The Armstrong Breech Loading 20-pounder gun, later known as RBL 20-pounder, was an early modern 3.75-inch rifled breech-loading light gun of 1859.

History

The gun was effectively a larger version of the successful

RBL 12 pounder 8 cwt Armstrong gun The Armstrong Breech Loading 12 pounder 8 cwt, later known as RBL 12 pounder 8 cwt, was an early modern 3-inch rifled breech-loading field gun of 1859. Design The gun incorporated some advanced features for its day. It was one of the first ...

. There were different versions for land and sea service.

Sea service

The RBL 20 pounder of 13 cwt and 15 cwt for sea service was introduced in 1859. It is 2½ feet shorter than the land version giving it a bore of only 54 inches (14.43 calibres), and hence a short stubby appearance. Its short barrel only allowed it to attain a muzzle velocity of 1,000 ft/second. The 15 cwt gun, identifiable by the raised coil in front of the vent slot, was intended for broadside use in

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. The more lightly constructed 13 cwt gun was known as a pinnace gun and was intended for boat use.

Land service

The RBL 20 pounder of 16 cwt for land service was introduced in 1860. It has a bore of 84 inches (22.36 calibres) and hence has the appearance of a typical field gun. After it became obsolete for regular Royal Artillery use, a small number were re-issued to Volunteer Artillery ''Batteries of Position'' from 1889, alongside 16-pounder RML guns and 40 Pounder RBL guns. The 1893 the War Office Mobilisation Scheme shows the allocation of twelve Artillery Volunteer position batteries equipped with 20 Pounder guns which would be concentrated in

Epping, Essex Epping is a market town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of the County of Essex, England. The town is northeast from the centre of London, is surrounded by the northern end of Epping Forest, and on a ridge of land between the Riv ...

in the event of mobilisation.Mobilization Tables for Home Defence, List of Militia, Yeomanry and Volunteer Units, HMSO, London, 1893

Surviving examples

* An unrestored 13 cwt pinnace gun at

Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence The Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence is a museum in Hong Kong, located in a former coastal defence fort overlooking the Lei Yue Mun channel, near Shau Kei Wan on Hong Kong Island. The fort was built by the British in 1887, intended to def ...

* A 16 cwt gun on board HMS ''Warrior'' at Portsmouth, UK
A 13 cwt gun dated 1859
at the Artillery Museum, North Head, Sydney, Australia * Sea Service Pattern at

Explosion! Museum of Naval Firepower Explosion! is the Museum of Naval Firepower situated in the former Royal Naval Armaments Depot at Priddy's Hard, in Gosport, Hampshire, England. It now forms part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy. The museum includes a wide variety of e ...

, Gosport

Notes

References

Bibliography

''Treatise on the construction and manufacture of ordnance in the British service''. War Office, UK, 1877

''Text Book of Gunnery'', 1887. London : Printed for his Majesty's Stationery Office, by Harrison and Sons, St. Martin's Lane
* Alexander Lyman Holley
''A treatise on Ordnance and Armor'' published by D Van Nostrand, New York, 1865
* Lieutenant-Colonel C H Owen R.A.
''The principles and practice of modern artillery'', published by John Murray, London, 1873

External links

Handbook for the 20-pr. R.B.L. gun of 16-cwt. on garrison sliding carriage and on travelling carriage, 1892, 1896
{{VictorianEraBritishNavalWeapons Artillery of the United Kingdom Field guns Naval guns of the United Kingdom Elswick Ordnance Company 95 mm artillery Victorian-era weapons of the United Kingdom