The RML 64-pounder 58 cwt guns (converted) were British rifled muzzle-loading guns converted from obsolete

smoothbore A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars. Some examples of smoothbore weapons are muskets, blunderbusses, and flintlock pistols. ...

32-pounder 58 cwt guns."58 cwt" refers to the gun's weight rounded up to differentiate it from other "64-pounder" guns : 1 cwt = 112 pounds.

Design

When Britain adopted

rifled Rifling is the term for helical grooves machined into the internal surface of a firearms's barrel for imparting a spin to a projectile to improve its aerodynamic stability and accuracy. It is also the term (as a verb) for creating such groove ...

ordnance in the 1860s it still had large stocks of serviceable but now obsolete

guns. Gun barrels were expensive to manufacture, so the best and most recent models were selected for conversion to rifled guns, for use as second-line ordnance, using a technique designed by

William Palliser Sir William Palliser CB MP (18 June 1830 – 4 February 1882) was an Irish-born politician and inventor, Member of Parliament for Taunton from 1880 until his death. Early life Born in Dublin on 18 June 1830, Palliser was the fourth of the eig ...

. The Palliser conversion was based on what was accepted as a sound principle that the strongest material in the barrel construction should be innermost, and hence a new tube of stronger wrought iron was inserted in the old cast iron barrel, rather than attempting to reinforce the old barrel from the outside.Treatise on Construction and Manufacture of Service Ordnance, 1879, pages 233-238, 292 This gun was based on the

cast-iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

barrel of the Dundas Pattern 32-pounder 58 cwt gun, which previously fired a 32-pound solid shot. The gun was bored out to 10.5 inches and a new built-up

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

inner tube with inner diameter of 6.29 inches was inserted and fastened in place. The gun was then rifled with 3 grooves, with a uniform twist of 1 turn in 40 calibres (i.e. 1 turn in 252 inches), and proof fired. The proof firing also served to expand the new tube slightly and ensure a tight fit in the old iron tube.

Ammunition

The 64-pounder used three types of ammunition. This ammunition was common to the other natures of 64 pounder gun - the 71 cwt converted gun and the 64 cwt gun. Although many guns were sited on coastal artillery positions, their effectiveness again armour of heavily armoured ships was limited. Common shell could be used against buildings or fortifications,

shrapnel shell Shrapnel shells were anti-personnel artillery munitions that carried many individual bullets close to a target area and then ejected them to allow them to continue along the shell's trajectory and strike targets individually. They relied almost ...

(for use any Infantry or Cavalry) and

case shot Canister shot is a kind of anti-personnel artillery ammunition. It has been used since the advent of gunpowder-firing artillery in Western armies, and saw particularly frequent use on land and at sea in the various wars of the 18th and 19th cent ...

(for close range use against 'soft' targets. Ignition was through a copper lined vent at the breech end of the gun. A copper friction tube would be inserted and a lanyard attached. When the lanyard was pulled the tube would ignite, firing the gun. A number of different fuzes could be used enabling shells to either burst at a pre-determined time (and range), or on impact. Guns were fired using a silk bag containing a black powder propellant. A typical rate of fire was one round every three minutes.

Deployment

This nature of gun was designed for both land and sea service, though for the latter it was increasingly obsolete not long after introduction. It was used widely all across the British Empire. It did see Naval Service (NS) with the Naval Forces of the Colony of Victoria in Australia aboard the ex Ship-of-the-Line Nelson. To maintain maximum capability the gunners aboard the Nelson were drilled for both Smooth Bore and Rifled ammunition, and so the guns retained the original Millar Pattern sights as well as having one set of R.M.L. sights placed to the right of the centre line - otherwise the sighting arrangement normally used in British service was a single set of R.M.L. sights on the centre line. The mountings used on this vessel were Wood Naval Standing Carriages. The gun mountings for coast defence in both British and colonial locations varied enormously. Carriages in both wood and iron varied in complexity – from a simple wooden garrison carriage, right through to some guns mounted on Moncrieff

Disappearing gun A disappearing gun, a gun mounted on a ''disappearing carriage'', is an obsolete type of artillery which enabled a gun to hide from direct fire and observation. The overwhelming majority of carriage designs enabled the gun to rotate bac ...

carriages. Some, such as the depressing type carriages at Gibraltar were unique to their location. Some mountings were designed on mountings which provided some protection for their crews. Many were mounted on wooden garrison carriages on open platforms and were used for gun drill, as well as range practice. They became obsolete for coast artillery use in 1902, whereupon many were scrapped and disposed of.

