In service 1880 - 1918 Wars Second Boer War | Used by United Kingdom Variants Mks I - V | |
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Type Naval gun
Coast defence gun
Field gun Weight Mk I - II : 38 long hundredweight (1,930 kg)
Mk III - V : 40 long hundredweight (2,030 kg) | ||
The BL 5 inch guns Mk I - Mk V were early British 5-inch rifled breechloading naval guns after it switched from rifled muzzle-loaders in the late 1870s. They were originally designed to use the old gunpowder propellants. The 5-inch calibre was soon discontinued in favour of QF 4.7-inch.
Contents
Naval service
Guns equipped the following British warships :
These guns also equipped several small gunboats of Colonial navies of Australia in the 1880s in response to the perceived threat of Russian expansionism in the Pacific (The "Russian scares").
Second Boer War (1899 - 1902) field gun
A number of guns mounted on carriages from obsolete RML 40 pounder guns accompanied the British siege train (heavy artillery) to South Africa. They were not required for the expected siege of Pretoria, which did not eventuate. Its usefulness in the field was limited by lack of a recoil control system, and the QF 4.7 inch gun was the most commonly used British heavy gun in the war.
Coast defence gun
The gun was installed as a conventional coast defence gun in South Africa and Australia, and several in the United Kingdom. Its more common use ashore in the UK was as "moveable armaments" in forts : on 2-wheeled carriages similar to field carriages but intended only for moving short distances to position guns for defence of the fort. These used either obsolete 40-pounder RML carriages or special high-mounting carriages for firing over parapets with recoil controlled by a hydraulic buffer built into the platform to which the carriage was fastened.