I
would love to wish every Australians and New Zealanders a Happy 98th
ANZAC Day! I chose the QF 4.7 Inch Mk I – IV Naval gun as the weapon of the
fortnight to remember those soldiers. I got all the information from Wikipedia.
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| Each year on ANZAC Day in Te Awamutu, New Zealand the graves of War Veterans are decorated. |
Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand
that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served
and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and
"the contribution and suffering of all those who have served."
Originally 25 April every year was to honour the members of the Australian and
New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire
during World War I. Anzac Day is also observed in the Cook Islands, Niue, Pitcairn
Islands, and Tonga. It is no longer observed as a national holiday in Papua New
Guinea or Samoa.
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Typical
naval deck mounting, 1890s
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Naval
gun
Medium field gun Coastal defence gun |
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Place of origin
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Service history
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In service
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1887–1918
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Used by
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Naval: United
Kingdom
Japan
Field: |
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Wars
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Production history
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Designer
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Designed
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ca.
1885
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Manufacturer
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Number built
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1,167[1]
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Variants
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Mark I,
II, III, IV, VI
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Specifications
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Weight
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Barrel
& breech 4,592 lb (Mk I–III); 4,704 lb (Mk IV)
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Barrel length
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189
inch bore (40 cal)
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Crew
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10
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Separate
loading QF; WWI : AP,
Shrapnel, Common
Lyddite, Common
pointed, HE
45 pounds (20.41 kg)
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120
millimetres (4.72 in)
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Single
motion interrupted screw
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12 inch
(carriage Mk I)
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-6° –
20° (Mk I field carriage)
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Traverse
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0°
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5–6
rounds per minute
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Gunpowder :
1,786 feet per second (544 m/s)
Cordite :
2,150 feet per second (660 m/s) with Cordite
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Maximum range
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10,000
yards (9,100 m) at 20°, 12,000 yards (11,000 m) at 24°
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The
QF 4.7 inch Gun Mks I, II,
III, and IV were a family of British quick-firing 120-mm naval and coast
defence guns of the late 1880s and 1890s which served with the navies of
various countries. They were also mounted on various wheeled carriages to
provide the British Army with a long range gun. They all had a bore of 40 calibres
length.
The
gun was originally designed to replace the older BL 5 inch (127 mm) naval guns.
It was optimised for the modern smokeless propellants such as Cordite and could
be loaded and fired far more rapidly than the BL 5-inch gun while firing a
shell only slightly lighter.
1 Design and
development
The
guns were designed and manufactured by the Elswick Ordnance Company, part of Armstrong
Whitworth. They were a major export item and hence were actually of 120 mm
calibre (4.724 inches) to meet the requirements of metricised navies:
4.7 inch is an approximation used for the British designation. The guns,
Mark I to Mark III, were Pattern P, Pattern Q and Pattern T respectively. All
three differed in detail of construction but were of the tube and hoop types.
The Mark IV differed from these by incorporating a wire wound element to its
construction. As first built, all used a three-motion screw breech, some were
altered later by modifying the three-motion screw becoming "A"
subtypes, or by fitting a single motion breech ("B" type). Army guns
altered to use a bagged charge with a steel (instead of the more usual brass)
case were renumbered as Mark VI.
2 United Kingdom
service
2.1 Royal Navy service
British
pre-dreadnoughts and cruisers of the period used these guns. Total production
was 154 Mark I, 91 Mark II, 338 Mark III and 584 Mark IV. The Royal Navy
received 776 of these guns directly. The Army transferred a further 110 to the
Navy.
The
Latona-class minelayer gave up their guns to produce high-angle
anti-aircraft guns to defend London.
By
World War I the guns were obsolete for warship use, but many were re-mounted on
merchant ships and troopships for defence against enemy submarines and commerce
raiders.
2.2 British Army service
In
land service, limited numbers were mounted for use as coast artillery. In
addition, some Mark IV guns were mounted on converted 40-Pr Rifled Breech
Loading Gun carriages for use by batteries of the Volunteer Artillery. These
were semi-mobile guns with limbers, which could be drawn by horses or gun
tractors. They continued in use with artillery units of the Territorial Force,
with some being used into the First World War.
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"Joe
Chamberlain" at Magersfontein.
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Gun on static siege mounting, Siege of
Ladysmith.
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Gun
on "Percy Scott" carriage at the Battle of Colenso.
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2.3 Second Boer War
(1899–1902)
British forces in the Second Boer War were
initially outgunned by the long range Boer artillery. Captain Percy Scott of HMS
Terrible first improvised timber static siege mountings for two 4.7-inch
(120 mm) guns from the Cape Town coastal defences, to counter the Boers'
"Long Tom" gun during the Siege of Ladysmith in 1899–1900.
