The Ordnance QF 12 pounder 8 cwt was a Royal Navy "landing gun" intended for navy use ashore. "8 cwt" refers to the weight of the gun and breech, approximately 8 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...

 = 8 x 112 lb (50.8 kg) = 896 lb. This was how the British often differentiated between guns of the same calibre or weight of shell. This gun had a short barrel and was of relatively low power compared to the 12 pounders of 12 and 18 cwt, although it fired the same shells.

History

The Navy eventually replaced the gun with the 3.7 inch Mountain Howitzer

3.7 inch Mountain Howitzer

The Ordnance QF 3.7 Inch Mountain Howitzer was an artillery weapon, used by British and Commonwealth armies in World War I and World War II, and between the wars.-History:...

.

World War I

Guns were employed on land in the West Africa campaign

West Africa Campaign (World War I)

The West Africa Campaign of World War I consisted of two small and fairly short military operations to capture the German colonies in West Africa: Togoland and Kamerun.-Overview:...

.

Also employed in the East Africa 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...

 ("Logan's Battery" 6th Field Battery, 2 guns, towed first by Hupmobile

Hupmobile

The Hupmobile was an automobile built from 1909 through 1940 by the Hupp Motor Company, which was located at 345 Bellevue Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Its first car, the Model 20, was introduced to the public at the Detroit Auto Show in February 1909...

 cars and then REO lorries).

This gun was briefly used in the Battle of Gallipoli

Battle of Gallipoli

The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign or the Battle of Gallipoli, took place at the peninsula of Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916, during the First World War...

, as the Navy had supplies of ammunition for it when the army was short of ammunition for its own guns. Several guns were landed in July 1915 and operated from frontline trenches.

Surviving examples

See also

• This cannon is the type used in the famous British Royal Navy Field Gun Run
  Field gun competition
  The Royal Navy's field gun competition is a contest between teams from various Royal Navy commands, in which teams of sailors compete to transport a field gun and its equipment over and through a series of obstacles in the shortest time. The competition evolved during the first 6 years of the 20th...
  
  s.

In popular culture

• The RN Field Gun may be seen 'in action' in the 1957 film "Yangtse Incident"
  Yangtse Incident (1957 film)
  Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst is a 1957 British war film that tells the story of the British frigate HMS Amethyst caught up in the Chinese Civil War....
  
  , when a group of these guns was used on the banks of the River Orwell to depict Chinese PLA
  People's Liberation Army
  The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
  
  gun batteries on the North bank of the Yangtze, which fired on as she steamed up to Nanking in April 1949.

External links

• YouTube Running with 3/4 Soddin Ton! RN team practice with QF 12 pdr for Navy Gun Run