75 mm Gun M1917

Infobox Weapon
name=75 mm gun Model of 1917


caption=
origin= USA
type=Field gun
is_artillery=yes
is_ranged=yes
is_bladed=
is_explosive=yes
is_UK=yes
service=1918 - 1945
used_by=USA
UK
wars=World War II
designer=
design_date=1917
manufacturer=
unit_cost=
production_date=1917
number=
variants=
spec_label=
weight=995 lb (gun & breech)
2,890 lb (total)
length=
part_length=83.915 inch (bore)
88.21 inch (total)
width=
height=
diameter=
crew=
cartridge=16 lb (Shrapnel)
12.3 lb (HE)
caliber=75 mm (2.95 in)
action=
rate=
velocity=1,693 ft/s (Shrapnel)
1,900 ft/s (HE)
max_range=
range=6,494 yds (Shrapnel)
8,100 yds (HE short fuze)
7450 yds (HE long fuze)
feed=
sights=
breech=
recoil=hydro - spring 45-49 inches
carriage=wheeled, pole trail
elevation=
traverse=
filling=
filling_weight=
detonation=
yield=The 75 mm Gun Model of 1917 (British) was an interim measure produced by the United States in World War I after it had decided to switch from convert|3|in|mm|sing=on to 75 mm calibre for its field guns.

History

The US decided early in World War I to switch from convert|3|in|mm|sing=on to 75 mm calibre for its field guns. Its preferred gun for re-equipment was the French 75 mm Model of 1897, but early attempts to produce it in the US using US commercial mass-production techniques failed, partly due to delays in obtaining necessary French plans, and then their being incomplete or inaccurate, and partly because US industry was not equipped to work to Metric measurements. [Brown 1920, Pages 50 - 56] By 1917 US firms had produced 851 QF 18 pounders for export to Britain. Hence production of a 75 mm version offered a simple interim solution, being basically a copy of the British QF 18 pounder rechambered for French 75 mm ammunition, utilizing existing production capacity. It remains very similar to the 18 pounder, the main visible difference being a shorter barrel with straight muzzle.

The gun was developed too late to see action in World War I.

Early in World War II Britain lost many of its field guns in France, and the US transferred its large remaining stocks of the Model of 1917 to Britain where its similarity to the 18 pounder made it useful for British home defence and training needs.

ee also

*Ordnance QF 18 pounder
*List of artillery#Towed howitzers and field guns

urviving examples

*"Minnie" is displayed at the [http://ordmusfound.org United States Army Ordnance Museum, MD]
* [http://duxford.iwm.org.uk Imperial War Museum, Duxford, England]

Notes

References

* [http://www.archive.org/details/handbookofartill00unitiala "Handbook of Artillery". US Ordnance Department. Document No. 2033. July 1921]
*Sevellon Brown, [http://www.archive.org/details/storyofordnancei00browrich The Story of Ordnance in the World War. Washington: James William Bryan Press, 1920]

External links