QF 12-pounder 18 cwt naval gun
Template:Use British English Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
The QF 12 pounder 18 cwt gun (Quick-Firing) was a 3-inch high-velocity naval gun used to equip larger British warships such as battleships for defence against torpedo boats. 18 cwt referred to the weight of gun and breech (18 × 112 lb = 2,016 lb or 914 kg), to differentiate the gun from others that also fired the "12 pound" (actually 12.5 lb or 5.7 kg) shell.
Service
Guns were mounted in:[1]
- Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". commissioned 1906
- The last three Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".s—Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities"., Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities"., and Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities"., commissioned 1906–1907
- Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".s commissioned 1908
- Minotaur-class armoured cruisers commissioned 1908–1909
The gun was superseded in the anti-torpedo boat role on new capital ships from 1909 onwards by the far more powerful BL 4-inch Mk VII gun.
World War I land service
In World War I four guns were landed for service in the East Africa campaign, on 10 February 1916, and were used until September. They constituted the 9th Field Battery manned by Royal Marines. They were originally towed by oxen and later by Napier lorries.[2]
Fourteen of these guns were mounted in coast defence batteries in the 'Middle Line' of the defences of the Firth of Forth when it was established in 1915 (the batteries on Inchcolm (8 guns), Inchmickery (4) and Cramond Island (2). During the general revision of the defences in 1916/17 two of the guns were removed to store, four moved to other batteries (Hound Point and Downing Point). The document setting out the armaments of the Forth differentiate clearly between the 12cwt and 18cwt types, both of which were in use in the fortress.[3]
Ammunition
The gun fired the same 12.5 lb Script error: No such module "convert". shells as the other British "QF 12 pounder" guns, but used its own larger separate cartridge case to accommodate a larger quantity of cordite propellant.
| Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | Mk II common pointed shell Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
|
Mk II & Mk III Common Lyddite shell Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
|
Mk IV Common Lyddite shell with internal night tracer, 1914 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
|
Mk IX Shrapnel shell, 1918 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
|
See also
Notes
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ The Sight Manual 1916
- ↑ Farndale 1988, pages 316, 391. Farndale, quoting from the Official History, states they were from Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities"., but it did not carry these guns.
- ↑ 'History of Forth Defences from 1914 to November 1918' Fort Record Book, Inchcolm Fire Command, The National Archives, Kew, reference WO 192/108.
Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
References
- General Sir Martin Farndale, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. The Forgotten Fronts and the Home Base, 1914–18. London: The Royal Artillery Institution, 1988.
- Tony DiGiulian, British 12-pdr (3"/50 (7.62 cm)) 18cwt QF Mark I
External links
Template:GreatWarBritishNavalWeapons Template:GreatWarBritishWeapons Template:Use dmy dates