QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss
| QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss | |
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| General Information | |
| Military designation: | QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss / Canon Hotchkiss à tir rapid de 47 mm |
| Manufacturer country: |
 France +
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| Developer / Manufacturer: | Hotchkiss et Cie , Vickers , Elswick Ordnance Company |
| Development year: | 1885 |
| Start of production: | 1885 |
| Number of pieces: | 2950 United Kingdom
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| Weapon Category: | Rapid Fire Gun |
| Technical specifications | |
| Overall length: | 2.05 m |
| Pipe length: | 1.88 m |
| Caliber : |
47 mm (3 pdr) |
| Caliber length : | 40 |
| Weight ready for use: | 240 kg |
| Cadence : | 20 rounds / min |
| Elevation range: | −5 ° / +20 degrees |
| Side straightening area: | 360 ° |
| Furnishing | |
| Ammunition supply: | Single shot |
| Drive: | Manually |
The QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss or Canon Hotchkiss à tir rapide de 47 mm was a naval gun developed by the French manufacturer Hotchkiss et Cie to defend against fast enemy ship units such as the torpedo boats that were just emerging at the time . The gun was used on many warships before and during the First World War as a rapid-fire gun for torpedo boat defense. Although the cannon was out of date at the beginning of the First World War, it was used well into the Second World War , among other things. a. as coastal artillery gun and in property protection.
Development history and use
Due to the development of small, fast warship units such as torpedo boats and destroyers , the French manufacturer Hotchkiss developed the Canon Hotchkiss à tir rapide de 47 mm . Accepted by the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom and the Naval National of France , this weapon was first mounted on warships in 1886 . Other states using the cannon were the United States Navy on Maine-class battleships and the Imperial Russian Navy . Since the cannon was already obsolete at the beginning of the First World War, it was replaced from 1914 by the more powerful Ordnance QF 3 pounder Vickers and removed from all heavy units of the Royal Navy. The surplus cannons were installed on merchant ships for anti-submarine defense and used as light field cannons .
In the initial phase of the Second World War, the cannon was also used to protect port entrances and property protection until these could be replaced by the QF 6 pounder 10 cwt cannons that were then available . In some Commonwealth countries such as B. Australia the cannons were used until 1943, when they were also replaced by the QF 6 pounder 10 cwt. A cannon is still in use in Hong Kong today as a so-called Noonday Gun .
The QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss was used on the following ship units:
- Trafalgar-class battleships
- HMS Hood (1891)
- Royal Sovereign class battleships
- Centurion-class battleships
- Majestic-class (1895) battleships
- Canopus-class battleships
- Formidable-class battleships
- Duncan-class battleships
- King Edward VII class battleships
- Lord Nelson class battleships
Use on ships of the National Navy
The Canon Hotchkiss à tir rapide de 47 mm was used on the following ship units:
- Bouvet
- Suffren
- Charlemagne- class battleships
- Maine- class battleships
Use on ships of the Imperial Russian Navy
The Canon Hotchkiss à tir rapide de 47 mm were used on the following ship units:
- Petropavlovsk-class battleships
- Pereswet-class battleships
- Admiral Ushakov-class coastal armored vehicles
- Amur class (1898) mine layers
ammunition
The panels show ammunition used by the Royal Navy. French ammunition is identical in construction and only differs in the labeling.
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| 3pdr ammunition approx. 1898. | Floor igniter Mk IV | Mk V NT 1914 high explosive grenade |
Existing copies
- The Jardines Noonday Gun on Causeway Bay , Hong Kong.
- A cannon at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, Manly , Queensland , Australia
- Two guns on crinoline carriage (affût-crinoline) in the Casemate de l'Aschenbach , a plant of the Maginot Line near Uffheim , Upper Alsace , France
literature
- Siegfried Breyer: Battleships and battle cruisers 1905–1970 . JF Lehmanns, Munich 1970, ISBN 3-88199-474-2 .
- General Sir Martin Farndale: History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Western Front 1914-18. Royal Artillery Institution, London 1986, ISBN 978-1870114004 .
- General Sir Martin Farndale: History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. The Forgotten Fronts and the Home Base 1914-18. Royal Artillery Institution, London 1988, ISBN 978-1870114059 .
- Michael JH Taylor: Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I. Studio, 1990, ISBN 1-85170-378-0 .
- RA Burt: British Battleships 1889-1904. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis (Maryland) 1988, ISBN 0870210610 .
- Roger Chesneau, Eugene M. Kolesnik: Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905. Mayflower Books Inc., New York 1979, ISBN 0831703024 .
- John Campbell: Naval Weapons of World War II. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1985, ISBN 0-87021-459-4 .
- Edgar J. March: British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892-1953. Drawn by Admiralty Permission From Official Records & Returns, Ships' Covers & Building plans, Seeley Service, London 1966.
- Tony Gibbons: The Complete Encyclopedia of Battleships and Battlecruisers: A Technical Directory of All the World's Capital Ships From 1860 to the Present Day. Salamander Books Ltd., London 1983.
- Randal Gray: Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921. Naval Institute Press, 1985, ISBN 0-8702-1907-3 .
- Richard Ellis, Ben Warlow: The Royal Navy at Malta, Volume One - The Victorian Era 1865-1906. Maritime Books, Liskeard 1989, ISBN 0-907771-43-2 .
- Robert Gardiner (Ed.), John Roberts (Ed.): Great Britain. In: Conway's all the Worlds Fighting Ships 1860-1905. Conway, London 1979, ISBN 0-85177-133-5 .
- Fred T. Jane: Jane's Fighting Ships 1914. Sampson, Low & Marston, London 1914.
Web links
- Tony DiGiulian, British Hotchkiss 3-pdr (1.4 kg) (1.85 "/ 40 (47 mm)) QF Marks I and II (accessed March 8, 2012)
Individual evidence
- ^ QF 3 Hotchkiss at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron , accessed July 14, 2012.
- ↑ Casemate de l'Aschenbach , accessed on July 14, 2012.