The Ordnance BL 15-inch howitzer was developed by the
Coventry Ordnance Works
Coventry Ordnance Works was a British manufacturer of heavy guns particularly naval artillery jointly owned by Cammell Laird & Co of Sheffield and Birkenhead, Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan, Glasgow and John Brown & Comp ...
late in 1914 in response to the success of its design of the
9.2-inch siege howitzer.
The howitzer was cumbersome to deploy, since it was transported in several sections by giant
Foster-Daimler tractor
The Foster-Daimler tractor, often called the Daimler-Foster tractor, was a heavy tractor built by William Foster & Co. in the early 20th century. It was used by the armed forces of the United Kingdom as a heavy artillery tractor during the First ...
s.
Service history
The weapon was operated by
Royal Marine Artillery
The history of the Royal Marines began on 28 October 1664 with the formation of the Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot soon becoming known as the Admiral's Regiment. During the War of the Spanish Succession the most historic achi ...
detachments of the
Naval Brigade, with one gun per battery. One gun was sent to Gallipoli but not used there. They were later transferred to the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...
. It was used at the
Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme (French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place be ...
in September 1916 and at the
Battle of Passchendaele
The Third Battle of Ypres (german: link=no, Dritte Flandernschlacht; french: link=no, Troisième Bataille des Flandres; nl, Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by t ...
, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, in October 1917.
It operated successfully where it was needed to destroy deep fortifications on the Western Front, but was limited by its relatively short range compared to other modern siege howitzers. The size and weight made it difficult to move and emplace. No further development occurred after the first batch of twelve, and instead Britain continued to develop and produce the
12-inch howitzer and
12-inch railway howitzer.
Image gallery
File:15inchHowitzerShellEnglebelmerWoodSeptember1916.jpg,
File:EnglishShell38cm.jpg,
File:15 inch howitzer shell Woolwich Arsenal.jpg,
File:15inchHowitzerGrannyMeninRoad4October1917.jpeg, "Granny" in action during the Third Battle of Ypres, 4 October 1917
File:The Battle of the Somme, July-november 1916 Q4459.jpg, Howitzer inspected by a British delegation in 1916
File:Howitzer, during World War I (3011962527).jpg, A 15-inch Howitzer being set up
See also
*
List of siege artillery
Siege artillery (also siege guns or siege cannons) are heavy guns designed to bombard fortifications, cities, and other fixed targets. They are distinct from field artillery and are a class of siege weapon capable of firing heavy cannonballs or ...
Weapons of comparable role, performance and era
*
Škoda 380 mm Model 1916 howitzer Austro-Hungarian equivalent
Notes and references
Bibliography
* Dale Clarke
British Artillery 1914–1919. Heavy Artillery. Osprey Publishing, Oxford UK, 2005*
I.V. Hogg & L.F. Thurston, British Artillery Weapons & Ammunition 1914–1918. London: Ian Allan, 1972.
*
Winston S. Churchill. ''The World Crisis, Part 2, 1915''. (New York: Rosetta Books, 2013), Kindle.
Film clip showing Royal Marine Artillery crew loading and firing the howitzer during the Battle of the Somme
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bl 15 Inch Howitzer
World War I artillery of the United Kingdom
World War I howitzers
Siege artillery
380 mm artillery
Coventry Ordnance Works