QF 4.7 inch Gun Mk I - IV

Infobox Weapon
name=QF 4.7 inch Gun Mk I - IV


caption=Typical deck mounting, 1890s
origin= UK
type=Naval gun
Medium field gun
Coast defence gun
is_artillery=yes
is_ranged=yes
is_explosive=yes
is_UK=yes
service=1887 - 1918
used_by=Naval:
UK
ITA
JPN
USA
Field:
UK
AUS
wars=Second Boer War
World War I
designer=Elswick Ordnance
design_date=ca. 1885
manufacturer=Elswick Ordnance
Vickers Sons and Maxim
unit_cost=
production_date=
number=1,167 [http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_47-40_mk1.htm Navweaps.com] accessed 7th April 2008]
variants=Mark I, II, III, IV, VI
spec_label=
weight=Barrel & breech 4,592 lb (Mk I - III); 4,704 lb (Mk IV)Hogg & Thurston 1972, page 111]
length=
part_length=189 inch bore (40 cal)Hogg & Thurston 1972, page 111]
width=
height=
diameter=
crew=10
cartridge=Separate loading QF; WWI : AP, Shrapnel, Common Lyddite, Common pointed, HE 45 lb (20.41 kg) [Various shell weights, both heavier and lighter than 45 lb (20.41 kg), were tried. Early Mk I - IV Common Lyddite shells weighed convert|46|lb|9|oz|kg|abbr=on. Subsequent Mks V, VI, VII beginning October 1909, weighed 45 lb. "Text Book of Gunnery" 1902 only gives figures for 45 lb projectiles. All shells used in World War I are believed to be 45 lb. Sources : Hogg & Thurston 1972, Page 242; Treatise on Ammunition 10th Edition 1915, pages 45, 165, 170, 188, 217]
caliber=convert|120|mm|sigfig=3
action=
rate=5-6 rounds per minute
velocity=2,150 ft/s (648 m/s) [2,150 ft/sec firing 45lb projectile, with 13lb 4oz Cordite size 20 propellant, at 60° F. 1,786 ft/sec with 12lb S.P. (gunpowder) propellant, 45lb projectile. from "Text Book of Gunnery", 1902.]
range=
max_range=10,000 yds at 20°, 12,000 yards at 24° [12,000 yds at 24° with 45 lb (20.41 kg) shell is quoted by Hall, December 1971. Tony Bridgland, "Field Gun Jack versus the Boers" (Pages 7-8) quotes a range of 12,000 yards being achieved at 24° in trials of the improvised field carriage at Simonstown in October 1899, and refers to The Times reporting this figure. 10,000 yards at 20° in WWI is quoted by Hogg & Thurston page 111, referring to the maximum elevation of Mk I field carriage. Hogg & Thurston 1972 page 235 quote 11,800 yards at 30° on CP (centre pintle mount) for the coast defence gun. Lighter and heavier shells were tried early in the gun's career, but by WWI 45 lb was the standard shell weight. ]
feed=
sights=
breech=single motion interrupted screw
recoil=12 inch (carriage Mk I)
carriage=
elevation=-6° - 20° (Mk I field carriage)Hogg & Thurston 1972, page 111]
traverse=0°
filling=
filling_weight=
detonation=
yield=The QF 4.7 inch Gun Mk I, II, III, IV were a family of United-Kingdom naval and coast defence guns of 1888 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 5 inch (127 mm) naval guns and was optimised for the modern smokeless propellants such as Cordite.

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.

United Kingdom service

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 minelayers gave up their guns to produce high-angle anti-aircraft guns to defend London. [ [http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_47-40_mk1.htm British 4.7"/40 (12 cm) Elswick 4.7"/40 (12 cm) QF Marks I, II, III, IV and VI] ]

econd 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 guns from the Cape Town coastal defences, to counter the Boers' "Long Tom" gun during the Siege of Ladysmith in 1899-1900Hall 1971] .
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 recoilHall 1971] . They were manned by Royal Navy crews and required up to 32 oxen to moveHall 1971] .

World War I

outh-West Africa Campaign (1914-1915)

The same guns and "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.

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. [Farndale 1986, page 87, 88]

By the Battle of Aubers Ridge on 9 May 1915 the barrels of the 28 guns of the 3rd and 8th Heavy Brigades and 1st West Riding & 1st Highland Heavy Batteries engaged were now so worn that driving bands were stripped off shells at the muzzle, limiting accuracy. [Farndale 1986, page 104] 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 [Farndale 1986, page 106, 107] , 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 convert|4.7|in|mm|sing=on guns and 128 60 pounders engaged. [Farndale 1986, page 144] 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. [Hogg & Thurston 1972, page 110]

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) [Mallett 1999] 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 11th July that one very old and much worn gun arrived, and was placed in position on right flank, firing its first round on 26th July. [Rosenthal 1920] " This gun was destroyed and left behind at the withdrawal from Gallipoli but later salvaged as a museum piece [Mallett 2005] . The burst barrel is on display at the Australian War Memorial.

alonika Front

Several convert|4.7|in|mm|sing=on guns mounted on "Percy Scott carriages" served with British and Serb forces in the Salonika (Macedonian) campaign from January 1916 onwards.

