BL 6 inch Mk V gun
The BL 6 inch gun Mk V was an early Elswick Ordnance Company breech-loading naval gun originally designed to use the old gunpowder propellants. They were used for coast defence around the British Empire.
BL 6 inch Mk V gun
Ahoerstemeier · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Name
- Armstrong BL 6-inch 30 calibre gun
- Field
- BL 6 inch gun
- Region
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
The BL 6 inch gun Mk V was an early Elswick Ordnance Company breech-loading naval gun originally designed to use the old gunpowder propellants. They were used for coast defence around the British Empire.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q796271
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Armstrong BL 6-inch 30 calibre gun • Origin — United Kingdom • Type — Coast defence gun • Is Ranged — YES • Is Artillery — YES • Is Uk — YES • Service — 1884 - 1945 • Used By — United Kingdom Australian Colonies New Zealand Siam Romania • Designer — Elswick Ordnance Company (EOC) • Manufacturer — EOC • Unit Cost — £3,400 • Weight — 5 tons barrel & breech • Part Length — 183.5 in bore (30.58 calibres); 192 in bore and chamber (32 calibres) • Cartridge — 100 lb • Caliber — 6 in • Velocity — 1890 ft/s • Max Range — 8000 yd 8530 yd (Romanian service) • Breech — 3 motion interrupted screw. Elswick cup obturation
QFC conversion
QFC conversion
• Illustration — QFC gun, Albany defences, March 1943 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 QFC guns are known to have been still in commission until 1945, in the Princess Royal Fortress defending the port of Albany, Western Australia.
Image gallery
Image gallery
• Illustration — Mk V Elswick breech mechanism • Illustration — Ammunition
Surviving examples
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, near Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. See also • Mk V disappearing gun restored in 1998 at Taiaroa Head, Dunedin, New Zealand. • Armstrong Mk V gun, North Shore, Auckland New Zealand. Formerly at Fort Bastion • An unrestored Mk V disappearing gun at Fort Jervois, Ripapa Island, New Zealand
Places
Named by the record
Places
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United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Country
BL 6 inch Mk V gun is associated with United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Country
Description and service
• Illustration — Gun construction and rifling diagram 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 hoops, 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 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. • Illustration — Mk V in the upper casemate battery at Georges Head, Sydney, 1892 They were also exported for use as coast-defence guns in Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australian colonies and Siam (Thailand), typically as disappearing guns. Romania purchased 10 L/32 guns and used them during the First World War. The Romanian guns had a greater range (7,800 meters).
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.2 QFC guns were in service until 1945 at Albany, Western Australia
- 2.Unit price for 13 Mk V guns purchased by New Zealand in 1885. 1885 New Zealand Harbour defences (Table showing amount required for) Laid on the Table by the Hon. Mr Ballance, with the Leave of the House.
- 3.Text Book of Gunnery 1902
- 4.Text Book of Gunnery 1902, Table XII
- 5.Text Book of Gunnery 1887, Table XVI
- 6.Mk V gun is quoted with mv of 1920 feet/second in Text Book of Gunnery 1887, and 1890 ft/sec in the 1902 edition.
- 7.Text Book of Gunnery 1902 quotes 10,000 yards for Mks III, IV, VI and 8,000 yards for Mk V.
- 8.Sanders Marble, BRILL, 2016, King of Battle: Artillery in World War I, p. 358
- 9.Mk V = Mark 5. Britain used Roman numerals 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.
- 10."Treatise on Construction of Service Ordnance, 1893", pages 263-264
- 11.Sanders Marble, BRILL, 2016, King of Battle: Artillery in World War I, p. 358
- 12.Peter Dunn, [http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/bunkers/princessroyalfortress.htm "two emplaced at the fortress from 1938 to 1945. It was originally from South Head - Sydney and was one of the four BL guns from the Colony of NSW which was sent to England in the late part of the 19th Century to be converted to QF"]
- 13.Thai folk Main.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 3
- 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
References
Citations
References
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authority record
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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