mm|in|sing=on|sigfig=4}}
|part_length=various. 40-58 calibres
|carriage=
|breech=Vertical sliding block
|rate= 25 / minute<ref>25 rounds per minute is the figure given by Elswick Ordnance for their 40-calibres model. Quoted in [http://www.gwpda.org/naval/brassey/b1901o08.htm Brassey's Naval Annual 1901]</ref>
|velocity={{convert|1818|ft/s|m/s}}<ref>1818 ft/s in British service, with {{convert|90|in|m|sing=on}} bore, using propellant of {{convert|1|lb|15|oz|kg|abbr=on}} Q.F. black powder or 7¾ oz cordite size 5. Text Book of Gunnery, 1902, Table XII, Page 337.</ref>
|cartridge=Fixed QF 57x307R, [[List of British ordnance terms#Steel Shell|Steel Shell]] {{convert|6|lb|abbr=on}}
|range={{convert|4000|yd|m}}<ref>Hogg&Thurston 1972, Page 36-39 quote {{convert|7500|yd}} maximum for the British version. Text Book of Gunnery 1902 quotes {{convert|4000|yd}}.</ref>
|recoil=Hydro-spring, 4 inch
|weight=821-849 lb<br>(372-385 kg)<br>Barrel & breech<ref>Hogg & Thurston 1972 quote {{convert|821|lb|abbr=on}} for the UK 40-calibres coast defence gun. DiGiulian quotes {{convert|849|lb|abbr=on}} for the naval gun. Weights varied according to barrel length.</ref>
|length= 
|crew=  
|number=3,984 (UK)
|elevation=
|traverse=
}}
The '''QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss''' was a light 57&nbsp;mm naval gun and coast defence gun of the late 1800s used by many countries, and was adapted for use in the [[Mark I tank|early British tanks]] in [[World War I]].

==French History==
{{Expand-section|date=May 2008}}


== 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 [[Armstrong Whitworth#Elswick Ordnance Company|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.<ref name=Hogg&Thurston1972Page36-39/>

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.<ref name=Hogg&Thurston1972Page36-39>Hogg & Thurston 1972, Page 36-39</ref>

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 torpedo boat|Fairmile D Motor Gunboats]], some of which were not re-armed with the modern autoloading [[Ordnance QF 6 pounder|6 pdr MkIIA]] until late 1944<ref>See Reynolds 'MGB 658'</ref>.

{{Expand-section|date=May 2008}}

===United Kingdom tank service===
[[Image:German photo with English Tank.jpg|thumb|left|<center>German troops with captured Mk II tank, showing the unwieldy length of the gun barrel</center>]]
The gun was used to equip Male versions of the early British tanks, [[Mark I tank|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 gun]]s 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 [[Mark I tank#Mark_IV|Mk IV tank]] onwards by the shorter [[QF 6 pounder 6 cwt Hotchkiss|QF 6 pounder 6 cwt]].

{{Expand-section|date=May 2008}}

===United Kingdom anti-aircraft service===
Britain lacked any dedicated air defence artillery early in [[World War I]] and up to 72<ref>Routledge 1994, Page 17</ref> 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<ref>Routledge 1994, Page 27</ref>, presumably because German bombing attacks were conducted from relatively high altitudes which would have been beyond this gun's range.

===United Kingdom ammunition===
<gallery>
Image:QF6pdrCartridgesMkXIIIMkXIV.jpg|Mk XIV and XIII [[British ordnance terms#Steel Shell|Steel Shell]] rounds with Mk V shell, 1914
Image:QF 6 pdr rounds 1890s.jpg|[[British ordnance terms#Steel Shell|Steel shell]] rounds with Mk II shell from 1891
Image:QF 6 pounder steel shell base.jpg|Mk II Shell base, showing fuze hole
Image:HotchkissMkIVBasePercussionFuze.jpg|Mk IV base percussion fuze
</gallery>

==Icelandic History==
The 57&nbsp;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]] [[autocannon]]s.

==US History==
{{Expand-section|date=May 2008}}

==Russian History==
{{Expand-section|date=May 2008}}
The Russian navy tried 40, 50 and 58-calibres versions of the gun from 1904, and later transferred them to the army.<ref>Tony DiGiulian, [http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNRussian_57mm_Hotchkiss.htm Russian 57 mm/40, 57 mm/50 and 57 mm/58 (2.244") 6-pdr (2.72 kg) Hotchkiss guns]</ref>

==Japanese History==
{{Expand-section|date=August 2008}}
The 57&nbsp;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==
{{Expand-section|date=May 2008}}
==See also==
{{Commonscat-inline|QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss}}
*[[QF 6 pounder Nordenfelt]] : Nordenfelt and Maxim-Nordenfelt  equivalent
*[[List of naval guns]]
*[[List of tank main guns]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*[http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/u?/p4013coll11,230 Text Book of Gunnery, 1902. LONDON : PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE]
*Tony DiGiulian, [http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_6pounder_m1.htm British 6-pdr / 8cwt (2.244"/40 (57 mm)) QF Marks I and II]
*I.V. Hogg and L.F. Thurston, British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914-1918. London: Ian Allan, 1972.
*LC Reynolds, Motor Gunboat 658. Cassell Military Paperbacks, London, 2002. ISBN 0-304-36183-6
*Brigadier N.W. Routledge, [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1857530993 History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Anti-Aircraft Artillery 1914-55. London: Brassey's, 1994] ISBN 1 857530 9 93

==External links==

{{GreatWarBritishWeapons}}
{{VictorianEraBritishNavalWeapons}}
{{GreatWarBritishNavalWeapons}}

[[Category:Victorian Age weapons of Great Britain]]
[[Category:Tank guns]]
[[Category:Coastal artillery]]
[[Category:57 mm artillery]]
[[Category:Naval artillery]]
[[Category:Naval guns of Japan]]
[[Category:Naval guns of the United Kingdom]]

[[de:Ordnance QF-6-Pfünder Hotchkiss]]