FV433, 105mm, Field Artillery, Self-Propelled "Abbot" is the

self-propelled artillery Self-propelled artillery (also called locomotive artillery) is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move toward its firing position. Within the terminology are the self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer, self-propelled mo ...

, or more specifically

self-propelled gun Self-propelled artillery (also called locomotive artillery) is artillery equipped with its own propulsion system to move toward its firing position. Within the terminology are the self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer, self-propelled mo ...

(SPG), variant of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

FV430 series The FV430 series covers a number of armoured fighting vehicles of the British Army, all built on the same chassis. The most common is the FV432 armoured personnel carrier. Although the FV430 series has been in service since the 1960s, and som ...

armoured fighting vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked. Examples of AFVs are tanks, armoured car ...

s (AFVs), using much of the

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

of the FV430 but with a fully rotating

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

at the rear housing the

105 mm 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

gun and given the vehicle designation of FV433. Designed as a Sexton replacement, its correct designation was "Gun Equipment 105mm L109 (Abbot)". "L109" was little used, probably to avoid confusion with the 155 mm

M109 howitzer The M109 is an American 155 mm turreted self-propelled howitzer, first introduced in the early 1960s to replace the M44. It has been upgraded a number of times, most recently to the M109A7. The M109 family is the most common Western indirect-fi ...

that entered UK service at about the same time. The name "Abbot" continued the Second World War style of naming self-propelled artillery after ecclesiastical titles. The FV433 used a different configuration of power pack from other vehicles in the FV430 series.

Development

Ammunition

A completely new ammunition family, comprising shells, fuzes and cartridges, was designed for Abbot's L13 gun, designated "105 mm Field" ("105 mm Fd"). It is separate loading cased charge ammunition (shell and cartridge loaded into the gun separately) with electrical primers, in contrast to the widely used semi-fixed US 105 mm M1 type ammunition (called "105 mm How" in UK service), which uses percussion primers, and has shorter shells. There were two versions of 105 mm Fd ammunition. Mark 1, which was used initially, had a UK-produced 105 mm How shell, mostly US pattern fuzes and reduced charge 105 mm Fd cartridges with their electrical primers. Mark 2 adopted a new projectile design, including an improved lethality

high-explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...

(HE) shell (heavier with more HE) and full charge cartridges. Its shell types include HE, Smoke, Coloured Marker (Red and Orange), Illuminating, and HESH for direct fire against enemy armoured vehicles. Direct Action, Controlled Variable Time (CVT) and Mechanical Time (MT) fuzes were available for HE and Coloured Marker shells. Initially, there were three cartridges. Sub-zones 1 and 2 were only used to provide short-range in high angle fire and were soon replaced by a plastic spoiler slipped over the shell

ogive An ogive ( ) is the roundly tapered end of a two-dimensional or three-dimensional object. Ogive curves and surfaces are used in engineering, architecture and woodworking. Etymology The earliest use of the word ''ogive'' is found in the 13th c ...

. Normal cartridge gave charges 1–5, each bag being a different colour in accordance with established UK practice, Mark 1 normal cartridge only went to charge 4. Both marks had charge Super, a single charge cartridge, although the charge was reduced in Mark 1. Charges 5 and Super used extended "bags" that projected beyond the metal cartridge case. The 105 mm Fd uses double (often internationally called triple) base propellants designated N in UK service instead of the single based FNH propellants favoured by the US. The 105 mm Fd Mark 2 is still used with the

L118 Light Gun The L118 light gun is a 105 mm towed howitzer. It was originally designed and produced in England for the British Army in the 1970s. It has since been widely exported. The L119 and the United States Army's M119 are variants that use a different t ...

Gun

Maximum range with 105 mm Fd Mark 1 ammunition was 15 km, the Mark 2 gave 17.4 km. Maximum rate of fire was 6–8 rounds per minute with 40 rounds carried in the vehicle. The gun was able to elevate to 70 degrees and depress to -5 degrees, sufficient to engage enemy AFVs if necessary. Traverse and shell ramming were powered by electrical servo mechanisms, elevation and cartridge ramming were by hand. Due to the number of charges and its compact turret, the Abbot did not have calibrating sights. Instead, the sight mount had both Tangent Elevation (TE) and Angle of Sight Scales with a separate Gun Rule to convert range into TE, corrected for the muzzle velocity variation from standard. The dial sight had all scales internal, illuminated and viewed through a single eyepiece.

