The weapon was developed together with other similar devices early in 1917 and went into service in June 1917 in response to German unrestricted submarine warfare. It was mounted on merchant ships and patrol vessels. By 10 December that year, 377 were in service.[3]
The shell was fired at the submarine either on the surface or submerged - hence it had attributes of both armour-piercing shell and depth charge. It was designed to first penetrate the submarine's outer hull without breaking up, and then detonate against the inner hull after a 2-second delay,[1] destroying the submarine. However the small weight of the shell limited its effectiveness,[3] and the anti-submarine mortar did not become a truly successful weapon until the advent of the multi-barrelled Hedgehog during World War II.
Nonetheless Admiral John Jellicoe, writing a few years after the gun had gone into service, commented: "This weapon, although not very popular at first, soon, however, proved its value, when employed both from patrol craft and from merchant ships."[3]
Two were mounted on HMS Vindictive and used to bombard German defences during her participation in the Zeebrugge raid of 23 April 1918.
↑ Standard shell was 100 lb, containing 43 lb TNT. In early 1918 a 500 lb stick bomb containing 250 lb TNT was developed, with a range of 300 yards. Hogg & Thurston 1972, page 148
The Ordnance BL 2.75-inch mountain gun was a screw gun designed for and used by the Indian Mountain Artillery into World War I.
The Ordnance BL 6 inch 26cwt howitzer was a British howitzer used during World War I and World War II. The qualifier "26cwt" refers to the weight of the barrel and breech together which weighed 26 long hundredweight (1.3 t).
The 21 cm Mörser 16, or 21 cm Lange Mörser M 16/L14.5, was a heavy howitzer used by Germany in World War I and World War II.
The BL 8-inch howitzer Mark I through to Mark V were a British improvisation developed early in the First World War to provide heavy artillery. It used shortened and bored-out barrels from various redundant naval 6-inch guns.
The Ordnance BL 6 inch 30cwt howitzer was a British medium howitzer used in the Second Boer War and early in World War I. The qualifier "30cwt" refers to the weight of the barrel and breech together which weighed 30 hundredweight (cwt) : 30 × 112 lb = 3,360 lb. It can be identified by the slightly flared shape of the muzzle and large recuperator springs below the barrel.
The Ordnance BL 5-inch howitzer was initially introduced to provide the Royal Field Artillery with continuing explosive shell capability following the decision to concentrate on shrapnel for field guns in the 1890s.
The Ordnance BL 9.2-inch howitzer was a heavy siege howitzer that formed the principal counter-battery equipment of British forces in France in World War I. It equipped a substantial number of siege batteries of the Royal Garrison Artillery. During World War II a limited number were used in the Battle of France, with the remainder being kept in the United Kingdom.
The British Ordnance BL 12 inch howitzer on truck, railway, a type of railway gun, was developed following the success of the 9.2-inch siege howitzer. It was similar but unrelated to the 12-inch siege howitzers Mk II and IV.
The Ordnance BL 15-inch howitzer was developed by the Coventry Ordnance Works late in 1914 in response to the success of its design of the 9.2-inch siege howitzer.
The Ordnance BL 12-inch howitzer was a scaled-up version of the successful BL 9.2-inch siege howitzer.
The QF 3-inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft gun became the standard anti-aircraft gun used in the home defence of the United Kingdom against German Zeppelins airships and bombers and on the Western Front in World War I. It was also common on British warships in World War I and submarines in World War II. 20 cwt referred to the weight of the barrel and breech, to differentiate it from other 3-inch guns. While other AA guns also had a bore of 3 inches (76 mm), the term 3-inch was only ever used to identify this gun in the World War I era, and hence this is what writers are usually referring to by 3-inch AA gun.
The Ordnance BL 5.4-inch howitzer was a version of the British 5-inch howitzer designed for British Indian Army use, especially on the Northwest Frontier.
The QF 6-inch 40 calibre naval gun (Quick-Firing) was used by many United Kingdom-built warships around the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century.
The QF 12-pounder 12-cwt gun (Quick-Firing) was a common, versatile 3-inch (76.2 mm) calibre naval gun introduced in 1894 and used until the middle of the 20th century. It was produced by Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick and used on Royal Navy warships, exported to allied countries, and used for land service. In British service "12-pounder" was the rounded value of the projectile weight, and "12 cwt (hundredweight)" was the weight of the barrel and breech, to differentiate it from other "12-pounder" guns.
The QF 4 inch Mk V gun was a Royal Navy gun of World War I which was adapted on HA mountings to the heavy anti-aircraft role both at sea and on land, and was also used as a coast defence gun.
The 24 cm Mörser M 98 was a heavy siege howitzer used by Austria-Hungary during World War I. It was designed to attack modern fortifications, but its short range and ineffective ammunition led to the development of the 30.5 cm Mörser M 11 and M 16.
The BL 6-inch gun Marks II, III, IV and VI were the second and subsequent generations of British 6-inch rifled breechloading naval guns, designed by the Royal Gun Factory in the 1880s following the first 6-inch breechloader, the relatively unsuccessful BL 6-inch 80-pounder gun designed by Elswick Ordnance. They were originally designed to use the old gunpowder propellants but from the mid-1890s onwards were adapted to use the new cordite propellant. They were superseded on new warships by the QF 6-inch gun from 1891.
The QF 4-inch gun Mks I, II, III were early British QF (quick-firing) naval guns originating in 1895. They all had barrels of 40 calibres length.
The BL 7.5-inch Mk II–Mk V guns were a variety of 50-calibre naval guns used by Britain in World War I. They all had similar performance and fired the same shells.
The QF 4.7 inch Gun Mark V originated as a 4.7 in (120 mm) 45-calibre naval gun designed by the Elswick Ordnance Company for export customers and known as the Pattern Y.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
