QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss

This article is about the 1880s Hotchkiss gun. For the World War II anti-tank and Molins Class M gun, see Ordnance QF 6 pounder.

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	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
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
Muzzle velocity	1,818 feet per second (554 m/s)
Effective range	4,000 yards (3,700 m)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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, 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.

Russian History

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

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.

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

References

• 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:GreatWarBritishNavalWeapons