Elswick 6 inch naval gun
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| Elswick 6 inch naval gun Type 41 6-inch (152 mm)/40-caliber |
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 Typical naval mounting |
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| Type | Naval gun |
| Place of origin | United Kingdom license-produced in Japan |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1895-1945 |
| Used by | Royal Navy Imperial Japanese Navy |
| Wars | Russo-Japanese War World War I |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | Elswick Ordnance Company |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 6.6 tons |
| Barrel length | 240 inches (6.096 m) bore |
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| Shell | 100 pounds (45 kg) QF, separate charges and shell |
| Calibre | 6 inches (152.4 mm) |
| Elevation | -5 / +20 degrees |
| Traverse | +150 / -150 degrees |
| Rate of fire | 5-7 rounds per minute |
| Muzzle velocity | 2,300 feet per second (701 m/s) 820 feet per second (250 m/s) for anti-submarine shells |
| Effective range | 10,000 yards (9,140 m) at 20°elevation; 15,000 yards (13,700 m) at 28°elevation |
The Elswick Ordanance Company 6 inch naval gun was used by many British-built warships around the end of the 19th Century and start of the 20th Century.
In British service it was known as the QF 6 inch MK I, II, III guns. As the Type 41 6-inch (152 mm)/40-caliber naval gun it was used for pre-dreadnought battleships and armoured cruisers of the early Imperial Japanese Navy built in British shipyards.
Contents |
[edit] British Service
[edit] Royal Navy service
As the QF 6 inch Mk I, Mk II and Mk III, the gun was used as secondary armament of pre-dreadnoughts of the 1890s and cruisers to 1905. On the armoured cruisers of the Diadem, Powerful and Edgar classes they made up most of the armament, though the latter class carried two 9.5 inch guns as well. The pre-dreadnought battleships of the Royal Sovereign (including the turreted Hood), Centurion, Majestic and Canopus classes carried up to 12 guns.
The QF 6 inch fell out of favour, and the Royal Navy returned to BL guns with the adoption of the BL 6 inch Mk VII.
[edit] Second Boer War land service
During the Second Boer War one gun was brought ashore from HMS Terrible in Natal in February 1900 at the request of General Buller, presumably in response to the failure at Colenso. It was mounted on an improvised field carriage by Captain Percy Scott and trasnsported by rail to Chieveley, just south of Colenso. There it was manned by Royal Navy gunners to provide useful fire support for the British Army during the relief of Ladysmith. It is reported on 17th February to have fired from "Gun Hill" (a small kopje 2 two miles north of Chieveley[1]) and knocked out a Boer gun at 16,500 yards, followed by a Boer searchlight, as Buller approached Ladysmith from the SouthEast and pushed the Boers back towards the Tugela river.[2] On 26th February Lieutenant Burne reports firing from the same position on a Boer gun at 15,000 yards at 28° elevation and falling 200 yards short.[3] The 7 ton weight (compared to the 2 1/2 tons of the Boer 155mm "Long Tom") meant that it was effectively immobile on the battlefield and could not be moved forward to shorten the range.
Two guns were also mounted on armoured trains, crewed by Royal Garrison Artillery men.[4]
[edit] World War I anti-aircraft gun
At least 1 gun is known to have been mounted by the Royal Navy on an improvised anti-aircraft mounting on a railway truck, defending the London docks in World War I.[5]
[edit] World War I conversion to 8 inch howitzer
In World War I Britain urgently needed heavy artillery on the Western Front, and various obsolete 6 inch naval guns were converted to 8 inch howitzers. 63 QF 6 inch Mk II were converted to BL, bored out to 8 inches and shortened to produce BL 8 inch howitzer Mk V.[6] 4 entered service in December 1915 and 59 followed in 1916.[7]
[edit] Japanese naval service
The Type 41 naval gun was designed by Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, England as a slightly modified version of the Elswick Ordnance Company QF pattern 6-inch guns used on contemporary Royal Navy battleships. It was the standard secondary armament on early Japan battleships and the main battery on several classes of armored cruisers.
The gun was officially designated as “Type 41” from the 41st year of the reign of Emperor Meiji on 25 December 1908. It was further re-designated in centimeters on 1917-10-05 as part of the standardization process for the Imperial Japanese Navy to the metric system.
The Type 41 6-inch gun fired a 100-pound (45.4 kg) shell with either an armor piercing, high explosive or general purpose warhead. An anti-submarine shell of 113-pound (51.3 kg) was developed and in service from 1943.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Burne 1902, Chapter II
- ^ Bridgland 1998, Page 126-128
- ^ Burne 1902 Chapter V
- ^ Major D Hall, The South African Military History Society. Military History Journal - Vol 2 No 2 December 1971. "Guns in South Africa 1899-1902 Part III and IV"
- ^ I.V. Hogg & L.F. Thurston, British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914-1918. London: Ian Allan, 1972. Page 206.
- ^ Mk V howitzer used QF Mk II barrels converted to BL (total of 63). Details from Clarke 2005, page 34, and Tony DiGiulian's website Britain 6"/40 (15.2 cm) QF Marks I, II and III
- ^ National Archives MUN5/373/9227
[edit] References
- Tony Bridgland, "Field Gun Jack Versus the Boers: The Royal Navy in South Africa 1899-1900". Leo Cooper, 1998. ISBN 0 85052 580.2
- Brown, D. K. (2003). Warrior to Dreadnought: Warship Development 1860-1905. Book Sales. ISBN 978-1-84067-529-2.
- Brown, D. K. (2003). The Grand Fleet: Warship Design and Development 1906-1922. Caxton Editions, 208. ISBN 978-1-84067-531-3.
- Lieutenant C. R. N. Burne R.N., With the Naval Brigade in Natal (1899-1900). London: Edward Arnold, 1902
- Dale Clarke, British Artillery 1914-1919. Heavy Artillery. Osprey Publishing, Oxford UK, 2005
- Gardiner, Robert (Ed.) and Lambert, Andrew (Ed.). Steam, Steel and Shellfire: The steam warship 1815-1905 - Conway's History of the Ship. Book Sales, 192. ISBN 978-0-78581-413-9.
- Major Darrell Hall, "THE NAVAL GUNS IN NATAL 1899-1902" The South African Military History Society Military History Journal - Vol 4 No 3, June 1978
- Hodges, Peter (1981). The Big Gun: Battleship Main Armament 1860-1945. United States Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0870219170.
- Parkes, Oscar (1990). British Battleships. first published Seeley Service & Co, 1957, published United States Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-075-4.
[edit] External Links
- DiGiulian, Tony. Japanese 15.2 cm/40 (6") Type 41. NavWeaps.com.
