Difference between revisions of "QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss"
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Latest revision as of 20:19, 2 July 2010
| 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 Iceland United Kingdom United States Russia 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.
Contents
French History
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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.
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].
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United Kingdom tank service
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.
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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
- QF6pdrCartridgesMkXIIIMkXIV.jpg
Mk XIV and XIII Steel Shell rounds with Mk V shell, 1914
- QF 6 pdr rounds 1890s.jpg
Steel shell rounds with Mk II shell from 1891
- QF 6 pounder steel shell base.jpg
Mk II Shell base, showing fuze hole
- HotchkissMkIVBasePercussionFuze.jpg
Mk IV base percussion fuze
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
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Russian History
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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
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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
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See also
- 12px Media related to QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss at Wikimedia Commons
- QF 6 pounder Nordenfelt : Nordenfelt and Maxim-Nordenfelt equivalent
- List of naval guns
- List of tank main guns
Notes
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- Text Book of Gunnery, 1902. LONDON : PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE
- Tony DiGiulian, 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, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Anti-Aircraft Artillery 1914-55. London: Brassey's, 1994 ISBN 1 857530 9 93
External links
Template:GreatWarBritishWeapons Template:VictorianEraBritishNavalWeapons
Template:GreatWarBritishNavalWeapons- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 25 rounds per minute is the figure given by Elswick Ordnance for their 40-calibres model. Quoted in Brassey's Naval Annual 1901
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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).
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Hogg & Thurston 1972, Page 36-39
- ↑ See Reynolds 'MGB 658'
- ↑ Routledge 1994, Page 17
- ↑ Routledge 1994, Page 27
- ↑ Tony DiGiulian, Russian 57 mm/40, 57 mm/50 and 57 mm/58 (2.244") 6-pdr (2.72 kg) Hotchkiss guns
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