The BL 6 inch gun Mk V Mk V = Mark 5. Britain used

Roman numerals Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...

to designate Marks (models) of ordnance until after World War II. Hence this was the fifth model of BL 6-inch gun in British service. was an early

Elswick Ordnance Company The Elswick Ordnance Company (sometimes referred to as Elswick Ordnance Works, but usually as "EOC") was a British armaments manufacturing company of the late 19th and early 20th century History Originally created in 1859 to separate William A ...

breech-loading A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition (cartridge or shell) via the rear (breech) end of its barrel, as opposed to a muzzleloader, which loads ammunition via the front ( muzzle). Modern firearms are generally breech ...

naval gun Naval artillery is artillery mounted on a warship, originally used only for naval warfare and then subsequently used for naval gunfire support, shore bombardment and anti-aircraft roles. The term generally refers to tube-launched projectile-firi ...

originally designed to use the old

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...

propellants. They were used for coast defence around the British Empire.

Description and service

This was an Elswick Ordnance export design, completely different from and longer (30-calibres, 183.5 inch bore) than the contemporary 26-calibres British naval service 6-inch Mk III, IV and VI guns designed by the Royal Gun Factory, although it fired the same 100-pound projectiles. The gun was of a complex all-steel built-up construction, of a steel A-tube surrounded by multiple steel

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, breech-piece and jacket. Several were acquired by the British government for coast defence in the UK and were given the designation 6-inch gun Mark V. The breech fittings and firing mechanism were modified in British service to standardize them with the British service guns, Mark IV and VI. The breech-screw was locked by turning to the left, unlike standard service guns made by the Royal Gun Factory, which all locked to the right.

Rifling In firearms, rifling is machining helical grooves into the internal (bore) surface of a gun's barrel for the purpose of exerting torque and thus imparting a spin to a projectile around its longitudinal axis during shooting to stabilize the pro ...

consisted of 28 grooves of the polygroove "Elswick section" type, increasing from 0 to 1 turn in 30 calibres (i.e. 1 turn in 180 inches) at the muzzle. They were also exported for use as coast-defence guns in Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australian colonies and

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 mi ...

(Thailand), typically as

disappearing gun A disappearing gun, a gun mounted on a ''disappearing carriage'', is an obsolete type of artillery which enabled a gun to hide from direct fire and observation. The overwhelming majority of carriage designs enabled the gun to rotate back ...

s. Romania purchased 10 L/32 guns and used them during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The Romanian guns had a greater range (7,800 meters).

QFC conversion

During the 1890s, when the new " QF" technology of loading propellant charges in brass cases to increase the rate of fire was in favour, 4 guns were returned from New South Wales, Australia to the UK to be converted to QF. 2 of the resulting

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guns are known to have been still in commission until 1945, in the Princess Royal Fortress defending the port of

Albany, Western Australia Albany ( ; nys, Kinjarling) is a port city in the Great Southern region in the Australian state of Western Australia, southeast of Perth, the state capital. The city centre is at the northern edge of Princess Royal Harbour, which is a ...

Image gallery

Image:BL 6 inch Mk V Breech Mechanism Diagram.jpg, File:BL 6 inch Mk V gun ammunition diagrams.jpg,

Surviving examples

* 7 disappearing guns at Chulachomklao Fort, Bangkok, Thailand. See :File:Armstrong cannon, Chulachomklao fort.jpg
A Mk V gun on reproduction disappearing mount
at

Fort Lytton Fort Lytton is a heritage-listed 19th century coastal fort in the suburb of Lytton in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The name “Fort Lytton” is also used to describe the military base that surrounded the fort. Fort Lytton was built in ...

, near Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. See als

* :File:Disappearing Gun Taiaroa Head.jpg, Mk V disappearing gun restored in 1998 at

Taiaroa Head Taiaroa Head is a headland at the end of the Otago Peninsula in New Zealand, overlooking the mouth of the Otago Harbour. It lies within the city limits of Dunedin. The nearest settlement, Otakou, lies three kilometres to the south. The cape is h ...

, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Armstrong Mk V gun
North Shore, Auckland New Zealand. Formerly at Fort Bastion

at Fort Jervois, Ripapa Island, New Zealand

Notes

References

Bibliography

Text Book of Gunnery, 1887. LONDON : PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE
*"Treatise on the Construction and Manufacture of Ordnance in the British Service", War Office, UK, 1893.
Text Book of Gunnery, 1902. LONDON : PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE

External links

Handbook for the 6 inch B. L. marks IV, V, and VI guns 1892
at State Library of Victoria
Instructions for 6 inch Rifled Breech Loading Armstrong Gun and Automatic Centre Pivot Barbette Mounting
from Australian National Archives
Instructions for 6 inch Rifled Breech Loading Armstrong Gun and Hydro-Pneumatic Disappearing Carriage
from Australian National Archives
Video clip showing left side view of restored disappearing gun
at

, New Zealand
Video clip showing breech operation and loading of restored disappearing gun
at

, New Zealand
Disappearing Mountings described
at Victorian Forts and Artillery website

{{DEFAULTSORT:BL 06 inch Mk 05 Artillery of the United Kingdom 152 mm artillery Victorian-era weapons of the United Kingdom Coastal artillery Disappearing guns