The Ordnance BL 12 pounder 6 cwt was a lighter version of the British 12 pounder 7 cwt gun

Ordnance BL 12 pounder 7 cwt

The Ordnance BL 12 pounder 7cwt was the British Army's field gun, which succeed the RML 13 pounder 8 cwt in 1885.-History:The gun was initially adopted by both the Royal Field Artillery and Royal Horse Artillery, and was in full service by 1885...

, used by the Royal Horse Artillery

Royal Horse Artillery

The regiments of the Royal Horse Artillery , dating from 1793, are part of the Royal Regiment of Artillery of the British Army...

. The "6 cwt

Hundredweight

The hundredweight or centum weight is a unit of mass defined in terms of the pound . The definition used in Britain differs from that used in North America. The two are distinguished by the terms long hundredweight and short hundredweight:* The long hundredweight is defined as 112 lb, which...

" referred to the weight of the gun and barrel to differentiate it from other 12 pounders guns. One hundredweight (cwt) is 112 pounds (50.8 kg), so the total weight was 672 pounds (304.8 kg).

History

Problems arose when the standard BL 12 pounder 7 cwt gun was used in the great Indian cavalry manoeuvres of 1891. The carriage was found to be too complicated, and dust caused the metal surfaces of the axle traversing device to seize. It also proved too heavy for horse artillery, which was intended to support cavalry in battle, to manoeuvre.

The 12 pounder 6 cwt gun was therefore developed in 1892, when the new more powerful cordite

Cordite

Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom from 1889 to replace gunpowder as a military propellant. Like gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burning rates and consequently low brisance...

 replaced gunpowder

Gunpowder

Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...

, as a lighter version of the BL 12 pounder 7 cwt gun. It had a barrel 18 inches (457.2 mm) shorter, on a lighter and simpler carriage, and it entered service in 1894. In 1899 a primitive recoil-absorbing system was added. The weapon was made obsolete in British service by the acquisition of the modern quick-firing Ehrhardt QF 15 pounder

Ordnance QF 15 pounder

The Ordnance QF 15 pounder gun, commonly referred to as the Ehrhardt, was a modern German field gun purchased by Britain in 1900 as a stopgap measure to upgrade its field artillery to modern QF standards, while it developed its own alternative...

 in 1901, and was replaced by that and later by the QF 13 pounder

Ordnance QF 13 pounder

The Ordnance QF 13-pounder quick-firing field gun was the standard equipment of the British Royal Horse Artillery at the outbreak of World War I.-History:...

 from 1905.

The early No. 56 Fuze burned too fast, a maximum of only 13 seconds, and hence could only be time set for a maximum range of 3700 yards. The No. 57 "Blue" Fuze was introduced during the Boer war. It had a slower burning powder train and hence could be time set for ranges up to 5800 yards. A maximum range of 6000 yards was quoted in use in the First World War.

Second Boer War

The gun was used by the Royal Horse Artillery, and together with the BL 15 pounder

Ordnance BL 15 pounder

The Ordnance BL 15 pounder, otherwise known as the 15 pounder 7 cwt, was the British Army's field gun in the Second Boer War and some remained in limited use in minor theatres of World War I.-History:...

, it provided the main British firepower. Eighteen guns were also used by the Royal Canadian Artillery in this war. A total of 78 guns fired 36,161 shells.

World War I

A battery of 6 guns served in the East African Campaign

East African Campaign (World War I)

The East African Campaign was a series of battles and guerrilla actions which started in German East Africa and ultimately affected portions of Mozambique, Northern Rhodesia, British East Africa, Uganda, and the Belgian Congo. The campaign was effectively ended in November 1917...

 as the 8th Field Battery. It arrived with the Calcutta Artillery Volunteers in October 1914, and the guns were towed by teams of oxen.

See also

• Field artillery
  Field artillery
  Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, long range, short range and extremely long range target engagement....
  
  
• List of field guns
• British standard ordnance weights and measurements
  British standard ordnance weights and measurements
  The British standard ordnance weights and measurements for the artillery were established by the Master General of Ordnance in 1764, and these were not altered until 1919 when the metric system was additionally introduced....
  
  

Surviving examples

• The Central Museum of The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery, Shilo Manitoba

One piece made in 1901 and marked "RCD 1907" on gun-metal sight mount, with King Edward VII cypher and crown inletted in top of barrel, parked in front of Stethem Hall, the HQ building of CFB Kingston.

External links