TheQF 3-pounder Hotchkiss or in French useCanon Hotchkiss à tir rapide de 47 mm were a family of long-lived light47 mm naval guns introduced in 1886 to defend against new, small and fast vessels such as torpedo boats and later submarines. There were many variants produced, often under license, which ranged in length from 32 to 50calibers but 40 caliber was the most common version. They were widely used by the navies of a number of nations and often used by both sides in a conflict. They were also used ashore ascoastal defense guns and later as ananti-aircraft gun, whether on improvised or specializedHA/LA mounts.

Hotchkiss 47 mm L/40 M1885 & QF 3-pounder
ARoyal Navy 3-pounder gun on acentral pivot mount in 1915.
Type	Naval gun Anti-aircraft gun Coastal artillery
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1886–1950s
Used by	See users section
Wars	See wars section
Production history
Designer	Hotchkiss
Designed	1885
Manufacturer	Hotchkiss et Cie
Produced	1886
No. built	2,950 (UK)
Variants	32 to 50 calibers in length[1]
Specifications
Mass	240 kg (530 lb)
Length	2 m (6 ft 7 in)
Barrel length	1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) 40 caliber
Shell	Fixed QF 47 × 376 mm R Complete: 3 kg (6.6 lb) Projectile: 1.5 kg (3.3 lb)[2]
Calibre	47 mm (1.9 in)
Breech	Verticalsliding-wedge
Elevation	Dependent on mount
Rate of fire	30 rpm[3]
Muzzle velocity	571 m/s (1,870 ft/s)
Maximum firing range	5.9 km (3.7 mi) at +20° 4.5 km (2.8 mi) at +80°

The French Navy used two versions of the Hotchkiss 3-pounder: the short-barreled40-caliber M1885 and the long-barreled50-caliber M1902, which had a largermuzzle velocity than its predecessor.^{[1]: 228–229} The French L/40 M1885 and the British QF 3-pounder were largely the same gun.^[4] Like the British who paired their 3-pounders with the largerQF 6-pounder Hotchkiss the French often paired theirs with theCanon de 65 mm Modèle 1891 sometimes called a 9-pounder in English publications. The 3-pounder was primarily used as anti-torpedo boat defense aboardarmored cruisers,destroyers,ironclads,pre-dreadnought battleships,protected cruisers andsubmarines. During World War I, the role of the guns changed from anti-torpedo boat defense to anti-aircraft defense and new high angle mounts were developed but were found to be ineffective.

TheLiberté-class andDanton-class battleships mounted the gun, in addition to the cruisersJules Michelet,Ernest Renan, and those of theEdgar Quinet-class. It was used as the standard French shipboard anti-aircraft gun during World War I, being replaced by theCanon de 75 mm modèle 1908.^[1]

After World War I the majority of 3-pounders in the anti-aircraft role were replaced with either the anti-aircraft version of theCanon de 75 modèle 1897 or theCanon de 75 mm modèle 1924.^[5]French ships armed with the L/40 M1885 and L/50 M1902 include:

A 3-pounder Hotchkiss was used on an improvised mounting in abattle that resulted in Australia's first prisoners of World War 2 being captured nearBerbera in 1940.^[6] The guns are now used in a Three Pound Saluting Gun Battery at theGarden Island Naval Base.^[7]

TheAustro-Hungarian Navy used two versions of the Hotchkiss 3-pounder. The first was the short47 mm SFK L/33 H of 1890 produced under license by Skoda. The second was the long47 mm SFK L/44 S of 1897 produced under license by Skoda. These two guns were the primary rapid fire anti-torpedo boat guns of many ships built or refitted between 1890 and 1918.^[8] On 16 August 1914 at theBattle of Antivari, the Austro-Hungarian protected cruiserSMS Zenta was sunk by a combined Anglo-French force. Both sides in the battle were armed with Hotchkiss guns.

Austro-Hungarian ships armed with the L/33 and L/44 include:

China adopted the Hotchkiss 3-pounder in the 1880s, to arm its cruisers and smaller auxiliaries; theHai Yung-class cruisers of theImperial Chinese Navy built byAG Vulcan Stettin were armed withNordenfelt 3-pounder guns firing the same ammunition. During theFirst Sino-Japanese war, ships of both sides were armed with Hotchkiss 3-pounder guns.

Chinese ships armed with 3-pounder guns include:

Italy adopted the Hotchkiss 3-pounder in the 1880s to arm itsarmored cruisers,battleships, protected cruisers, torpedo boats andtorpedo cruisers. Ships on both sides of theItalo-Turkish war were armed with 3-pounder guns. The Italians carried Hotchkiss and Vickers guns, while theOttoman Navy carried Nordenfelt guns.^[9]

Italian ships armed with 3-pounder guns include:

Japan adopted the Hotchkiss 3-pounder 5-barrelrevolving cannon in the 1880s and later adopted the simpler single-barrel quick-firing weapon. The Japanese versions of the 3-pounder were known asYamanouchi guns and were largely identical to their British equivalents.^[4] The Japanese also had a related 30 caliber 2½-pounder gun from Elswick, the Yamanouchi Mk I. During theRusso-Japanese War, ships of both sides were armed with Hotchkiss 3-pounder guns. The Japanese found them to be ineffective and removed them after the war.

