Ordnance QF 3-pounder Vickers

This article is about the 1900s-1940s Vickers gun. For other 3-pounder guns, see 3 pounder gun.

Ordnance QF 3-pounder Vickers
On a Royal Navy monitor circa. 1918
Type	Naval gun, Anti-aircraft gun
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
In service	1905-1940
Wars	World War I, World War II
Production history
Designer	Vickers
Designed	1902–03
Manufacturer	Vickers
Produced	1905-?
Number built	600
Variants	Mk I Mk II
Specifications
Weight	1,323 lb (600 kg) in total
Barrel length	bore (50 calibres)
Shell	47×360mmR shell.
Calibre	47 mm (1.85 in)
Breech	semi-automatic vertical block
Carriage	three-leg platform
Elevation	-5° to +12°
Traverse	360°
Rate of fire	20 rounds per minute
Muzzle velocity	(HE)
Effective firing range	2,000 yd (1,829 m)(AA)
Maximum firing range	at 12° elevation; (AA ceiling)
Sights	telescopic

The Ordnance QF 3-pounder Vickers (47mm / L50) was a British artillery piece first tested in Britain in 1903. It was used on Royal Navy warships. It was more powerful than and unrelated to the older QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss, with a propellant charge approximately twice as large, but it initially fired the same Lyddite and steel shells as the Hotchkiss.

Development

Starting in 1904, the Royal Navy bought over 154 of these for use as anti-torpedo boat weapons on capital ships and to arm smaller ships. British production of these guns started in 1905 at Vickers and by the time production stopped in 1936 a total of 600 weapons had been made.

Royal Navy use

RNAS gun on improvised anti-aircraft mounting, Tenedos, Dardanelles, 1915. Photo by Ernest Brooks.

By 1911 about 193 guns of this type were in service, and they became standard equipment in the Royal Navy until 1915. In that year, service during the First World War proved these weapons to be ineffective and they were quickly removed from most of the larger ships. During the interwar years they were widely used to arm light ships and river craft. A number of them were converted into anti-aircraft guns and by 1927 at least 62 guns had been converted.

See also

• QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss: this gun's predecessor
• OQF 3-pounder gun: tank gun based on the Ordnance QF 3-pounder Vickers
• List of naval guns

References

Notes

Bibliography

• British Vickers 3-pdr (1.4 kg) (1.85"/50 (47 mm)) QF Marks I and II
• Ian Buxton Big Gun Monitors: The History of the Design, Construction and Operation of the Royal Navy's Monitors

External links

• Tony DiGiulian, British Vickers 3-pdr (1.4 kg) (1.85"/50 (47 mm)) QF Marks I and II