RML 2.5 inch Mountain Gun

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Ordnance RML 2.5 inch Mountain Gun
Indian Army gunners assembling the gun, circa. 1895
Type	mountain gun
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
In service	1879 - 1901
Used by	British Empire India
Wars	Second Boer War World War I
Production history
Designer	Colonel le Mesurier, RA
Designed	1877
Manufacturer	Royal Gun Factory
Produced	1879 - 1916
Specifications
Weight	800 pounds (363 kg) total
Shell	RML, 7 pounds 6 ounces (3.35 kg) (shrapnel) 8 pounds 2 ounces (3.69 kg) (ring)[1]
Calibre	2.5 inches (63.5 mm)
Traverse	nil
Muzzle velocity	1,436 feet per second (438 m/s)
Maximum range	3,300 yards (3,018 m) (shrapnel) 4,000 yards (3,658 m) (ring)[1]

The Ordnance RML 2.5 inch mountain gun was primarily used by the Indian Army.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Second Boer War 1.2 World War I 2 See also 3 Surviving examples 4 In Literature 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

[edit] History

It was intended as a more powerful successor to the RML 7 pounder Mountain Gun.^[2] Some writers incorrectly refer to the 2.5 inch gun as a "7 pounder" because it also fired a shell of approximately 7 pounds, but its official nomenclature was 2.5 inch RML.

In 1877 Colonel le Mesurier of the Royal Artillery proposed a gun in 2 parts which would be screwed together. The Elswick Ordnance Company made 12 Mk I guns based on his design and they were trialled in Afghanistan in 1879. Trials were successful and Mk II with some internal differences made by the Royal Gun Factory entered service.^[3]

The gun was a rifled muzzle-loader. Gun and carriage were designed to be broken down into their basic parts so they could be transported by pack animals (4 mules) or men. The barrel and breech were carried separately, and screwed together for action, hence the name "screw gun".

[edit] Second Boer War

The gun was used in the Second Boer War (1899 - 1902) on its standard mountain gun carriage, and also with the Natal Field Battery at Elandslaagte and Diamond Fields Artillery at Kimberley on field carriages which had larger wheels and gave greater mobility.^[2]

A major defect in the war was that the gun's cartridges still used gunpowder as a propellant, despite the fact that smokeless cordite had been introduced in 1892. The gunpowder generated a white cloud on firing, and as the gun could only be aimed using direct line of sight, this made the gunners easy targets for Boer marksmen as the gun lacked a shield.

It proved to be ineffectual and outclassed by Boer ordnance and was replaced by the BL 10 pounder Mountain Gun from 1901.

[edit] World War I

Either 4 or 6 guns (sources appear imprecise) were returned to service from Southern African garrisons in 1916 and were employed by the Nyasaland-Rhodesian Field Force in the campaign in German East Africa.^[4] Writers who refer to "7 pounders" in WWI are in fact referring to this 2.5-inch (64 mm) gun.

[edit] See also

• List of artillery#Infantry and mountain guns

[edit] Surviving examples

• Restored gun is displayed at Firepower, the Royal Artillery Museum. Woolwich London
• Two 2.5-inch (64 mm) RMLs on Field carriages and one on a Mountain carriage, at Fort Klapperkop Military Museum, Pretoria, South Africa.

[edit] In Literature

• It was romanticised in Rudyard Kipling's poem "Screw-Guns".

[edit] Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Hall, June 1971 : "Ring (or segment) : A thin cast iron shell, made up of rings welded together, with a hollow space in the centre for the bursting charge. The rings broke up into segments on explosion. It could be employed as shrapnel, case or common shell".
2. ^ ^{a b} Hall, June 1971
3. ^ Ruffell
4. ^ Farndale 1988, page 331-332

[edit] References

• General Sir Martin Farndale, "History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. The Forgotten Fronts and the Home Base, 1914-18". London : The Royal Artillery Institution, 1988.
• Major Darrell D Hall, "Guns in South Africa 1899-1902" in The South African Military History Society Military History Journal - Vol 2 No 1, June 1971
• W. L. Ruffell, The Screw Gun

[edit] External links

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British Empire weapons of the First World War

Rifles, side arms and grenades Webley Revolver Mk. I–VI | Lee-Enfield rifle | Enfield revolver Mk I, Mk II Grenade, No 1 Hales | Rifle grenades, 2, 3, 4 Hales | No.s 5, 23, 36 Mills | No. 6 Grenade | No.s 8, 9 Double Cylinder Jam Tin |No. 13 Battye | No. 15 Ball grenade | No. 27 Smoke Grenade | No. 34 Egg grenade | Ross rifle (Canada) Artillery Tank guns QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss | QF 6 pounder 6 cwt Field Artillery RML 2.5 inch Mountain Gun | BL 10 pounder Mountain Gun | BL 2.75 inch Mountain Gun | QF 2.95 inch Mountain Gun | BL 12 pounder 6 cwt | QF 12 pounder 8 cwt | QF 13 pounder | BL 15 pounder | BLC 15 pounder | QF 15 pounder | QF 18 pounder Howitzers, medium, and heavy artillery QF 3.7 inch Mountain Howitzer | QF 4.5 inch Howitzer | QF 4.7 inch Gun | BL 5 inch Howitzer | BL 5.4 inch Howitzer | BL 60 pounder gun | BL 6 inch Gun Mk 7 | BL 6 inch Gun Mk 19 | BL 6 inch 30 cwt howitzer | BL 6 inch 26 cwt howitzer | BL 8 inch Howitzer Mk 1 - 5 | BL 8 inch Howitzer Mk 6 - 8 | BL 9.2 inch Howitzer | BL 12 inch Howitzer | BL 15 inch Howitzer Mortars 3 inch Stokes Mortar | 2 inch Medium Mortar | Livens Projector | Newton 6 inch Mortar | 9.45 inch Heavy Mortar Railway guns BL 9.2 inch Railway Gun | BL 12 inch Railway Gun | BL 12 inch Railway Howitzer | BL 14 inch Railway Gun Anti-aircraft guns QF 1 pounder pom-pom | QF 2 pounder pom-pom | QF 12 pounder 12 cwt | QF 13 pounder 6 cwt | QF 13 pounder Mk IV | QF 13 pounder 9 cwt | QF 3 inch 20 cwt | QF 18 pounder | QF 4 inch Mk V Machine guns Vickers machine gun | Lewis gun | Maxim gun Foreign weapon designs in British Army use Hotchkiss Mark I | Lewis Gun | 75 mm AA gun | QF 15 pounder | 9.45 inch Heavy Mortar