BL 12 inch Railway Gun

Infobox Weapon
name=Ordnance BL 12 inch Gun Mk IX on truck, railway


caption=12 inch Mk IX W railway gun on Armstrong Mk II mounting, Meaulte, France 1916
origin= UK
type=Naval gun
is_artillery=yes
is_ranged=yes
is_bladed=
is_explosive=yes
is_UK=yes
service=1915 - 1930 (Rail)
used_by=UK
wars=First World War
designer=
design_date=
manufacturer=Woolwich Arsenal (guns)
Vickers & Elswick Ordnance Company (carriage)
unit_cost=
production_date=1906 (guns)
number=4 (Rail)
variants=mountings Mk I, Mk II
spec_label=
weight=
length=
part_length=Bore convert|480|in|m|sigfig=5 (40 cal)
width=
height=
diameter=
crew=
cartridge=HE convert|850|lb|kg|sigfig=5
caliber=convert|12|in|mm|sigfig=4|sing=on
action=
rate=
velocity=convert|2610|ft/s|m/s|sigfig=3Hogg & Thurston 1972, Page 193]
max_range=convert|32700|yd|m|sigfig=4
range=
feed=
sights=
breech=Welin screw
recoil=Hydro - spring, convert|34|in|sigfig=mm|sigfig=4
carriage=Railway truck
elevation=0° - 30°
traverse=1° L & R
filling=Amatol
filling_weight=convert|94|lb|sigfig=4
detonation=
yield=The Ordnance BL 12 inch gun Mk IX on truck, railway mounted surplus 12 inch Mk IX W naval guns, manufactured by Woolwich Arsenal in 1906 Hogg & Thurston 1972, Page 192. At least 1 of the guns may have been manufactured during WWI, as [http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_12-40_mk9.htm 'British 12"/40 (30.5 cm) Mark IX'] states that only 3 Mk IXw guns were actually originally built but that 6 more were made during WWI.] , on various railway platforms to provide mobile long-range heavy artillery on the Western Front in World War I.

History

Vickers mounted 2 Mk IX W guns on slightly different railway mountings, Mk I, from September 1915. They are both identified by the open-frame appearance, recoil buffers above the barrel and the bogies with frames between the wheels similar to locomotive bogies. One mounting has a distinctive diamond-shape from the side and has a warping winch on the front; the other's carriage has a more squared-off profile with no warping winch at the front.

Elswick Ordnance Company (Armstrongs) mounted 2 more on its own design of Mk II railway mounting, delivered to the Western Front in August 1916. They are identified by the boxed-in frame appearance, recoil buffers below the barrel and the bogies with frames outside the wheels.

Combat service

At the end of World War I, the dispositions of the guns on the Western Front were : 1 gun of 92 Battery and 1 gun of 543 Battery with First Army i.e. Artois; 1 gun of 92 Battery with Third Army i.e. Somme; 1 gun of 543 Battery with Fourth Army i.e. Somme. [Farndale 1986]

See also

*List of artillery#Railway artillery
*Armstrong Whitworth 12 inch /40 naval gun

Notes

References

*Dale Clarke, [http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=S7883 British Artillery 1914-1919. Heavy Artillery. Osprey Publishing, Oxford UK, 2005]
*General Sir Martin Farndale, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Western Front 1914-18. Oxford: Royal Artillery Society, 1986.
*I.V. Hogg & L.F. Thurston, British Artillery Guns & Ammunition 1914-1918. London: Ian Allan, 1972.

urviving examples

External links

* [http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_12-40_mk9.htm British 12"/40 (30.5 cm) Mark IX]
* [http://www.chakoten.dk/eng_jernb_art_wwi.html Om engelsk jernbaneartilleri under Første Verdenskrig (In Danish)]