Japanese ships armed with 3-pounder guns include:

Polish47 mm Hotchkiss guns named the wz.1885 gun, were used on first ships of the Polish Navy, received after World War I, like ex-German torpedo boats and minesweepers. By the time of World War II most had been replaced on naval ships but several stored guns were used in combat on improvised stationary mounts byLand Coastal Defence units in theBattle of Kępa Oksywska in September 1939.^{[11][page needed]}

TheRomanian Navy used the Škoda-produced version of the gun. The gun was used as secondary and later tertiary armament on the Romanian monitors of theBrătianu-class. It also served as the main armament of theCăpitan Nicolae Lascăr Bogdan-class of armored multi-purpose boats, each of the 8 boats carrying one gun.^[12][13]

Russia adopted the Hotchkiss 3-pounder 5-barrel revolving cannon in the 1880s, and later adopted the less complicated single-barrel 43 caliber quick-firing weapon. The 5-barrel guns were equipped on theEkaterina II-class battleships commissioned in 1889 but by 1892 the battleshipDvenadsat Apostolov and her successors had single-barrel weapons. In 1888 licensed production of a Russian variant started at theObukhov State Plant.^[15] During the Russo-Japanese War, ships of both sides were armed with Hotchkiss 3-pounders, which were found to be ineffective against Japanese torpedo boats and were removed from first-line warships after the war. TheEvstafi class, commissioned in 1910 ceased carrying the weapon but they were later fitted to patrol vessels and river craft duringWorld War I and at least 62 weapons were converted toanti-aircraft guns by 1917.^[14]

Russian ships armed with 3-pounder guns include:

In 1886 this gun was the first of the modernQuick-firing (QF) artillery to be adopted by theRoyal Navy as theOrdnance QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss, built under licence by theElswick Ordnance Company.^[16]

By the middle of World War I the Hotchkiss gun was obsolescent and was gradually replaced by the more powerfulOrdnance QF 3 pounder Vickers gun. Of the 2,950 produced it is estimated that 1,948 were still available in 1939 for RN use.^[17] The availability, simplicity and light weight of the gun kept it in use in small vessels and many were later brought back into service on merchant vessels used for auxiliary duties inWorld War II or assaluting guns and sub-calibre guns for gunnery practice until the 1950s. Early in WWII, it was also pressed into service in ports around the British Empire, to defend against possible incursions by motor torpedo boats, until the modernQF 6 pounder 10 cwt gun became available. Two, brought from Gibraltar in the late 1990s, are still in use on Victory Green in the Falkland Islands for saluting purposes.

Royal Navy ships armed with QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns included:

TheUS Navy used several types of 3-pounder guns from multiple manufacturers and it is difficult to determine from references which type a particular ship carried.Hotchkiss 3-pounder 5-barrelrevolving cannons were used, along with single-barrelquick-firing single-shot Hotchkiss 3-pounders. Both are called rapid-firing (RF) in references. Ships on both sides in the Spanish–American War were armed with Hotchkiss 3-pounders. Although removed from first-line warships by World War I, some 3-pounders were fitted on patrol vessels, with a few weapons serving on those ships through World War II.^[1][17]

The most common types of ammunition available for 3-pounder guns were low yieldSteel shells andcommon lyddite shells. In World War II higher yieldhigh explosive rounds were produced.

•  
  Model of gun in French service on "elastic frame" mounting (affût-crinoline), at theMusée national de la Marine Paris.
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  TheNoonday gun atCauseway Bay, Hong Kong
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  Two of the four operational QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss cannons aboardARA Libertad
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  Russian Hotchkiss gun on a field carriage.Military-historical Museum of Artillery, Engineer and Signal Corps. St. Petersburg Russia.
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  A 3-pounder coastal-defense gun atPort Jackson 1942.
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  A Russian 3-pounder on a Renault armored car 1917.
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  TheImperial Russian cruiser Rossia. 3-pounders at the bottom left/right.
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  A French 3-pounder on a 90 mm gun carriage.

• The Jardines Noonday gun atCauseway Bay,Hong Kong.
• A gun at theRoyal Queensland Yacht Squadron, Manly, Queensland, Australia.^[20]
• Two guns on "elastic frame" mounting in the Casemate de l'Aschenbach,Uffheim, Haut-Rhin, France.^[21]
• A saluting battery of multiple guns atFort Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia.
• Four guns on thetall shipLibertad, which serves as aschool ship in theArgentine Navy; all fully operational as saluting battery or multipurpose defense.^[22]
• 3 guns used for ceremonial purposes atHMS Drake.
• 4 guns used for ceremonial purposes atFort Blockhouse.
• National Museum of the United States Navy has one on display with 1910 brass gun sight and slide manufactured at theNaval Gun Factory.

• QF 3 pounder Nordenfelt : Nordenfelt equivalent
• QF 3 pounder Vickers : Vickers equivalent
• 5 cm SK L/40 gun : German equivalent

• Campbell, John (1985).Naval Weapons of World War Two. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 978-0-87021-459-2.
• Friedman, Norman (2011).Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth.ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
• Langensiepen, Bernd & Güleryüz, Ahmet (1995).The Ottoman Steam Navy 1828–1923. London: Conway Maritime Press.ISBN 978-0-85177-610-1.
• Tym, Wacław; Rzepniewski, Andrzej (1985).Kępa Oksywska 1939: relacja uczestników walk lądowych [Oksywska Fort 1939: Relations of Combatants on Land] (in Polish). Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Morskie.ISBN 978-83-215-7210-9.

• Handbook of the 3 pounder Hotchkiss quick-firing gun Land service 1892, 1900 at State Library of Victoria
• Handbook for Hotchkiss 6-pr and 3-pr. quick-firing guns 1896 at State Library of Victoria
• Tony DiGiulian,British Hotchkiss 3-pdr (1.4 kg) (1.85"/40 (47 mm)) QF Marks I and II
• DiGiulian, Tony, US 3-pounders
• DiGiulian, Tony, Russian Hotchkiss 3-pounders