The Ordnance QF Hotchkiss 6 pounder gun Mk I and Mk II or QF 6 pounder 8 cwt were a family of long-lived light naval guns introduced in 1885 to defend against new, small and fast vessels such as torpedo boats and later submarines. Many variants were produced, often under licence, which ranged in length from 40 to 58 calibres, with 40 calibre the most common.
6-pounders were widely used by the navies of a number of nations and often used by both sides in a conflict. Due to advances in torpedo delivery and performance, 6-pounder guns were rapidly made obsolete and were replaced with larger guns aboard most larger warships. This led to their being used ashore during World War I as coastal defence guns, the first tank guns and as anti-aircraft guns, whether on improvised or specialized HA/LA mounts. During World War II 6-pounder guns were put back in service to arm small warships and as coastal defence guns. The last ships to carry 6-pounders were the Aegir-class offshore patrol vessels of the Icelandic Coast Guard which replaced them in 1990 with the Bofors 40mm L/60 autocannon.
Operational history Argentine service Argentina adopted the 40 calibre Hotchkiss 6-pounder in the 1890s, to arm its four Giuseppe Garibaldi-class armoured cruisers, purchased from Italy. The Argentinians were at that time engaged in a naval arms race with Chile. The last ships from this class were retired from service on 2 August 1954. Argentinian ships armed with 6-pounder guns include:
ARA General Belgrano ARA Garibaldi ARA Pueyrredón ARA San Martin
Brazilian service Brazil adopted the 40 calibre Hotchkiss 6-pounder in the 1890s, to arm its coastal defence ships, protected cruisers and torpedo-gunboats. The Brazilians also used the competing Nordenfelt 6 pounders in lesser numbers. The last Brazilian ship retired was the coastal defence ship Marshal Floriano in 1936. The former Brazilian coastal defence ship Marshal Deodoro was sold to Mexico in 1924 and renamed Anáhuac, which was retired in 1938. Marshal Deodoro-class coastal defence ships Brazilian cruiser República Brazilian cruiser Almirante Barroso Brazilian torpedo gunboat Tiradentes
Chilean service Chile adopted the 40 calibre Hotchkiss 6-pounder in the 1890s, to arm a battleship, an armoured cruiser, and several protected cruisers. The last of these ships was retired in 1933.
Chilean battleship Capitán Prat Chilean cruiser Esmeralda Chilean cruiser Presidente Errázuriz Chilean cruiser Ministro Zenteno Chilean cruiser O'Higgins Chilean cruiser Presidente Pinto
Chinese service China adopted the Hotchkiss 6-pounder in the 1880s, to arm its protected cruisers. During the First Sino-Japanese War, ships on both sides were armed with Hotchkiss 6-pounder guns. Surviving 6-pounder guns were in Chinese service aboard gunboats and auxiliaries during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.
Zhiyuen-class cruisers Chinese cruiser Jingyuen
French service Despite originating in France the 6-pounder was not widely used by the French. Like the British, who paired their QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns with the larger 6-pounder, the French often paired their 3-pounders with the more powerful Canon de 65 mm Modèle 1891. This gun is sometimes referred to as a 9-pounder in English publications. During World War II a few Flower-class Corvettes (Aconit, Commandant Drogou, Commandant Détroyat, Commandant d`Estienne d`Orves, Mimosa, Renoncule, Roselys) of the Free French Navy were armed with two 6-pounder guns.
Irish service A 6-pounder gun was fitted to the single Vickers Mk. D tank used by the Irish Army between 1929 and 1940. When the tank was scrapped in 1940 the gun was removed and used as an anti-tank weapon.
Italian service Italy adopted the 40 calibre Hotchkiss 6-pounder in 1886 to arm its armoured cruisers, battleships, protected cruisers, torpedo boats and torpedo cruisers. The Italians also adopted the competing 43 calibre Nordenfelt 6 pounder gun and by 1909 the Nordenfelt had replaced the Hotchkiss in service. This was the opposite of the British who replaced their Nordenfelt guns with Hotchkiss guns.
Etna-class cruisers Goito-class cruisers Regioni-class cruisers Vettor Pisani-class cruisers Italian battleship Emanuele Filiberto Italian cruiser Marco Polo Italian cruiser Piemonte Italian cruiser Calabria Italian cruiser Dogali Italian cruiser Giovanni Bausan Italian cruiser Marco Polo
Japanese service Japan adopted the 40 calibre Hotchkiss 6-pounder in the 1880s to arm its destroyers, protected cruisers and unprotected cruisers. The Japanese versions of the 6-pounder were known as Yamanouchi guns and were largely identical to their British equivalents. Ships on both sides of the First Sino-Japanese war and Russo-Japanese war were armed with Hotchkiss 6-pounder guns. The 6-pounder was the standard secondary and tertiary armament on most Japanese destroyers built between 1890 and 1920, and was still in service as late as the Pacific War.
Akatsuki-class destroyers Harusame-class destroyers Ikazuchi-class destroyers Matsushima-class cruisers Murakumo-class destroyers Naniwa-class cruisers Shirakumo-class destroyers Suma-class cruisers Japanese cruiser Izumi Japanese cruiser Unebi Japanese cruiser Takao
Russian services The Russians began purchasing 40 calibre 6-pounders from France starting in 1904 to replace its 3-pounder and 1-pounder guns in the anti-torpedo boat role. In addition to 40 calibre guns, 50 and 58 calibre guns were also produced under license at the Obukhov State Plant. These were installed on torpedo cruisers and submarines built from 1905 to 1917. Beginning in 1909–1910 most larger surface ships began replacing their 6-pounders with 75 mm 50 calibre Pattern 1892 and 102 mm 60 calibre Pattern 1911 guns when combat experience in the Russo-Japanese war showed the 6-pounders were almost as ineffective as the 3-pounder and 1-pounder guns they had replaced. In 1911–12 a number were turned over to the Army for use as coastal artillery, and later in 1914 some were converted into anti-aircraft guns. In addition to the Hotchkiss guns there were also Nordenfeld Guns which were used as ranging guns for coastal defences. Finland, a successor state to the Russian Empire, inherited a number of 6-pounders and used them throughout the Winter War and World War II in the coastal artillery role.
