The RML 8-inch howitzer was a British Rifled, Muzzle Loading (RML)

Howitzer A howitzer () is a long-ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an Artillery, artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a Mortar (weapon), mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and de ...

manufactured in England in the 19th century, which fired a projectile weighing approximately . It was used in siege batteries and in fortifications.

Design and manufacture

The gun consisted of an 'A' tube of toughened steel, over which was shrunk a 'B' tube of wrought iron and jacket. A cascable was fitted at the end. The original 46 cwt howitzer was

rifled In firearms, rifling is machining helical grooves into the internal (bore) surface of a gun's barrel for the purpose of exerting torque and thus imparting a spin to a projectile around its longitudinal axis during shooting to stabilize the ...

on the "Woolwich" pattern with 4 spiral grooves in which studs protruding from the projectile engaged to impart spin; the later 70 cwt howitzer was rifled on the "Polygroove" pattern with 24 grooves and projectiles had " Automatic gas-checks" attached to the base which engaged the grooves. Three planes were machined on the upper surface of the Howitzer, for use with quadrants enabling it to be elevated to 30 degrees. This enabled the gun to be sighted for indirect, or direct fire.

Ammunition

RML 8-inch 46 cwt howitzer studded common shell diagram

46- and 70 cwt guns differed in number and type of rifling grooves so studded projectiles were only available for 46 cwt guns, and different automatic gas checks were required for studless projectiles. Guns were fired using a silk bag containing a black powder propellant. They used three types of ammunition – Common shell (for use against buildings or fortifications),

shrapnel shell Shrapnel shells were anti-personnel artillery munitions which 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 almo ...

(for use any Infantry or Cavalry) and

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

(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. A typical rate of fire was one round per minute.

Operation

The Howitzer was normally deployed in batteries of four guns. Each gun was pulled by a team of elephants. It had a crew of nine men. In addition to each gun, a limbered ammunition trailer was also deployed with each gun.

Service history

Rifled Muzzle Loading howitzers were selected by the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in the 1870s to replace obsolete smooth bore Mortars and howitzers, as they had great range and accuracy. They were only semi-mobile and were used by Garrison batteries of the Royal Artillery in India, drawn by elephants, or kept in fixed emplacements or fortifications. For example, by the 1890s

Fort Widley Fort Widley is one of the forts built on top of Portsdown Hill between 1860 and 1868 on the recommendation of the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom. It was designed, along with the other Palmerston Forts atop Portsdown, to pro ...

had two howitzers on travelling siege carriages that could be moved to wherever they were needed. Some were used by batteries of reserve units in the United Kingdom. The

2nd Kent Artillery Volunteers The 2nd Kent Artillery Volunteers, later 4th London Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, popularly known as the Lewisham Gunners, was a volunteer unit of the British Army from 1860 until 1967. Initially raised in suburban West Kent, its recruiting ar ...

conducted practise with them at Lydd in 1903.Ikin, C W, Maj, Lewisham Gunners: A centenary history of 291st(4th London)Field Regiment,R.A.(T.A.),formerly 2nd Kent R.G.A.(Volunteers), (1962), p8

Surviving examples

* A 70 cwt variant is preserved at Fort Rinella,

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Captain John F Owen R.A.
"Treatise on the Construction and Manufacture of Ordnance in the British Service"
Prepared in the Royal Gun Factory, London, 1877, pages 177–178, 292.
Text Book of Gunnery, 1902. LONDON : PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE

External links

YouTube video showing demonstration of firing blank cartridge at Fort Rinella

YouTube video showing demonstration of firing blank cartridge at Fort Rinella

at State Library of Victoria * ttp://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/104142 Handbook for the 8-inch R.M.L. howitzer of 46 cwt Mark I on bed and siege platform or on siege travelling carriage land serviceat State Library of Victoria
Handbook for the 8-inch R.M.L. howitzer of 46 cwt Mark II for movable armament or armament of works 1900
at State Library of Victoria
Handbook for the 8-inch R.M.L. howitzer of 70 cwt marks I and II on siege travelling carriage Land service 1886
at State Library of Victoria

at State Library of Victoria {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Artillery of the United Kingdom Howitzers Siege artillery Victorian-era weapons of the United Kingdom