BL 6 inch Gun Mk 7
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| BL 6 inch gun Mk 7 | |
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 On Mk II carriage, Reninghelst, Flanders, 15 June 1916 |
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| Type | Naval gun Coast defence gun Heavy field gun |
| Place of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1901 - 1950s 1915 - 1918 (field use) |
| Wars | World War I World War II |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Vickers |
| Designed | 1899 |
| Number built | 898 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 16,875 pounds (7,654 kg) (gun & breech) 25 tons (gun on field carriage) |
| Barrel length | 269.5 inches (6.845 m) (45 cal) |
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| Shell | HE 100 pounds (45.36 kg)[1] |
| Calibre | 6 inches (152.4 mm) |
| Muzzle velocity | 2,525 feet per second (770 m/s) |
| Maximum range | On Field carriage Mk. II : 13,700 yards (12,530 m) [2]Naval : 14,600 yards (13,350 m) (light charge); 15,800 yards (14,450 m) (heavy charge)[3][4] |
| Filling weight | Lyddite : 13 pounds 5 ounces (6.038 kg) Amatol : 8 pounds 14 ounces (4.026 kg) Shrapnel : 874 balls @ 27/lb[5] |
The BL 6 inch Gun Mk 7 was a British naval gun dating from 1899, which was mounted on a heavy traveling carriage in 1915 for British Army service, and became one of the main heavy field guns in the First World War.
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[edit] Naval gun
The gun was introduced on the Formidable class battleships of 1898 (commissioned September 1901) and went on to equip many capital ships, cruisers, monitors, and smaller ships such as the Insect class gunboat which served throughout World War II.[6]
Mk VIII in Naval service was identical to Mk VII, except that the breech opened to the left instead of to the right, for use as the left gun in twin turrets.
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[edit] World War I field gun
They were first sent to France in 1915 mounted on improvised rectangular-frame "Percy Scott" carriages, based on the design Captain Scott had improvised for 4.7 inch guns in the Second Boer War, and were successful.[7]
However, elevation and hence range was limited with the Scott carriages so a proper carriage, MK II, was introduced early in 1916, allowing elevation to 22°. Carriages Mks III, V and VI also appeared.
It was operated by the Royal Garrison Artillery, as were all the larger guns, in World War I, in batteries of 4 guns.
Following its successful employment in the Battle of the Somme its role was defined as counter-battery fire and also they "were most effective for neutralising defenses and for wire cutting with fuze 106 [a new fuze which reliably burst instantly above ground on even slight contact, instead of forming craters]", also for long-range fire against "targets in depth"[8].
It was superseded by the lighter and longer-range BL 6 inch Gun Mk 19 which was introduced from October 1916 but the Mk 7 remained in service to the end of World War I.
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
[edit] Coast defence gun
103[9] of these guns were in service in World War I in coastal defences around the UK. Some of these, together with others at ports around the wider British Empire, remained in service until the 1950s. In the German raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby on 16 December 1914, a notable action was fought by Durham Company RGA of the Territorial Force at Heugh (2 guns) and Lighthouse (1 gun) batteries defending Hartlepool. They duelled with the German battlecruisers Seydlitz and Moltke (11 inch guns) and Blücher (8.2 inch), firing 112 rounds and scoring 7 hits. The battlecruisers fired a total of 1,150 rounds at the town and the batteries causing 112 civilians and 7 military killed.[10]
[edit] Ammunition
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[edit] See also
[edit] Surviving examples
- Rotunda, Royal Artillery Museum, London
- A gun on field carriage at The Front Museum, Lappohja, Finland
- 2 coast defence Mk 7 guns at Fort Dunree, Lough Swilly, Ireland
- Fort Siloso at Sentosa Island, Singapore
- A coast defence gun at Newhaven Fort, Sussex, UK
- Fort Ogilvie, Point Pleasant Park, Halifax, Nova Scotia
[edit] Notes
- ^ Shell weights given are filled and fuze i.e. as fired. 100 pounds (45.36 kg) was standard shell weight in WWI. Some earlier shells had slightly higher weights e.g. Mk IV common lyddite shell weighed 101 pounds (45.81 kg)
- ^ Clarke page 23 quotes 13,700 yds on the Mk II carriage; General Farndale page 130 quotes 12,000 yards (10,970 m) - this is possibly on the Mk I carriage.
- ^ Tony DiGiulian, British 6"/45 (15.2 cm) BL Mark VII
- ^ All figures for 100 pounds (45.36 kg) shell, which was standard in WWI.
- ^ Figures for WWI field gun. Hogg & Thurston 1972, Page 243
- ^ Tony DiGiulian, British 6"/45 (15.2 cm) BL Mark VII
- ^ Hogg & Thurston 1972, Page 144
- ^ Farndale 1986 page 158, quoting War Office Artillery Notes No. 4 - Artillery in Offensive Operations, January 1917.
- ^ Farndale 1988, Page 404
- ^ Farndale 1988, Pages 368-369, 401.
[edit] References
- Dale Clarke, 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. London: Royal Artillery Institution, 1986
- General Sir Martin Farndale, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. The Forgotten Fronts and the Home Base, 1914-18. London: Royal Artillery Institution, 1988.
- I.V.Hogg & L.F. Thurston, British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914-1918. London: Ian Allan, 1972.
[edit] External links
- British 6"/45 (15.2 cm) BL Mark VII 6"/45 (15.2 cm) BL Mark VIII 6"/45 (15.2 cm) BL Mark XXIV
- Ken Musgrave, Diagram of BL 6inch Mk VII Gun on Mk. 2 Carriage at Landships (scroll to bottom of page)
- Per Finsted, Om den engelske 6-tommers feltkanon 1914-1940 (in Danish)
