BL 5 inch gun Mk I – V
| Ordnance BL 5 inch gun Mks I - V | |
|---|---|
| 300px Mk I coast defence gun outside entrance to the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence | |
| Type | Naval gun Coast defence gun Field gun |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1880 - 1918 |
| Used by |  United Kingdom
|
| Wars | Second Boer War |
| Production history | |
| Variants | Mks I - V |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | Mk I - II : 38 long hundredweight (1,930 kg) Mk III - V : 40 long hundredweight (2,030 kg) |
| Barrel length | 125 inches (3,175 mm) bore (25 calibres)[1] |
| | |
| Shell | 50 pounds (22.68 kg)[1] |
| Calibre | 5-inch (127.0 mm) |
| Breech | de Bange |
| Muzzle velocity | 1,750 feet per second (533 m/s)[2] |
| Maximum range | 8,700 yards (8,000 m)[1] |
The BL 5 inch guns Mk I - Mk V were early British 5-inch breechloading naval guns after it switched from muzzle-loaders in the late 1870s. They were originally designed to use the old gunpowder propellants. The 5-inch calibre was soon discontinued in favour of QF 4.7-inch.
Contents
Guns equipped the following British warships :
- Mariner class gunvessels of 1883
- Satellite class sloops of 1883
- Comus class corvettes as re-gunned in the 1880s
- Calypso class third class cruiser/corvettes of 1883–84
- Iris class cruisers as re-gunned in 1888
- Beagle class sloops of 1889
- Bacchante class corvettes as re-gunned in the 1880s
These guns also equipped several small gunboats of Colonial navies of Australia in the 1880s in response to the perceived threat of Russian expansionism in the Pacific (The "Russian scares").
Second Boer War (1899 - 1902) field gun
A number of guns mounted on carriages from obsolete RML 40-pounder guns accompanied the British siege train (heavy artillery) to South Africa. They were not required for the expected siege of Pretoria, which did not eventuate. Its usefulness in the field was limited by lack of a recoil control system, and the QF 4.7 inch gun was the most commonly used British heavy gun in the war.[3]
Coast defence gun
The gun was installed as a conventional coast defence gun in South Africa and Australia, and several in the United Kingdom. Its more common use ashore in the UK was as "moveable armaments" in forts : on 2-wheeled carriages similar to field carriages but intended only for moving short distances to position guns for defence of the fort. These used either obsolete 40-pounder RML carriages or special high-mounting carriages for firing over parapets with recoil controlled by a hydraulic buffer built into the platform to which the carriage was fastened.[4] See diagram at Palmerston Forts Society.
Ammunition
- BL 5 inch shrapnel shells Mk III & Mk IV diagrams.jpg
Mk III and IV shrapnel shells
See also
- 12px Media related to BL 5 inch gun Mk I - V at Wikimedia Commons
- List of naval guns
Surviving examples
- A gun on the deck of HMS Gannet, Chatham, UK.
- 2 guns on 40-pounder RML field carriages, outside the Union Buildings, Pretoria, South Africa
- Outside the entrance to the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence
Notes
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- Text Book of Gunnery, 1887. LONDON : PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE
- Text Book of Gunnery, 1902. LONDON : PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE
- Major D Hall, The South African Military History Society. Military History Journal - Vol 2 No 3 June 1972. Guns in South Africa 1899-1902 Part V and VI
- I.V.Hogg & L.F. Thurston, British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914-1918. London: Ian Allan, 1972.
External links
- Diagram showing gun on siege carriage, at Palmerston Forts Society
- Tony DiGiulian, British 5"/25 (12.7 cm) BL Marks I, II, III, IV and V
