Naval gun
The
Canon de 100 mm Modele 1891
was a French
naval gun
developed in the late 1800s that armed a variety of warships before
World War I
and during
World War II
. In addition to its naval role it was also deployed as
coastal artillery
.
History
[
edit
]
The Canon de 100 mm Modele 1891 was French naval gun designed by the French designer
Gustave Canet
and produced at
Schneider et Cie
of
Le Creusot
in 1889. Five models of varying length were produced: Modele 1891, Modele 1892, Modele 1893, Modele 1895 and Modele 1897. At some point in the guns development there was a switch from
Separate loading QF
ammunition to
Fixed QF ammunition
.
[2]
However the dimensions of the guns and their performance stayed largely the same.
[1]
Construction
[
edit
]
The Modele 1891 was constructed of an A tube, with a Canet screw breech which screwed onto the A tube. There was also a jacket and three layers of reinforcing hoops which all screwed into the breech.
[1]
Naval Use
[
edit
]
Canon de 100 mm Modele 1891 guns armed a variety of ships such as
armored cruisers
,
coastal defense ships
,
destroyers
,
gunboats
,
minesweepers
,
pre-dreadnought
battleships
,
protected cruisers
and
seaplane tenders
of the
French
,
Bulgarian
,
Haitian
,
Polish
,
Portuguese
,
Romanian
and
Turkish
navies.
Armored cruisers
[
edit
]
- Gloire
class
- The five ships of this class had an anti-
torpedo boat
armament consisting of six
casemated
, 100 mm guns, in single mounts, amidships.
- Dupleix
class
- The three ships of this class had a secondary armament consisting of four 100 mm guns, in single mounts, on the
forecastle
deck.
- Gueydon
class
- The three ships of this class had an anti-torpedo boat armament consisting of four 100 mm guns, in single mounts, on the
forecastle
deck.
Coastal defense ships
[
edit
]
- Bouvines
class
- The two ships of this class had an anti-torpedo boat armament consisting of eight 100 mm guns. Four were mounted in individual casemates. The other four were on single
pivot mounts
with
gun shields
on the shelter deck directly above the four casemated guns on the corners of the
superstructure
.
Destroyers
[
edit
]
- Aventurier
class
- The four ships of this class had a primary armament consisting of four, 100 mm guns. One was on the forecastle, one between the funnels, and two on the
quarterdeck
, in front and behind the searchlight platform.
- Bisson
class
- The six ships of this class had a primary armament consisting of two, 100 mm guns, on single mounts, fore and aft.
- Bouclier
class
- The twelve ships of this class had a primary armament consisting of two, 100 mm guns, on single mounts, fore and aft.
- Enseigne Roux
class
- The two ships of this class had a primary armament consisting of two, 100 mm guns, on single mounts, fore and aft.
Gunboats
[
edit
]
- Crete-a-Pierrot
- This ship had a tertiary armament consisting of four, 100 mm guns, on single mounts.
- K class river gunboats - The four ships of this class had a primary armament consisting of two,
shielded
, 100 mm guns, on single mounts, fore and aft.
- Surprise
class
- The three ships of this class had a primary armament consisting of two, shielded, 100 mm guns, on single mounts, fore and aft.
- Nadezhda
- This ship had a primary armament consisting of two, shielded, deck-mounted guns on single mounts.
Minesweepers
[
edit
]
- Chamois
class
- The five ships of this class commissioned before World War II had a primary armament consisting of one, shielded, 100 mm gun, on a forward mount, due to shortages of the intended 100/45 M1933 guns.
Pre-dreadnought battleships
[
edit
]
- Bouvet
- This ship had an anti-torpedo boat armament consisting of eight, 100 mm guns, in single mounts, amidships.
- Charlemagne
class
- The three ships of this class had an anti-torpedo boat armament consisting of eight, shielded, 100 mm guns, in single mounts on the superstructure.
- Iena
- This ship had an anti-torpedo boat armament consisting of eight, shielded, 100 mm guns, in single mounts on the shelter deck.
- Massena
- This ship had an anti-torpedo boat armament consisting of eight, 100 mm guns, in single mounts, amidships.
- Suffren
- This ship had an anti-torpedo boat armament consisting of eight, shielded, 100 mm guns, in single mounts, on the shelter deck and on the superstructure.
Protected cruisers
[
edit
]
- Destrees
class
- The two ships of this class had a secondary armament consisting of four shielded, 100 mm guns, in
sponsons
, amidships.
- Linois
class
- The three ships of this class had a secondary armament consisting of two 100 mm guns, in single mounts.
