BL 5 inch Mark I howitzer

• Name — Ordnance BL 5-inch howitzer • Origin — United Kingdom • Type — Field howitzer • Is Artillery — yes • Is Ranged — yes • Is Explosive — yes • Is Uk — yes • Service — 1895 – 1919 • Used By — United Kingdom Kingdom of Romania Russian Empire • Wars — Mahdist War Second Boer War First World War • Weight — 2672 lb • Part Length — 42 in bore (8.4 calibres) • Cartridge — 50 lb Common shell 50 lb Lyddite shell 40 lb Amatol shell • Caliber — 5 in • Velocity — 788 ft/s • Range — 4800 yd (50 lb shell); 6500 yd (40 lb shell) • Breech — 3-motion, interrupted screw • Recoil — 5.5 in, Hydro-spring constant • Carriage — Wheeled, box trail • Elevation — -5° - 45° • Filling Weight — 9 lb (Lyddite) 5 lb (Amatol)

The weapon was used by the Royal Field Artillery and served successfully at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. During that campaign they gained the distinction of being the first British guns to fire the new Lyddite shells in action.

Major D Hall states that in the Second Boer War the Lyddite shells often failed to detonate; the gun was too heavy to be used as a field howitzer, and for siege use its range was too short and shell too light. However, it achieved some success in Natal when able to get close enough to bombard Boers in trenches.

By 1908 it was obsolete and replaced in British Regular Army brigades by the modern QF 4.5-inch howitzer. Territorial Force brigades, however, continued to use the howitzer in World War I into 1916, including notably at the ANZAC and Suvla beachheads, Gallipoli, and in the East African campaign. A lighter 40-pound (18.14 kg) shell with Amatol filling replaced the original 50-pound (22.68 kg) Lyddite shell early in World War I Together with an increase in cordite propellant from 11 oz 7 drams to 14 oz 5 drams, this increased the maximum range from 4,800 to 6500 yd. Administrative error led to the new 40-pound shells being sent to Gallipoli without range tables or fuze keys for the new pattern fuzes, rendering them useless.

• Illustration — A rear view of the BL 5-inch Howitzer. • Illustration — Approaching Maddox Hill, Northern Cape, January 1900. • Illustration — In action on Gallipoli, 1915. • Illustration — A BL 5-inch Howitzer in Romanian service during World War I. Romania received 28 howitzers in 1917.

• — — — • Cordite cartridge 11 oz 7 dram Mk V, for 50 lb projectile — 50 lb Common shell Mk III — 50 lb Common lyddite shell Mk IV — T Friction tube Mk IV

• At Karak Castle, Jordan • National Military Museum, Bucharest, Romania

BL 5 inch Mark I howitzer is associated with United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Classified as a field howitzer.