RBL 20-pounder Armstrong gun

Last updated

RBL 20-pounder gun
RBL 20 pounder Armstrong field gun.jpg
16 cwt field gun with limber
TypeNaval gun
Field gun
Place of originUnited Kingdom
Service history
In service1859 – 19??
Used by British Empire
Production history
Designer W.G. Armstrong Co.
No. built412 [1]
Variants13, 15 and 16 cwt [note 1]
Specifications
MassNaval : 13 long hundredweight (660 kg) or 15 long hundredweight (760 kg)
Field : 16 long hundredweight (810 kg) [2]
Barrel  lengthNaval : 54 inches (1.372 m)
Field : 84 inches (2.134 m) bore & chamber [2]

Shell 21 pounds 13 ounces (9.894 kg) [2]
Calibre 3.75-inch (95.2 mm)
Breech Armstrong screw with vertical sliding vent-piece (block)
Muzzle velocity Naval : 1,000 feet per second (300 m/s)
Field : 1,130 feet per second (340 m/s) [3]
Effective firing range3,400 yards (3,100 m)

The Armstrong Breech Loading 20-pounder gun, later known as RBL 20-pounder, was an early modern 3.75-inch rifled breech-loading light gun of 1859.

Contents

History

The gun was effectively a larger version of the successful RBL 12 pounder 8 cwt Armstrong gun. There were different versions for land and sea service. [4]

Sea service

13 cwt boat gun at Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence 1861 British 20 pounder rifled BL gun.JPG

The RBL 20 pounder of 13 cwt and 15 cwt for sea service was introduced in 1859. It is 2½ feet shorter than the land version giving it a bore of only 54 inches (14.43 calibres), and hence a short stubby appearance. Its short barrel only allowed it to attain a muzzle velocity of 1,000 ft/second.

The 15 cwt gun, identifiable by the raised coil in front of the vent slot, was intended for broadside use in sloops. The more lightly constructed 13 cwt gun was known as a pinnace gun and was intended for boat use. [5]

Land service

The RBL 20 pounder of 16 cwt for land service was introduced in 1860. It has a bore of 84 inches (22.36 calibres) and hence has the appearance of a typical field gun. After it became obsolete for regular Royal Artillery use, a small number were re-issued to Volunteer Artillery Batteries of Position from 1889, alongside 16-pounder RML guns and 40 Pounder RBL guns. [6] The 1893 the War Office Mobilisation Scheme shows the allocation of twelve Artillery Volunteer position batteries equipped with 20 Pounder guns which would be concentrated in Epping, Essex in the event of mobilisation. [7]

Surviving examples

See also

Notes

  1. cwt = long hundredweight = 112 pounds = 51 kg. Hence the 3 models weighed 1456 pounds (660 kg), 1680 pounds (762 kg) and 1792 pounds (813 kg)

Related Research Articles

This article explains terms used for the British Armed Forces' ordnance (weapons) and ammunition. The terms may have different meanings depending on its usage in another country's military.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RBL 7-inch Armstrong gun</span> Naval gun

The Armstrong RBL 7-inch gun, also known as the 110-pounder, was a heavy caliber Armstrong gun, an early type of rifled breechloader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armstrong gun</span> British artillery piece

An Armstrong gun was a uniquely designed type of rifled breech-loading field and heavy gun designed by Sir William Armstrong and manufactured in England beginning in 1855 by the Elswick Ordnance Company and the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich. Such guns involved a built-up gun construction system of a wrought-iron tube surrounded by a number of wrought-iron strengthening coils shrunk over the inner tube to keep it under compression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RBL 12-pounder 8 cwt Armstrong gun</span> Field gun

The Armstrong Breech Loading 12 pounder 8 cwt, later known as RBL 12 pounder 8 cwt, was an early modern 3-inch rifled breech-loading field gun of 1859.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BL 9.2-inch Mk I – VII naval gun</span> Naval gun

The BL 9.2-inch Mk I–VII guns were a family of early British heavy breechloading naval and coast defence guns in service from 1881 to the end of World War I. They were originally designed to use the old gunpowder propellants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BL 6-inch Mk II – VI naval gun</span> Naval gun

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BL 4-inch Mk I – VI naval gun</span> Naval gun

The BL 4-inch gun Mk I – Mk VI were a family of early British breech-loading 4-inch naval guns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BL 6-inch gun Mk V</span> Coast defence gun

The BL 6 inch gun Mk V was an early Elswick Ordnance Company breech-loading naval gun originally designed to use the old gunpowder propellants. They were used for coast defence around the British Empire.