Seaplane tender
[
edit
]
- Foudre
- This ship had a primary armament consisting of eight 100 mm guns, in single mounts.
Coastal artillery
[
edit
]
In addition to their naval role this family of guns was also used as coastal artillery by France and Poland. A number of unmodified coastal artillery guns were sent to the front during World War I where they were mounted on
pedestal mounts
on concrete slabs. In French service there were two main models the
Canon de 100 mm Modele 1889 T97
and
Canon de 100 mm Modele 1897 T97
.
[3]
Poland had two Modele 1891 guns in service as coastal artillery under the designation Canet 100 mm wz. 1891.
[4]
The two Polish guns were purchased in March 1924 with a French loan to rearm the Polish army. They were intended to arm two ex-Russian
Filin
-class
gunboats purchased from Finland the
ORP General Haller
and
ORP Komendant Pilsudski
. However it was found that the guns were too heavy for the ships and two Russian made Canet
75mm 50 caliber Pattern 1892
were fitted instead.
[5]
In 1932 the two guns formed the 13th coastal artillery battery was created at
Oksywie
to defend the approaches to the Port of
Gdynia
. In September 1939 the captain of the battery was Capt. Art. Antoni Ratajczyk and his deputy was Mar. Stanislaw Brychcy. One of the guns was knocked out of action on the first day of fighting, while second gun fired over a hundred rounds before being captured.
[6]
Field artillery
[
edit
]
Although the majority of combatants had long range field artillery prior to the outbreak of the First World War, none had adequate numbers of long range guns in service, nor had they foreseen the growing importance of long range artillery once the
Western Front
stagnated and
trench warfare
set in. The theorists hadn't foreseen that trenches, barbed wire, and machine guns had robbed them of the mobility they had been counting on and the combatants scrambled to find anything that could provide long range
counter battery fire
. This meant emptying the fortresses and scouring the depots for guns held in reserve. It also meant converting
coastal artillery
and
naval guns
by either giving them simple field carriages or mounting the larger pieces on rail carriages.
[7]
During 1914 a number guns mounted on the carriage of the
Canon de 155 long modele 1877
and the new guns were given the designation
Canon de 100 mm TR mle 1897
.
[8]
The gun was fairly conventional for its time and most nations had similar guns such as the German
15 cm Ring Kanone L/30
which was also a converted naval gun. Like many of its contemporaries, it had a tall and narrow box trail carriage built from bolted iron plates with two wooden spoked wheels. The carriages were tall because the guns were designed to sit behind a parapet with the barrel overhanging the front. Like its contemporaries, its carriage did not have a recoil mechanism or a gun shield. However, the guns could be connected to an external recoil mechanism which connected to a steel eye on a firing platform and a hook on the carriage between the wheels. A set of wooden ramps were also placed behind the wheels and when the gun fired the wheels rolled up the ramp and was returned to position by gravity. There was also no traverse so the gun had to be levered into position to aim. A drawback of this system was the gun had to be re-aimed each time which lowered the rate of fire. The wheels could be fitted with detachable
grousers
designed by the Italian major Crispino Bonagente for traction on soft ground and these consisted of rectangular plates connected with elastic links and are visible in many photographs of World War I artillery from all of the combatants. For transport, the gun was broken down into two loads for towing by horse teams or artillery tractors.
When the barrels of the Canon de 100 mm TR were worn out they were rebored to fire 105 mm ammunition from the
Canon de 105 mle 1913 Schneider
during 1917 and the new model was called the
Canon de 105 mm mle 1897
. However, the new model didn't remain in service long and wasn't considered a success.
[8]
Ammunition
[
edit
]
Ammunition was
fixed QF type
100 x 869 mm R . A complete cartridge weighed 24 kg (53 lb) and projectiles weighed 14?16 kg (31?35 lb).
[9]
The gun was able to fire:
Users
[
edit
]
Gallery
[
edit
]
-
A Canon de 100 from the
Nadezhda
at the Naval Museum
Varna
Bulgaria.
-
A gunnery drill aboard a French ship in the Mediterranean during World War I.
-
A Canon de 100 in
Flanders
Belgium during the First World War.
-
A Canon de 100 in use as a field gun.
-
A Canon de 100 mm Modele 1897.
-
A Canon de 105 mm Modele 1897 with elastic wheels.
References
[
edit
]
- Friedman, Norman (2011).
Naval Weapons of World War One
. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth.
ISBN
978-1-84832-100-7
.
Notes
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]