Captain Scott then improvised a travelling carriage
for 4.7 inch guns removed from their usual static coastal or ship
mountings to provide the army with a heavy field gun. These improvised
carriages lacked recoil buffers and hence in action drag shoes and attachment
of the carriage by cable to a strong point in front of the gun were necessary
to control the recoil. They were manned by Royal Navy crews and required up to
32 oxen to move.
2.4 World War I
2.4.1 South-West Africa
Campaign (1914–1915)
The
same guns mounted on "Percy Scott" carriages were used by South
African forces against German forces in the South-West Africa Campaign in World
War I. Guns were landed at Lüderitz Bay in October 1914 and later at Walvis Bay
in February 1915 and moved inland across the desert in support of South African
troops.
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| In sand, South West Africa Campaign, WWI. Note oxen. |
2.4.2 Western Front
(1914–1917)
Up
to 92 QF 4.7 inch guns on more modern Mk I "Woolwich" carriages
dating from June 1900 with partially effective (12 inch) recoil buffers,
and on heavier "converted" carriages from old RML 40 pounder guns,
went to France with Royal Garrison Artillery units, mostly of the Territorial
Force, in 1914–1917.
They
figured prominently in the early battles, such as at Neuve Chapelle in March
1915 where there were 32, and only 12 60 pounders, assigned to counter-battery
fire. General Farndale reports that counter-battery fire there failed to deal
with the German artillery, but ascribes the failure to the as yet imprecise
nature of long range map shooting, and the difficulty of maintaining forward
observers on the flat terrain.
By
the Battle of Aubers Ridge on 9 May 1915 the barrels of the 28 guns of the 3rd
and 8th Heavy Brigades and the 1st West Riding and 1st Highland Heavy Batteries
engaged were now so worn that driving bands were stripped off shells at the
muzzle, limiting accuracy. In addition two guns in the armoured train
"Churchill" were in action at Aubers Ridge. Thirty-three 60 pounders
were available. Counter-battery fire again failed due to the inaccuracy of the
worn-out guns and also because the army still lacked accurate means of locating
enemy guns, as air observation and reporting and use of radio was only
beginning.
The
inaccuracy through wear and relatively light shell diminished their usefulness
in the developing trench warfare, and they were replaced by the modern 60
pounder guns as they became available. At the Battle of the Somme in June–July
1916 there were 32 4.7-inch (120 mm) guns and 128 60-pounders engaged. The
last were however not withdrawn until April 1917. Guns withdrawn from the
Western Front were redeployed to other fronts such as Italy and Serbia.
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| On 1900 Mk I "Woolwich" carriage, Sausage Valley, Somme 1916. |
2.4.3 Battle of
Gallipoli (1915)
A
4.7 inch gun was used by the 1st Heavy Artillery Battery, a joint unit of
Australians and Royal Marines, on Gallipoli to counter long range Turkish fire
from the "Olive Grove" (in fact "Palamut Luk" or Oak Grove)
between Gaba Tepe and Maidos. Lt-Colonel Rosenthal, commanding 3rd Australian
Field Artillery Brigade, noted : "I had made continual urgent
representations for two 4.7-inch guns for right flank to deal with innumerable
targets beyond the range of 18-prs., but it was not till 11 July that one very
old and much worn gun arrived, and was placed in position on right flank,
firing its first round on 26 July. " This gun was destroyed and left
behind at the withdrawal from Gallipoli but later salvaged as a museum piece.
The burst barrel is on display at the Australian War Memorial.
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Germans
with captured QF gun, on "Woolwich" carriage, in Belgium
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2.4.4 Salonika Front
Several
4.7-inch (120 mm) guns mounted on "Percy Scott" carriages served
with British and Serb forces in the Salonika (Macedonian) campaign from January
1916 onwards.
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Dragging the gun up to its position at Anzac,
July 1915.
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Gun
in emplacement at Anzac, Gallipoli.
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Surviving examples
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Preserved 4.7"/40 (12 cm) Mark IV*/VI on
field carriage outdoors at Artillery Park, Valladolid, Spain.
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The burst gun barrel from Gallipoli is displayed at
the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
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Naval gun on display at the Museo Tecnico Navala
Della Spezia, Italy.
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Japanese-built 4.7"/40 Mark IV in the Military
Museum of Finland in Suomenlinna, Finland
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4.7 inch QF Gun, No.563, Mark IV, manufactured in
1894 by Royal Gun Factory, preserved in courtyard of Indian Museum at Kolkata
(Calcutta)
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Japanese-built
4.7"/40 Mark IV in Manege Military Museum
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See also
- QF 4.7 inch Mk V naval gun - 45-calibre version used on merchant ships in World War I and World War II
- List of naval guns
- List of field guns
Weapons of comparable
role, performance and era
- 4.7 inch Gun M1906 US field gun of same calibre
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