QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss

This article is about the 1880s Hotchkiss gun. For other 3-pounder guns, see 3 pounder gun.

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	French Navy Royal Navy Regia Marina United States Navy Imperial Russian Navy
Wars	WWI
Production history
Designed	1885
Manufacturer	Hotchkiss et Cie
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^[1]
Muzzle velocity	1,873 ft/s (571 m/s)
Maximum firing range	4,000 yards (3,657 m)

The QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss or in French use Canon Hotchkiss à tir rapide de 47 mm (47mm / L40) 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 (affût-crinoline), 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 the "Ordnance QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss",^[2] built under licence by Elswick Ordnance Company.

By the middle of World War I the Hotchkiss gun had become obsolescent, and was gradually replaced in its class by the more powerful Ordnance QF 3 pounder Vickers gun. The gun's availability, simplicity and light weight resulted in its continued use in small vessels, and many were later 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	Mk IV base percussion fuze	Mk V N.T. lyddite shell, 1914

Australian service

A 3-pounder Hotchkiss was used on an improvised mounting in a battle that resulted in Australia's first prisoners of World War 2 being captured in 1940 near Berbera.^[3]

The guns are now used in a Three Pound Saluting Gun Battery at the Garden Island Naval Base.^[4]

Russian service

Russia adopted the Hotchkiss 5-barrel Gatling-type 3-pounder revolver cannon in the 1880s, and later adopted the less complicated single-barrel quick-firing weapon. The 5-barrel guns were equipped on the Ekaterina II-class battleships commissioned in 1889, but by 1892 the battleship Dvenadsat Apostolov and her successors had single-barrel weapons. 47 mm Hotchkiss guns were used during the Russo-Japanese war and were ineffective against Japanese torpedo boats, so they were removed from first-line warships following that war. New Russian battleships ceased carrying the weapon with the Evstafi class, commissioned in 1910. However, they were subsequently fitted to patrol vessels and river craft during World War I, and at least 62 weapons were converted to anti-aircraft guns by 1917.^[5]

US service

The US Navy used several types of 3-pounder guns, and it is difficult to determine from references which type a particular ship had. Hotchkiss 5-barrel Gatling-type 3-pounder revolving cannon were used, along with single-barrel quick-firing single-shot Hotchkiss 3-pounders. Both are called rapid-firing (RF) in references. Other manufacturers included Driggs-Schroeder, Maxim-Nordenfelt, and Vickers-Maxim. By 1910 the US was building the dreadnought-type South Carolina class, with a secondary armament composed entirely of 3 inch (76 mm) guns. Although removed from first-line warships by World War I, some 3-pounders were fitted on patrol vessels of that war, with a few weapons serving on those ships through World War II.^[6]^[7]

Polish service

47 mm Hotchkiss guns, designated as wz.1885 gun, were used on first ships of the Polish Navy, received after World War I, like ex-German torpedo boats and minesweepers. By the time of World War II they were mostly phased out of service on naval ships, but several stored guns were used in combat on improvised stationary mounts by Land Coastal Defence units in the Battle of Kępa Oksywska in September 1939.^[8]

Surviving examples

The Jardines Noonday gun at Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.
A gun at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, Manly, Queensland, Australia^[9]
Two guns on "elastic frame" mounting in the Casemate de l'Aschenbach, Uffheim, Haut-Alsace, France^[10]
A Saluting Battery of mutipule guns at Fort Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia

Four guns on the tall ship Libertad, which serves as a school ship in the Argentine Navy; all fully operational as saluting battery or multipurpose defense.^[11]

The Noonday gun at Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Two of the four operational QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss cannons aboard ARA Libertad

Notes

↑ 30 rounds per minute is the figure given by Elswick Ordnance for their 40-calibres model. Quoted in Brassey's Naval Annual 1901
↑ British forces traditionally denoted smaller ordnance by the weight of its standard projectile, in this case approximately 3 pounds (1.4 kg).
↑ http://news.navy.gov.au/en/Oct2013/Events/492/3-Pounder-saluting-guns.htm#.VBKwgaPgWoY
↑ http://news.defence.gov.au/2013/07/31/saluting-guns-ready-for-arrival-of-worlds-navies/
↑ DiGiulian, Tony, Russian Hotchkiss 3-pounders
↑ DiGiulian, Tony, US 3-pounders
↑ Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War Two. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
↑ Tym, Wacław; Rzepniewski, Andrzej (editors) (1985). Kępa Oksywska 1939. Wydawnictwo Morskie, Gdańsk. p.285 (in Polish)
↑ AMMS Brisbane
↑ Mémorial Maginot de Haute-Alsace
↑ Jane's Fighting Ships 2005-2006

References

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

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hotchkiss 47 mm Revolving Cannon.

