The de Bange 90 mm cannon (Mle 1877) was a type of

field artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the early 20t ...

piece developed in France by Colonel

Charles Ragon de Bange Charles Ragon de Bange (17 October 1833 – 9 July 1914) was a French artillery officer and Polytechnician. He invented the first effective obturator system for breech-loading artillery, which remains in use. He also designed a system of field g ...

in 1877, and adopted by the

French Army History Early history The first permanent army, paid with regular wages, instead of feudal levies, was established under Charles VII of France, Charles VII in the 1420 to 1430s. The Kings of France needed reliable troops during and after the ...

that same year. It superseded the earlier Reffye cannon (1870/73) and the

Lahitolle 95 mm cannon The Lahitolle 95 mm cannon (Mle 1875) was a French cannon of the 19th century, developed in 1875 by the artillery commander de Lahitolle. The Lahitolle 90 mm was the first French field cannon made of steel, and one of the first to be eq ...

(1875).

Characteristics

The cannon was

breech loading A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition ( cartridge or shell) via the rear (breech) end of its barrel, as opposed to a muzzleloader, which loads ammunition via the front ( muzzle). Modern firearms are generally bre ...

and used the original mushroom-shaped obturator system developed by de Bange, allowing to properly seal the breech during each firing. The cannon lacked a recoil system, meaning that the entire carriage moved backward when fired. Before firing again, the cannon had to be moved back into position and re-aimed, which greatly slowed the effective rate of fire. This would remain a problem with all artillery pieces until the development of the

Canon de 75 Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

in 1897.

Replacement

The de Bange 90 mm was used during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, although it was obsolete by then, as there were important stockpiles of ammunition and French industry fell short of producing enough modern cannons for the war. It was superseded by the

British service

A number of these weapons were issued to some third-line British

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry ...

batteries at the start of World War I, for training and home defence duties, because of a shortage of more modern field guns. They were replaced in these units by

Ordnance BLC 15 pounder The Ordnance BLC 15-pounder gun (BLC stood for BL Converted) was a modernised version of the obsolete BL 15-pounder 7 cwt gun, incorporating a recoil and recuperator mechanism above the barrel and a modified quicker-opening breech. It was develo ...

guns, when second-line units were re-equipped with

Ordnance QF 18 pounder The Ordnance QF 18-pounder,British military traditionally denoted smaller ordnance by the weight of its standard projectile, in this case approximately or simply 18-pounder gun, was the standard British Empire field gun of the First World War ...

Finnish service

France donated 100 of these cannons in 1940 during

Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...

between Finland and

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. Only 24 guns arrived before the end of the war and rest during the

Interim Peace The Interim Peace ( fi, Välirauha, sv, Mellanfreden) was a short period in the history of Finland during the Second World War. The term is used for the time between the Winter War and the Continuation War, lasting a little over 15 months, from 1 ...

. When

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, as part of World War II.; sv, fortsättningskriget; german: Fortsetzungskrieg. A ...

begun 84 guns were issued to fortification and coastal units. Finnish troops fired more than 174 000 shots with these cannons during Continuation War and last shots in battle were fired as late as in June 1944.

Naval service

In addition to its land role the de Bange 90 mm was converted to arm DEMS ( Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships) against the

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

threat during WWI. Conversion began in 1916 and a total of 1,740 guns were given naval mounts of which 1,430 were installed aboard French ships. The British were also offered 400 guns and 300 were converted by EOC for British naval use, with another 200 supplied to the French. The EOC modifications included mounting the gun on a U shaped gun cradle on an elastic mount similar to the type used by the

6-pounder 6-pounder gun or 6-pdr, usually denotes a gun firing a projectile weighing approximately . Guns of this type include: *QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss, a 57 mm naval gun of the 1880s; a similar weapon was designed by Driggs-Schroeder for the US Navy ...

. The muzzle of the gun was given a counterweight and a hydro-pneumatic recoil mechanism was fitted above the barrel. For aiming a shoulder pad was provided and the gun could be elevated between -10° to +35° with 360° traverse.

Photo gallery

File:De Bange 90 mm Sotamuseo 2.JPG, De Bange 90 mm cannon. File:Matériel de l'artillerie-p33-culasse canon de 90.jpg, de Bange breech. File:90mm De Bange in 1898.jpg, A 90 mm de Bange artillery piece, in 1898. Painting by Etienne-Prosper Berne-Bellecourt (1838–1910).

Musée de l'Armée The Musée de l'Armée (; "Army Museum") is a national military museum of France located at Les Invalides in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. It is served by Paris Métro stations Invalides, Varenne and La Tour-Maubourg The Musée de l'Armée ...

. File:Loading and reaiming of the De Bange 90mm.jpg, Loading and reaiming of the de Bange 90 mm.

References

{{WWIFrenchGuns Artillery of France World War I guns World War I field artillery of France 90 mm artillery