The Ordnance BL 12-pounder 7cwtBritish military traditionally denoted smaller ordnance by the weight of its standard projectile, in this case approximately . "7 cwt" referred to the weight of the gun and barrel to differentiate it from other "12-pounder" guns. 1 long hundredweight (cwt) = . was 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 ...

field gun A field gun is a field artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march, that when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances ( field artille ...

which succeeded the RML 13-pounder 8 cwt in 1885.

History

The gun was initially adopted by both the

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of t ...

and

Royal Horse Artillery The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. (Although the cavalry link ...

, and was in full service by 1885. It marked a return to

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 ...

guns, after the British Army had reverted to muzzle-loaders in the late 1860s following the failure of the Armstrong screw breech guns. Problems arose when it was used by the Horse Artillery in the great Indian cavalry manoeuvres of 1891. The carriage was found to be too complicated and dust caused the metal surfaces of the axle traversing device to seize. It also proved too heavy to manoeuvre for horse artillery, which was intended to support cavalry in battle. The 12-pounder 6 cwt gun was thus developed in 1892, when the new more powerful

cordite Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom since 1889 to replace black powder as a military propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burni ...

replaced gunpowder, as a lighter alternative. It had a barrel 18 inches (460 mm) shorter, on a lighter and simpler carriage, and it entered service with the Royal Horse Artillery in 1894. The introduction of Cordite also led to the decision that the 12-pounder was capable of firing a heavier shell up to . A 14-pound shell was adopted and the gun became a " 15-pounder" from 1895.Clarke 2004, page 17-18 At that point the 12-pounder 7 cwt became redundant.

Combat use

The gun was normally towed by 6 horses, in 3 pairs.

Surviving examples

Hobbs Artillery Park, Irwin Barracks, Karrakatta, Western Australia

Notes

References

Bibliography

Text Book of Gunnery, 1902. LONDON : PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE
* Dale Clarke
British Artillery 1914–1919. Field Army Artillery. Osprey Publishing, Oxford UK, 2004
* Major Darrell D. Hall

External links

* ttp://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/104136 Handbook for the 12-PR. B.L. gun mark I, Land service, 1891at State Library of Victoria
Drill for the 12.5 – pr. B. L. gun on travelling field carriage. Melbourne. 1901 ?
at State Library of Victoria

from Victorian Forts and Artillery website

from Victorian Forts and Artillery website {{DEFAULTSORT:BL 12-pounder 7 cwt Artillery of the United Kingdom 76 mm artillery Field guns