Japanese service

The Japanese Type 41 4.7-inch/40 (12 cm) naval gun was a license-produced copy of the Elswick Mark IV. Initially, a number were procured directly from Elswick in England. After the turn of the century, production Japan was under the designation “Mark IVJ”. The gun was re-designated as Type 41 on December 25 1908, after the 41st year in the reign of Japanese Emperor Meiji. It was further re-designated in centimeters on October 5 1917 as part of the standardization process for the Imperial Japanese Navy to the metric system. Although finally classified as a "12 cm" gun the bore was unchanged at 4.7 inches.

During World War I, the Japanese Navy transferred 24 original Elswick-built and 13 “Mark IVJ” to Britain as part of their military assistance to the Allies under the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. [cite web | last = DiGiulian | first = Tony | url = http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_47-40_mk1.htm | title = 4"/40 (12 cm) 41st Year Type | work = NavWeaps.com ]

It was the standard secondary or tertiary armament on most Japanese cruiser built between 1900 and 1920, and was the primary armament on a number of destroyers, including the "Umikaze" class. Some units were still in service as late as the Pacific War.

Italian service

These guns were mounted on Italian cruisers built by Ansaldo.

United States service

The US Navy "New Orleans" Third Class Cruisers used them; these had been built by Armstrongs for the Brazilian navy but bought by the US.

urviving examples

*A preserved 4.7"/40 (12 cm) Mark IV*/VI on field carriage outdoors at Artillery Park, Valladolid, Spain.
*The burst gun barrel used at Gallipoli is displayed at the [http://www.awm.gov.au Australian War Memorial, Canberra] .
*Naval gun on display at the Museo Tecnico Navala Della Spezia, Italy [ [http://www.museotecniconavale.it/collezioni/07cannoni/descr/cann23.htm Sala armi subacquee ] ]

Notes

References

* [http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/u?/p4013coll11,230 Text Book of Gunnery, 1902. LONDON : PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE]
*Tony Bridgland, " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0850525802 Field Gun Jack Versus the Boers: The Royal Navy in South Africa 1899-1900] ". Leo Cooper, 1998. ISBN 0 85052 580 2
*Dale Clarke, [http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=S6887 British Artillery 1914-1919. Field Army Artillery. Osprey Publishing, Oxford UK, 2004] ISBN 1 84176 688 7
*Tony DiGiulian, [http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_47-40_mk1.htm 4.7"/40 (12 cm) Elswick 4.7"/40 (12 cm) QF Marks I, II, III, IV and VI]
*General Sir Martin Farndale, [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1870114000/ History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Western Front 1914-18. London: Royal Artillery Institution, 1986]
*Major Darrell Hall, [http://rapidttp.co.za/milhist/vol022dh.html "Guns in South Africa 1899-1902 Part III and IV". South African Military History Society, Military History Journal - Vol 2 No 2, December 1971.]
*Major Darrell Hall, [http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol043dh.html "THE NAVAL GUNS IN NATAL 1899-1902" The South African Military History Society Military History Journal - Vol 4 No 3, June 1978]
*I.V. Hogg & L.F. Thurston, British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914 - 1918. London: Ian Allan, 1972
*Ross Mallett, [http://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/~rmallett/Thesis/Chapter2.html MA Thesis, 1999. 2. Gallipoli]
*Ross Mallett, [http://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/~rmallett/Artillery.html AIF Artillery. updated 2005]
*Lieut.-Colonel Charles Rosenthal, Commanding 3rd Australian Field Artillery Brigade, 1st Australian Division, [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22021/22021-h/22021-h.htm#Page_292 Notes relating to Artillery at Anzac, from 25th April to 25th August, 1915. (Compiled from personal diary.) Appendix II in "General Sir Ian Hamilton, G.C.B. Gallipoli Diary Vol. II". New York: George H. Doran Company, 1920]
*Admiral Percy Scott, [http://www.archive.org/details/fiftyyearsinroya00scotuoft "Fifty Years in the Royal Navy"] published 1919

See also

*List of artillery#Naval guns
*List of artillery#Towed howitzers and field guns

External links

*Paul Benyon, [http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/ILN_1899-1900/Index.html Illustrated London News Dec 1899 - Apr 1900 - Blue Jackets with their Guns ashore]
*Per Finsted, [http://www.chakoten.dk/qf_4_5_in_field_gun.html Dansk Militærhistorisk Selskab (Danish Military History Society) QF 4.7-in Field Gun (in Danish)]