Communications

The Abbot was fitted with both line and radio Larkspur B48, then Clansman UK/PRC 352) communications to its battery command post, which used the Apparatus Loud Speaking No. 23, this enabled the gun No. 1 to acknowledge his fire orders merely by clicking his pressel switch. Initially, it also used induction loop communications for the turret and external crew. Shortly after the Field Artillery Computer Equipment (FACE) entered service in the early 1970s, the Gun Rule was removed and the Artillery Weapon Data Transmission System (AWDATS) installed. AWDATS displayed firing data transmitted from FACE in the battery command post via line or radio.

Mobility

The Abbot was able to swim across water, using a flotation screen fixed around the hull, raised to provide buoyancy. The action of the tracks was sufficient to drive it forward at about (see also

DD Tank DD or Duplex Drive tanks, nicknamed "Donald Duck tanks", were a type of amphibious swimming tank developed by the British during the Second World War. The phrase is mostly used for the Duplex Drive variant of the M4 Sherman medium tank, that w ...

). Each Abbot was supported by an amphibious Stalwart High Mobility Load Carrier with additional ammunition.

Service history

British Army Abbots were replaced by the

AS-90 The AS-90 ("Artillery System for the 1990s"), known officially as Gun Equipment 155 mm L131, is an armoured self-propelled artillery weapon used by the British Army. It can fire standard charges up to using 39 calibre long barrel (comp ...

self-propelled gun in the mid-1990s. It was in service with the Indian Army, now replaced by the

K9 Thunder The K9 Thunder is a South Korean 155 mm self-propelled howitzer designed and developed by the Agency for Defense Development and civil contractors including Dongmyeong Heavy Industries, Kia Heavy Industry, Poongsan Corporation, and Samsung Aer ...

self-propelled howitzer. No sources refer to Abbots ever being used in combat.

Variants

A simplified Value Engineered Abbot without flotation screen,

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

defence equipment, power traverse, elevation or loading, a simplified dial sight and communications fit was exported to India. A small number were purchased by the UK for use at the

British Army Training Unit Suffield The British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) is a British Army unit located at the vast training area of Canadian Forces Base Suffield near Suffield, Alberta, Canada. BATUS is the British Army's largest armoured training facility, and it can ...

(BATUS) in

Alberta, Canada Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to t ...

. A

SPAAG An anti-aircraft vehicle, also known as a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) or self-propelled air defense system (SPAD), is a mobile vehicle with a dedicated anti-aircraft capability. Specific weapon systems used include machine guns, ...

version using an unmodified chassis with an alternate turret mounting two HSS 831L cannons was prototyped as the "Falcon" but limited ammunition capacity of only 310 rounds per gun led to its cancellation. The Abbot's L13 105mm gun has been reproduced as a towed howitzer on a new carriage for the Indian Army.

Ammunition

Flickr - davehighbury - Royal Artillery Museum Woolwich London 199

;105mm Field Mark 1 * L32 Cartridge 105mm Field, Normal (Charges 1–4) * L34 Cartridge 105mm Field, (Charge Super) * L33 Shell 105mm Howitzer, HE * L32 Shell 105mm Howitzer, WP * L51 Shell 105mm Howitzer, Smoke * L55 Shell 105mm Howitzer, Illuminating * L43 Shell 105mm Howitzer, HESH * L44 Shell 105mm Howitzer, Practice ;105mm Field Mark 2 * L35 Cartridge 105mm Field, Normal (Charges 1–5) * L36 Cartridge 105mm Field, Super * L31 Shell 105mm Field, HE * L36 Shell 105mm Field, Smoke * L37 Shell 105mm Field, Marker, Red * L38 Shell 105mm Field, Marker, Orange * L34 Shell 105mm Field, Illuminating * L42 Shell 105mm Field, HESH * L41 Shell 105mm Field, Practice

Operators

– 146 received for use by

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

regiments (1965–1995) *

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

– 80 currently in service in the

Regiment of Artillery The Regiment of Artillery is a combat/fighting arm of the Indian Army, which provides massive firepower during all ground operations of the Indian Army. It is a successor to the Royal Indian Artillery (RIA) of British Indian Army, which itsel ...

(including 68 Value Engineered Abbots received in the 1960s)

References

Sources

* ''The Abbot Self-propelled Gun'', Interavia International Defense Review, No 12/1965 * User Handbook for Gun, SP, 105mm Fd, Abbot (FV433), Army Code 14311, 1965

External links

FV433 Abbot and Falcon AA Vehicle
*

Abbot at Scotland's Secret Bunker
{{ModernUKAFVsNav , style= wide Self-propelled artillery of the United Kingdom Self-propelled artillery of the Cold War 105 mm artillery Amphibious armoured fighting vehicles Tracked self-propelled howitzers Military vehicles introduced in the 1960s

Development

Ammunition

Gun

Communications

Mobility

Service history

Variants

Ammunition

Operators

See also

References

Sources

External links