Bars-class submarines Morzh-class submarines Narval-class submarines Finn-class torpedo cruisers Okhotnik-class torpedo cruisers Ukrayna-class torpedo cruisers Vsadnik-class torpedo cruisers
Spanish service Spain adopted both the 40-calibre Hotchkiss 6-pounder and the 42-calibre Nordenfelt 6-pounder in the 1880s to arm its armoured cruisers, battleships, protected cruisers and unarmoured cruisers. Seven ships (1 battleship, 3 unarmoured cruisers and 3 protected cruisers) carried the Hotchkiss guns and eleven (8 unarmoured cruisers and 3 protected cruisers) carried the Nordenfelt guns. Ships on both sides of the Spanish–American War were armed with various 6-pounder guns (Driggs-Schroeder, Hotchkiss and Nordenfelt). The Spanish cruiser Isla de Cuba, which was captured by the United States during the Spanish–American War and served as the USS Isla de Cuba until sold to Venezuela in 1912 and renamed Mariscal Sucre, was the last ship decommissioned and scrapped in 1940.
Torpedo gunboat Destructor Alfonso XII-class cruisers Isla de Luzón-class cruisers Spanish battleship Pelayo
United Kingdom service The UK adopted a 40 calibre (i.e. 90-inch barrel) version as Ordnance QF Hotchkiss 6 pounder gunMk I and Mk II or QF 6 pounder 8 cwt. It was manufactured under licence by the Elswick Ordnance Company. They were originally mounted from 1885 onwards for use against the new (steam-driven) torpedo boats which started to enter service in the late 1870s.
The UK also adopted the competing 42 calibre Ordnance QF 6 pounder Nordenfelt at the same time as the QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss, but the Royal Navy was not satisfied with the special Nordenfelt ammunition and fuzes. Following the explosion in 1900 of an ammunition ship due to defective fuses, Britain replaced Nordenfelt fuzes with the Hotchkiss designs and Nordenfelt guns were phased out in favor of the Hotchkiss guns and were declared obsolete by 1919.Hogg & Thurston 1972, Page 36
The original 1885 Hotchkiss Mk I was a built-up gun with a barrel, jacket and a locking hoop screwed to the front of the jacket. The Mk I lacked a recoil system, but the Mk II of 1890 introduced a hydraulic recoil mechanism with a pair of hydro-spring cylinders. During World War I the navy required many more guns and an autofretted, mono-block barrel version was developed to simplify manufacture and identified as "6 pdr Single Tube". Initially these guns were only allowed to be fired with a special lower charge, but in 1917 they were relined with A tubes as Mk I+++ which enabled them to use the standard 6-pounder ammunition.Hogg & Thurston 1972, Page 36-39
After World War I the gun was considered obsolete for combat use, but continued in use as a saluting gun and as sub-calibre training guns. Of the 3,984 produced it was estimated that 1,640 still existed in 1939. With the onset of World War II the remaining guns were rushed back into service for anti-submarine defence, E-boat defence and for coastal defence. New non-recoil Mk VI, Mk VI* and Mk VI** mountings were built with elevations between -10° and +70°. These mountings were used on early models of the Fairmile D Motor Gunboats, Motor Launches and Flower-class corvettes.Campbell, Naval Weapons of WWII, p.65. Some of which were not re-armed with the modern 6-pdr Mk IIA with auto-loader until late 1944.See Reynolds 'MGB 658'
Royal Navy ships armed with QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns include:
A-class destroyers Admiral-class ironclads Adventure-class cruisers Apollo-class cruisers B-class destroyers Banff-class sloops British H-class submarines C and D-class destroyers C-class cruisers C-class destroyers Castle-class trawlers CD-class naval drifters Centurion-class battleships Conqueror-class ironclad rams D-class destroyers Daring-class destroyers Devastation-class ironclads Dryad-class torpedo gunboats E and F-class destroyers Fly-class gunboats G and H-class destroyers Indefatigable-class battlecruisers Lion-class battlecruisers M15-class monitors M29-class monitors Marathon-class cruisers Orlando-class cruisers River-class destroyers Royal Sovereign-class battleships Stour-class destroyers Trafalgar-class ironclads Surprise-class cruisers Victoria-class battleships Warrior-class cruisers
Tank service
The 6-pounder was used to equip Male versions of the early British Mk I – Mk III tanks. In 1916 the British Army was faced with the difficulty of quickly providing a new class of weapon. The existing Hotchkiss 6-pounder naval gun appeared to most closely meet the need (a compact enough weapon to fit into a tank sponson with a sufficient high explosive shell). A single gun was mounted in each sponson, i.e. two per Male tank able to fire forwards or to the side. Tanks armed only with machine guns were designated as 'Female'.
The gun turned out to be too long for practical use as the end of the barrel could come into contact with the ground or other obstacles as the tank traveled over uneven ground. The British chose to shorten the gun rather than change its location and replaced it in 1917 in the Mark IV tank onwards by the shorter QF 6 pounder 6 cwt Hotchkiss.
Anti-aircraft service