The Armstrong RBL 40-pounder gun was introduced into use in 1860 for service on both land and sea. It used William Armstrong's new and innovative rifled breechloading mechanism. It remained in use until 1902 when replaced by more modern Breech Loading (BL) guns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RML 9-inch 12-ton gun</span> Rifled muzzle loading naval gun

The RML 9-inch guns Mark I – Mark VI were large rifled muzzle-loading guns of the 1860s used as primary armament on smaller British ironclad battleships and secondary armament on larger battleships, and also ashore for coast defence. It should not be confused with the RML 9-inch Armstrong Gun, used by the Dutch navy, the Spanish Navy, and other navies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RML 64-pounder 71 cwt gun</span> Naval gun

The RML 64-pounder 71 cwt guns (converted) were British rifled muzzle-loading guns converted from obsolete smoothbore 8-inch 65 cwt shell guns in the 1860s-1870s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RML 12.5-inch 38-ton gun</span> Naval gun

The RML 12.5-inch guns were large rifled muzzle-loading guns designed for British battleships and were also employed for coast defence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BL 6-inch 80-pounder gun</span> Naval gun

The BL 6-inch 80-pounder gun Mk I was the first generation of British 6-inch breechloading naval gun after it switched from muzzle-loaders in 1880. They were originally designed to use the old gunpowder propellants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">68-pounder gun</span> Naval gun

The 68-pounder cannon was an artillery piece designed and used by the British Armed Forces in the mid-19th century. The cannon was a smoothbore muzzle-loading gun manufactured in several weights, the most common being 95 long cwt (4,800 kg), and fired projectiles of 68 lb (31 kg). Colonel William Dundas designed the 112 cwt version in 1841 and it was cast the following year. The most common variant, weighing 95 cwt, dates from 1846. It entered service with the Royal Artillery and the Royal Navy and saw active service with both arms during the Crimean War. Over 2,000 were made and it gained a reputation as the finest smoothbore cannon ever made.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RML 7-inch gun</span> Naval gun

The RML 7-inch guns were various designs of medium-sized rifled muzzle-loading guns used to arm small to medium-sized British warships in the late 19th century, and some were used ashore for coast defence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RML 40-pounder gun</span> Heavy field gun

The RML 40-pounder gun was a British rifled muzzle-loading siege and fortification gun designed in 1871. It was intended to supersede the RBL 40-pounder Armstrong gun after the British military reverted to rifled muzzle-loading artillery until a more satisfactory breech-loading system than that of the Armstrong guns was developed.

The ML 8-inch shell guns of 50 cwt, 54 cwt and 65 cwt were the three variants of British cast iron smoothbore muzzle-loading guns designed specifically to fire the new generation of exploding shells pioneered in the early to mid-nineteenth century by Henri-Joseph Paixhans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RML 16-pounder 12 cwt</span> Field gun

The RML 16-pounder 12 cwt gun was a British Rifled, Muzzle Loading (RML) field artillery gun manufactured in England in the 19th century, which fired a projectile weighing approximately 16 pounds (7.3 kg). "12 cwt" refers to the weight of the gun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RML 8-inch howitzer</span> Howitzer

The RML 8-inch howitzer was a British Rifled, Muzzle Loading (RML) Howitzer manufactured in England in the 19th century, which fired a projectile weighing approximately 180 pounds (82 kg). It was used in siege batteries and in fortifications.

The RML 25-pounder gun was a British rifled muzzle-loading light siege gun and gun of position designed in 1871. It was intended to be an intermediate gun between the 16-pounder and 40-pounder Rifled Muzzle Loading guns. It was part of a series of guns designed after the British military reverted to rifled muzzle-loading artillery until a more satisfactory breech-loading system than that of the Armstrong guns was developed.

References

  1. 412 were in service in 1877 : 89 16cwt (land service), 31 15cwt & 292 13cwt (sea service). Quoted in Treatise on Manufacture of Ordnance 1877, page 150. Holley 1865, page 13 quotes 257 as at 1863 : 9 land service & 1 sea service manufactured by Elswick Ordnance, 16 land service and 231 sea service by the Royal Gun Factory. From the Report of the Select Committee on Ordnance, 1863.
  2. 1 2 3 Text Book of Gunnery, 1887
  3. 1130 ft/second firing a 21 lb 13 oz projectile, using 2 lb 8 oz R.L.G.2 (gunpowder) propellant. Text Book of Gunnery, 1887
  4. Treatise on Manufacture of Service Ordnance, 1877
  5. Owen 1873, page 53
  6. Report on the Account of Army Expenditure from 1888–1889, The National archives, WO33/50
  7. Mobilization Tables for Home Defence, List of Militia, Yeomanry and Volunteer Units, HMSO, London, 1893

Bibliography