BL 4.5-inch medium field gun
BL 4.5 inch medium gun | ||
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Breech Welin breech and Asbury mechanism | | |
Elevation | 60-pdr carriage: 0 to +42° 5.5-inch gun carriage: -5° to +45° | |
Traverse | 60-pdr carriage: 7° 5.5-inch gun carriage: 60° left to right[2] | |
Muzzle velocity | 2,250 ft/s (686 m/s) | |
Maximum firing range | 11.65 mi (18.75 km) | |
Sights | calibrating and reciprocating[2] |
The BL 4.5 inch medium gun was a British gun used by
It had nothing in common with the QF 4.5 inch Howitzer or the QF 4.5 inch AA gun.
Development
By the end of the 1930s, the First World War-era (5-inch calibre) BL 60-pounder gun Mk. I of 1905 and Mk. II of 1918 (two different designs) had become obsolete, and their barrels had mostly reached the end of their usable service life. A successor was sought and work began on an all-new design that would result in the Ordnance BL 4.5 inch medium field gun, a long-range medium gun designed for counter-battery fire. The gun was in use throughout the Second World War and it equipped a number of medium regiments, including half the Canadian ones.[3] In service, the guns were fielded at the regiment level and were taken on by both British and Canadian artillery field groups during the war.
The 4.5 inch field gun could fire a 25 kg HE shell up to 11.6 miles with Charge 3. It matched German 10.5 cm and 150 mm howitzers in range and firepower.[citation needed]
For the sake of expediency, Mk I ordnance was designed to be mounted on the 1918 60-pounder carriage. The Mk I gun was first issued in 1938 and equipped one or two regiments of the British Expeditionary Force. The 4.5 inch Mk I due to lack of visual clues is sometimes mistaken for the 60-pounder.
The Mk II was on a new carriage that was also used with the
Production
Year | Pre-War | Sep-Dec 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
60-pdr conversions | 1 | 18 | 209 | 11 | - | - | - | - |
4.5" Guns | - | - | 1 | 125 | 152 | 20 | 295 | 56 |
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Service
The Mark I was used in the
The Mk II gun served in North Africa, Italian campaign and North West Europe. It was withdrawn from field service in 1945, relegated to training purposes and finally declared obsolete in 1959 with the 5.5 inch gun replacing it. Both Mks were normally towed by the AEC Matador 4 × 4 medium artillery tractor. The Germans gave captured guns the designation 11.4 cm K 365(e).[2]
The US 4.5 inch gun M1 used the same shell design, Mk 1D in UK service with a 6/10
Variants
- Mark 1
- New 4.5 inch ordnance on 60 pounder carriage introduced in the 1930s used by the Royal Artillery in France and North Africa in the Second World War.
- Mark II
- Modified ordnance on carriage 4.5 inch and 5.5 inch in use in the Second World War from 1941 by British and Canadian artillery.
See also
- BL 4.5 inch medium guns in action
- 122 mm gun M1931/37 (A-19) approximate Soviet equivalent
- 10 cm sK 18 approximate German equivalent, smaller caliber
- 4.5-inch gun M1 United States equivalent, fired same ammunition
- BL 5.5-inch medium gun shared carriage
References
- ^ a b Boyd, David (1 January 2009), "4.5" Medium Gun", British Equipment of the Second World War
- ^ OCLC 2143869.
- ^ "Ordnance BL 4.5-inch".