The 75 mm 50 caliber Pattern 1892 was a Russian

naval gun Naval artillery is artillery mounted on a warship, originally used only for naval warfare and then subsequently used for more specialized roles in surface warfare such as naval gunfire support (NGFS) and anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) engagements. T ...

developed in the years before the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

that armed the majority of warships of the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until being dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution and the declaration of ...

during the Russo-Japanese War and

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The majority of ships built or refit between 1890 and 1922 carried Pattern 1892 guns. During its career the role of the guns evolved from one of anti-

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...

defense to

coastal artillery Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of ...

and

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

use.

History

In 1891 a Russian naval delegation was shown three guns designed by the French designer Canet. One was a 75 mm/50

caliber In guns, particularly firearms, but not #As a measurement of length, artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge ( ...

gun, one a 120 mm/45 caliber gun and the last was a 152mm/45 caliber gun. All three guns used fixed QF ammunition which produced a rate of fire of 15 rpm for the 75 mm gun, 12 rpm for the 122 mm gun and 10 rpm for the 152 mm gun. The Russians were impressed and in 1892 they negotiated a production license for all three guns.

Construction

75mm/50 caliber Pattern 1892 guns were produced at the Obukhov factory and the

Perm Perm or PERM may refer to: Places * Perm, Russia, a city in Russia **Permsky District, the district **Perm Krai, a federal subject of Russia since 2005 **Perm Oblast, a former federal subject of Russia 1938–2005 ** Perm Governorate, an administr ...

factory between 1892 and 1922. By 1901 the Obukhov factory had produced 234 guns, with another 268 produced between 1909 and 1917. The Perm factory produced 70 guns between 1900 and 1907, with another 155 produced between 1914 and 1922. The original naval mounts produced between 1892 and 1913 had low angles of elevation −7° to +20°. Mounts produced between 1914 and 1928 were high angle Zenit-Meller mounts −7° to +75° suitable for use as coastal artillery and anti-aircraft guns.

Coastal artillery and anti-aircraft use

It is estimated that 100 guns were left behind by the Russians in 1917 and used by the Finns. The majority of guns came from Russian coastal artillery installations with a smaller number being captured aboard warships the Russian Navy left behind. In 1924 the Finns still had 95 coastal artillery and anti-aircraft guns in their inventory. In 1941 it was estimated there were still 69 guns in active service with the

Soviet Navy The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

. In 1944 Finnish coastal artillery and Navy still had 66 guns, of which 10 guns were serving on ships.

Naval use

75/50 guns armed a variety of ships such as

armored cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a pre-dreadnought battles ...

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

dreadnought battleship The dreadnought was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an effect when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", ...

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...

minelayer A minelayer is any warship, submarine, military aircraft or land vehicle deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for ins ...

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

pre-dreadnought battleship Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built from the mid- to late- 1880s to the early 1900s. Their designs were conceived before the appearance of in 1906 and their classification as "pre-dreadnought" is retrospectively appli ...

protected cruiser Protected cruisers, a type of cruiser of the late 19th century, took their name from the armored deck, which protected vital machine-spaces from fragments released by explosive shells. Protected cruisers notably lacked a belt of armour alon ...

s and

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s of the Imperial Russian Navy. After the 1917

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

the successor states of Estonia, Finland, Poland and the Soviet Union all used this gun. The last Finnish warship to carry 75/50 guns was the minelayer , which was decommissioned in 1975.

Armored cruisers

* – The four ships of this class had a tertiary armament of twenty, 75/50 guns in single mounts. Eight were in

casemates A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armoured structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" mea ...

amidships. While another twelve were on single, shielded mounts. * – The two ships of this class had a tertiary armament consisting of two or four, 75/50 guns, on single mounts, after refits in 1910 and 1925.

Destroyers

* ''Lieutenant Shestakov'' class – The four ships of this class had a secondary armament of five, 75/50 guns, in single mounts.

Dreadnought battleships

* – Two ships of this class, the ''Sevastopol'' and ''Poltava'' had an AA armament of two, 75/50 guns, in single mounts, after 1916–1917 refits. * – The three ships of this class had an AA armament of three to eight, 75/50 guns, in single mounts.

Gunboats

* – The four ships of this class had a primary armament of one or two, 75/50 guns, in single mounts, fore and aft.

Light cruisers

* – One ship of this class the ''Chervona Ukraina'' had a secondary armament of four, 75/50 guns, in single mounts. * – One ship of this class the ''Svetlana'' had a secondary armament of four, 75/50 guns, in single mounts.

Minelayers

* – The two ships of this class had a primary armament of five, 75/50 guns, in single mounts. * – The two ships of this class had a primary armament of one, 75/50 gun, in forward, in single mounts.

Minesweepers

* – The two ships of this class had a primary armament of one, 75/50 gun, in forward, single mounts.

Pre-dreadnought battleships

* – The five ships of this class had a tertiary armament of twenty, casemated, 75/50 guns, in single mounts. * – The five ships of this class had a tertiary armament of fourteen, shielded, 75/50 guns, in single mounts. * – One ship of this class the ''Imperator Nikolay I'' had a tertiary armament of six or eight, 75/50 guns, in single mounts, after a 1904 refit. * – The three ships of this class had a tertiary armament of twenty, 75/50 guns, in single mounts. Of these guns, eight were mounted in casemates, four on the main deck, four on the battery deck and the last four at the corners of the superstructure on the forecastle deck.

Protected cruisers

* – The four ships of this class had a secondary armament of twelve, 75/50 guns, in single mounts. * – The two ships of this class had a secondary armament of twenty four, 75/50 guns, in single mounts. * – One ship of this class the ''Rynda'' had a secondary armament of four, 75/50 guns, in single mounts, after a 1905 refit.

Submarines

* – This class of twenty four ships had a secondary armament of one, 75/50 gun, on forward mounts. * – One ship of this class the ''Tyulen'' had a secondary armament of one, 75/50 gun, on a forward mount''.'' * ''Narval'' class – This class of three ships had a secondary armament of one or two, 75/50 guns, on single mounts.

Ammunition

Ammunition was of fixed QF type. A complete round weighed between . The gun was able to fire: *

Armor Piercing Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate armour protection, most often including naval armour, body armour, and vehicle armour. The first, major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat the t ...

High Explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

* Illumination * Incendiary * Shrapnel

Photo gallery

File:Russian 75 mm gun aboard Gromoboy.jpg, A Russian 75 mm/50 gun aboard cruiser ''Gromoboy''. File:Likhoy1918pushka.jpg, Russian destroyer Likhoy. File:75 50 C Kuivasaari.JPG, Imperial Russian Canet 75 mm/50 1892 naval gun in Kuivasaari. This gun has been rotated 180° so that the recoil springs are on top of the barrel to increase elevation. File:75 50 O Kuivasaari 2.JPG, Imperial Russian Canet 75 mm/50 1892 naval gun on Obukhov carriage in Kuivasaari. File:75 50 OH Kuivasaari.JPG, Imperial Russian 75 mm model 1892 Canet gun on 152 mm naval howitzer carriage in Kuivasaari. 75 mm Canet on howitzer carriage could be used as anti-aircraft gun, and eight guns were modified in Finland to fire 76 mm Bofors shells.

References

Notes

External links

* http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNRussian_29-50_m1891.php * http://www.jaegerplatoon.net/COASTAL_ARTILLERY1.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:75 mm 50 caliber Pattern 1892 Artillery of the Russian Empire Russo-Japanese war weapons of Russia Artillery of the Soviet Union Coastal artillery 75 mm artillery Obukhov State Plant products World War I anti-aircraft guns