QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss

The QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss or in French use Canon Hotchkiss à tir rapide de 47 mm were a family of long-lived light 47 mm naval guns introduced in 1886 to defend against new, small and fast vessels such as torpedo boats and later submarines. There were many variants produced, often under license which ranged in length from 32 to 50

The Liberté-class and Danton-class battleships mounted the gun, in addition to the cruisers Jules Michelet, Ernest Renan, and those of the Edgar Quinet-class. It was used as the standard French shipboard anti-aircraft gun during World War I, being replaced by the Canon de 75 mm modèle 1908.^[1]

After World War I the majority of 3-pounders in the anti-aircraft role were replaced with either the anti-aircraft version of the Canon de 75 modèle 1897 or the Canon de 75 mm modèle 1924.^[5] French ships armed with the L/40 M1885 and L/50 M1902 include:

Australian service

A 3-pounder Hotchkiss was used on an improvised mounting in a

The Austro-Hungarian Navy used two versions of the Hotchkiss 3-pounder. The first was the short 47 mm SFK L/33 H of 1890 produced under license by Skoda. The second was the long 47 mm SFK L/44 S of 1897 produced under license by Skoda. These two guns were the primary rapid fire anti-torpedo boat guns of many ships built or refitted between 1890 and 1918.^[8] On 16 August 1914 at the Battle of Antivari, the Austro-Hungarian protected cruiser SMS Zenta was sunk by a combined Anglo-French force. Both sides in the battle were armed with Hotchkiss guns.

Austro-Hungarian ships armed with the L/33 and L/44 include:

Chinese service

China adopted the Hotchkiss 3-pounder in the 1880s, to arm its cruisers and smaller auxiliaries; the

Chinese ships armed with 3-pounder guns include:

Italian service

Italy adopted the Hotchkiss 3-pounder in the 1880s to arm its

Japanese service

Japan adopted the Hotchkiss 3-pounder 5-barrel revolver cannon in the 1880s and later adopted the simpler single-barrel quick-firing weapon. The Japanese versions of the 3-pounder were known as Yamanouchi guns and were largely identical to their British equivalents.^[4] The Japanese also had a related 30 caliber 2½-pounder gun from Elswick, the Yamanouchi Mk I. During the Russo-Japanese War, ships of both sides were armed with Hotchkiss 3-pounder guns. The Japanese found them to be ineffective and removed them after the war.

Japanese ships armed with 3-pounder guns include:

Polish service

Polish 47 mm Hotchkiss guns named the 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 most had been replaced 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.^{[11][page needed]}

Romanian service

The

United Kingdom service

In 1886 this gun was the first of the modern

United States service

The

Ammunition

The most common types of ammunition available for 3-pounder guns were low yield

rounds were produced.

A steel shell round circa. 1898	Mk IV base percussion fuze	Mk V N.T. projectile, 1914	Mk II common shell

Photo gallery

• 
  Model of gun in French service on "elastic frame" mounting (affût-crinoline), at the Musée national de la Marine Paris.
• 
  The

  Noonday gun at Causeway Bay

  , Hong Kong
• 
  Two of the four operational QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss cannons aboard ARA Libertad
• 
  Russian Hotchkiss gun on a field carriage.

  Military-historical Museum of Artillery, Engineer and Signal Corps

  . St. Petersburg Russia.
• 
  A 3-pounder coastal-defense gun at Port Jackson 1942.
• 
  A Russian 3-pounder on a Renault armored car 1917.
• 
  The Imperial Russian cruiser Rossia. 3-pounders at the bottom left/right.
• 
  A French 3-pounder on a 90 mm gun carriage.

Surviving examples

• The Jardines Noonday gun at Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.
• A gun at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, Manly, Queensland, Australia.^[20]
• Two guns on "elastic frame" mounting in the Casemate de l'Aschenbach, Uffheim, Haut-Rhin, France.^[21]
• A saluting battery of multiple guns at Fort Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia.
• Four guns on the
  school ship in the Argentine Navy; all fully operational as saluting battery or multipurpose defense.^[22]
• 3 guns used for ceremonial purposes at HMS Drake.
• Naval Gun Factory
  .

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

• QF 3 pounder Nordenfelt
   : Nordenfelt equivalent
• QF 3 pounder Vickers
   : Vickers equivalent
• 5 cm SK L/40 gun : German equivalent

Licensed production

Wars

Users

Notes

References

• Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War Two. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.
  ISBN 978-0-87021-459-2
  .
• Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth.
  ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7
  .
• Langensiepen, Bernd & Güleryüz, Ahmet (1995). The Ottoman Steam Navy 1828–1923. London: Conway Maritime Press.
  ISBN 978-0-85177-610-1
  .
• Tym, Wacław; Rzepniewski, Andrzej (1985). Kępa Oksywska 1939: relacja uczestników walk lądowych [Oksywska Fort 1939: Relations of Combatants on Land] (in Polish). Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Morskie.
  ISBN 978-83-215-7210-9
  .

Wikimedia Commons has media related to QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss.

• Handbook of the 3 pounder Hotchkiss quick-firing gun Land service 1892, 1900 at State Library of Victoria
• Handbook for Hotchkiss 6-pr and 3-pr. quick-firing guns 1896 at State Library of Victoria
• Tony DiGiulian, British Hotchkiss 3-pdr (1.4 kg) (1.85"/40 (47 mm)) QF Marks I and II
• DiGiulian, Tony, US 3-pounders
• DiGiulian, Tony, Russian Hotchkiss 3-pounders