QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss

QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss
Typical Royal Navy deck mounting, 1915
Type	Naval gun Coast-defence gun
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1886 - 1950s
Used by	France United Kingdom United States Russia
Wars	WWI
Production history
Designer	Hotchkiss et Cie
Designed	1885
Number built	2,950 (UK)
Specifications
Barrel length	74.06 inch (1.88 m) bore (40 cal)
Shell	Fixed QF. Shell 3.3 lb (1.5 kg), Steel Shell, Common Lyddite
Calibre	47-millimetre (1.850 in)
Breech	vertical sliding wedge
Rate of fire	30 / minute
Muzzle velocity	1,873 ft/s (571 m/s)
Maximum range	4,000 yards (3,657 m)

The QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss was a light 47-mm naval gun introduced in 1886 to defend against new small fast vessels such as torpedo boats, and later submarines. It was also used ashore as a coast defence gun and later occasionally as an anti-aircraft gun.

French service

Model of gun in French service on "Elastic Frame" mounting, at the Musée national de la Marine Paris

United Kingdom service

United Kingdom History

HMS Majestic showing 7 guns mounted in crow's nests circa. 1897

In 1886 this gun was the first of the modern QF artillery to be adopted by the Royal Navy as Ordnance QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss, built under licence by Elswick Ordnance Company.

By World War I the Hotchkiss gun was obsolete, and was gradually replaced in its class by the more powerful Ordnance QF 3 pounder Vickers gun. But many were brought back into service on merchant vessels used for auxiliary duties in World War II, or as subcalibre guns for gunnery practice until the 1950s. Early in WWII it was also pressed into service in ports around the British Empire to defend against possible incursions by motor torpedo boats, until the modern QF 6 pounder 10 cwt gun became available in numbers for that purpose.

United Kingdom ammunition

Steel Shell round circa. 1898. Photo courtesy of Patrick Rushmere	Mk IV base percussion fuze	Mk V N.T. lyddite shell, 1914

Russian service

47 mm Hotchkiss guns were used during the Russo-Japanese war and showed inefficiency against Japanese torpedo boats.

Surviving examples

The Noonday gun at Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

• The Jardines Noonday gun at Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.
• A gun at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, Manly, Queensland, Australia

See also

• List of naval guns

References

• I.V. Hogg & L.F. Thurston, British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914-1918. London: Ian Allan, 1972.

External links

• Tony DiGiulian, British Hotchkiss 3-pdr (1.4 kg) (1.85"/40 (47 mm)) QF Marks I and II