British Empire naval weapons of the Victorian era

Smoothbore muzzle-loading cannons	18-pounder 24-pounder 32-pounder 58 cwt 68-pounder Somerset cannon

Smoothbore muzzle-loading shell guns	8 inch 10-inch 86 cwt

Mortars	10-inch Blomefield 13-inch Blomefield

Howitzers	12-pounder Millar 24-pounder Millar

Rifled breechloaders (Armstrong)	RBL 9 pounder RBL 20 pounder RBL 40 pounder RBL 7 inch 110 pounder

Rifled muzzle-loaders (Lancaster)	68-Pounder Lancaster gun

Rifled muzzle-loaders (converted)	RML 64 pounder 71 cwt

Rifled muzzle-loaders (Woolwich)	RML 9 pounder 8 cwt RML 64 pounder 64 cwt RML 7 inch RML 8 inch RML 9 inch RML 10 inch RML 11 inch RML 12 inch 25 ton RML 12 inch 35 ton RML 12.5 inch RML 16 inch

Quick-firing guns	QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss QF 6 pounder Nordenfelt QF 12-pounder 12 cwt Mk I QF 4 inch QF 4.7 inch QF 6 inch

Breech-loaders (new pattern)	BL 4 inch BL 5 inch BL 6 inch 80 pounder BL 6 inch Mk II – VI BL 8 inch BL 9.2 inch Mk I – VII BL 9.2 inch Mk VIII BL 10 inch BL 12 inch Mk I – VII BL 12 inch Mk VIII BL 13.5 inch BL 16.25 inch

Light weapons	Gatling gun Gardner gun Nordenfelt gun 1-inch Nordenfelt gun

Torpedoes	Whitehead torpedo

British Empire naval weapons of the First World War

Monitor guns	BL 9.2 inch Mk VI BL 9.2 inch Mk VIII BL 9.2 inch Mk X BL 9.2 inch Mk XII BL 12 inch Mk VIII US 14 inch 45 cal BL 18 inch Mk I

Capital ship main armament	Vickers 10 inch 45 cal EOC 10 inch 45 cal BL 12 inch Mk VIII BL 12 inch Mk IX BL 12 inch Mk X BL 12 inch Mk XI & XII EOC 12 inch 45 cal Mk XIII BL 13.5 inch Mk V EOC 14 inch 45 cal Mk I BL 15 inch Mk I

Armoured cruiser main armament	BL 7.5 inch Mk I BL 9.2 inch Mk X BL 9.2 inch Mk XI

Secondary armament and light cruiser main armament	QF 12 pdr 18 cwt QF 14 pounder Maxim-Nordenfelt QF 14 pounder Mk I & II QF 4 inch Mk III BL 4 inch Mk VII QF 4 inch Mk V BL 4 inch Mk IX BL 5.5 inch Mk I QF 6 inch BL 6 inch Mk VII BL 6 inch Mk XI BL 6 inch Mk XII BL 6 inch Mk XIII-XVIII BL 7.5 inch Mk II - Mk V

Destroyer and small cruiser armament	QF 12 pdr 12 cwt Mk II QF 4 inch Mk III BL 4 inch Mk VIII QF 4 inch Mk IV BL 4.7 inch Mk I

Merchant ship armament	QF 4.7 inch Mk I - IV QF 4.7 inch Mk V*

Submarine guns	BL 4 inch Mk XI QF 4 inch Mk XII

Anti-aircraft guns	QF 2 pounder "pom-pom" Mk II QF 3 inch 20 cwt QF 4 inch Mk V

Light weapons	.303 Vickers machine gun QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss QF 3 pounder Vickers QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss

Torpedoes	18 inch Mk V - VIII 21 inch Mk II 21 inch Mk IV

Mines	Spherical Mk I, II and III Vickers Elia mine Type H mine

Anti-submarine weapons	Type A Depth charge Type B Depth charge Type C Depth charge Type D Depth charge Type E Depth charge Type F Depth charge Type G Depth charge Cruiser Mine 7.5 inch howitzer

Landing guns	QF 12 pounder 8 cwt

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