Gallery

Image:RML 64 pounder 58 cwt gun on wooden garrison carriage.jpg, Gun on simple wooden garrison carriage showing sights fitted and Allen Brake to reduce recoil Image:Cannon in Gibraltar.JPG, Gun on iron depression carriage, Gibraltar Image:British 64 Pounder Rifled Muzzle-Loaded (RML) Gun on Moncrieff disappearing mount, at Scaur Hill Fort, Bermuda.jpg, Gun on Moncrieff disappearing mount, at Scaur Hill Fort,

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

File:City hall st georges bermuda.jpg, Two guns on metal carriages at the Town Hall of St. George's Town, facing onto the Queen's Square Image:Iron 64lb RML at Fort Nelson.JPG, Gun on 'C' pivot traversing platform at Fort Nelson

Surviving examples

Gun number 70, dated 1871 on wooden traversing carriage

Royal Citadel, Plymouth The Royal Citadel in Plymouth, Devon, England, was built in the late 1660s to the design of Sir Bernard de Gomme. It is at the eastern end of Plymouth Hoe overlooking Plymouth Sound, and encompasses the site of the earlier fort that had been bu ...

, Devon, UK * Gun number 101, dated 1873 at

Royal Armouries The Royal Armouries is the United Kingdom's national collection of arms and armour. Once an important part of England's military organization, it became the United Kingdom's oldest museum, and one of the oldest museums in the world. It is als ...

Fort Nelson, Hampshire Fort Nelson, in the civil parish of Boarhunt in the English county of Hampshire, is one of five defensive forts built on the summit of Portsdown Hill in the 1860s, overlooking the important naval base of Portsmouth and is a Grade I Listed Buil ...

, UK
Gun number 188, dated 1873 on wooden traversing carriage

, Devon, UK
Gun number 220, dated 1873 on wooden traversing carriage

, Devon, UK
Gun number 225, dated 1873 on wooden traversing carriage

, Devon, UK
Gun number 237 dated 1874, one of a pair located in Digby, Nova Scotia, Canada

, Devon, UK
Gun number 327 dated 1874 – one of a number of examples on iron depression carriages, Gibraltar – from Flickr

Gun number 401, dated 1874
Prince Edward Battery,

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

, Canada
Gun number 414, dated 1874
Prince Edward Battery,

, Canada
Gun number 420, dated 1874
Prince Edward Battery,

, Canada
Gun number 448, dated 1874
Prince Edward Battery,

, Canada
Gun number 507, dated 1875 on wooden traversing carriage

, Devon, UK
Gun number 550, dated 1876 on wooden garrison standing carriage

, Devon, UK
Gun number 577, dated 1875 on wooden garrison standing carriage

, Devon, UK * Gun number 581, dated 1876 at

, UK
Gun number 611, dated 1876 on wooden traversing carriage

, Devon, UK * Gun number 615, dated 1877 at Fort Cumberland, New Brunswick, Canada * Gun number 619, dated 1875 at

, UK
Gun number 622, dated 1875 on wooden garrison standing carriage

, Devon, UK * Gun number 774, dated 1877 preserved at Scaur Hill Fort,

Gun number 798, dated 1877 at King's Square, St George Bermuda
* Several guns from HMVS ''Nelson'' can be found scattered around the State of Victoria, Australia in public areas, as well as two on military premises at

Victoria Barracks, Melbourne Victoria Barracks Melbourne is an Australian Government building located on St Kilda Road in Melbourne, Australia. It was constructed in the mid-to-late 19th century as barracks for Colonial forces of Australia, British colonial forces in Austra ...

, and one at

Fort Queenscliff Fort Queenscliff, in Victoria, Australia, dates from 1860 when an open battery was constructed on Shortland's Bluff to defend the entrance to Port Phillip. The Fort, which underwent major redevelopment in the late 1870s and 1880s, became the he ...

Notes

References

Bibliography

Treatise on the Construction and Manufacture of Ordnance in the British Service. War Office, UK, 1879

External links

Handbook for the 64 – pr. R. M. L. converted guns of 58 and 71 cwt. L. S., 1887, 1892, 1898, 1902
at State Library of Victoria {{VictorianEraBritishWeapons 160 mm artillery Coastal artillery Victorian-era weapons of the United Kingdom Disappearing guns