BL 10 inch gun Mk I - IV
Encyclopedia
The BL 10 inch guns Mks I, II, III, IV were British 32-calibres naval and coast defence guns in service from 1885.
After Mk IV of 1889 the Royal Navy discontinued the 10-inch calibre in favour of 9.2-inch and 12-inch.
. This gun was subsequently replaced on HMVS Victoria by an 8-inch gun, and in 1887 was mounted at Fort Franklin as a coast defence gun.
History
The British 10 inch calibre originated with the Committee on Ordnance in 1879 when it ordered a new 10.4 inch gun together with the new 9.2 inch as part of its transition from muzzle-loading to breech-loading guns. The proposed 10.4 inch gun eventually went into service in 1885 as a 10-inch gun firing a 500-pound projectile.After Mk IV of 1889 the Royal Navy discontinued the 10-inch calibre in favour of 9.2-inch and 12-inch.
Naval service
Mks II, III and IV guns were interchangeable and equipped the following warships :- Victoria class battleshipsVictoria class battleshipThe Royal Navy's Victoria class battleships of the 1880s was the first class which used triple expansion steam engines, previous battleships having used compound engines.There were only two ships in this class...
laid down 1885 - Centurion class battleshipsCenturion class battleshipThe Centurion class battleships were second-class pre-dreadnought battleships of the Royal Navy designed for service on distant stations.-Description:...
laid down 1890 - Devastation class battleshipsDevastation class battleshipThe two British Devastation-class battleships of the 1870s were the first class of ocean-going capital ship that did not carry sails, and the first which mounted the entire main armament on top of the hull rather than inside it...
as re-gunned in 1890
25-ton gun for Victoria
A 25-ton version with a bore of 300 inches (30 calibres) and firing a 450-pound projectile was supplied in 1884 to the Australian colony of Victoria, mounted on the gunboat HMVS VictoriaHMVS Victoria (II)
HMVS Victoria was a gunboat that served with the Victorian Naval Forces and Western Australia before being sold into private use.-Design:This class was built to a type D flat-iron gunboat design from builders Armstrong Mitchell and Co....
. This gun was subsequently replaced on HMVS Victoria by an 8-inch gun, and in 1887 was mounted at Fort Franklin as a coast defence gun.
Coast defence gun
Mk I was an Elswick Ordnance design used only for coastal defence. Mks II, III and IV were interchangeable Woolwich Arsenal designs used on warships but also for coastal defense around the British Empire.Surviving examples
- Hong Kong Museum of Coastal DefenceHong Kong Museum of Coastal DefenceThe 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 defend the eastern approaches to Victoria Harbour.The total...
- Portsea, Victoria, Australia
- York Redoubt, Purcells Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada
External links
- Instructions for 10 inch rifled breech loading Armstrong gun and automatic naval carriage and slide Describes 25-ton gun supplied to Victoria. From Australian National Archives
- Mk III disppearing mounting diagram at Palmerston Forts Society
- Elswick Mk I coastal defence barbette mounting diagram at Palmerston Forts Society