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Flower Corvettes with 6pdr Hotchkiss


ted15

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Best I can come up with is this, from Flower Class Corvettes by John Lambert and Les Brown (Ship Craft, 2008):

"In 1943-44 a small number of Flowers had their bridge Oerlikons replaced by two 6pdr Hotchkiss QF (quick-firing) guns on the non-recoil mounting. The theory was that the 4in gun was too slow and the 6pdr with its higher rate of fire would increase the chances of sinking a surfaced U-boat. The gun dated from 1884 when it had been introduced as a defence against enemy torpedo boats. It required the same crew as the 20mm mounting, a gunlayer and a breechworker/loader. It was not nomrally fitted with a gun shield. The bore of the gun was 2.244in (57mm) with a muzzle velocity of 2380-2356ft/sec. The gun weighed 7.5 cwt and the shell weighed 9lb 7 5/16 oz complete. The gun mounting was a simple frame of angled plates. Its higher rate of fire was commendable but there is no record of success in its intended task."

"6 pounder Hotchkiss QF Mark I gun on non-recoil mounting 1941: originally introduced in 1884 for defence against torpedo boats,this gun was mounted in the fighting tops of capital ships and cruisers. A limited number were drawn from store in the middle years of the war and fitted on the very basic mounting shown here in the bridge wings of a few corvettes. An Admiralty Confidential Book of April 1944 lists twenty corvettes so fitted although one (HMCS Brandon) is credited with 3pdrs."

In Canada's Flowers (Thomas G Lynch, Nimbus, 1983) there is (p.81) a clear photo of the starboard 3pdr on HMCS Brandon. Caption reads: " HMCS Brandon in Halifax harbor, Nova Scotia, 24 November 1943. Brandon was one of the odd-balls in the corvette horde, having a pair of matched Hotchkiss 3-pounders on the bridge wings. This was not a temporary fit either. Another view in the author's possession, dated May 1944, shows the other, or port, Hotchkiss still fitted. No other Canadian corvette had these fitted for this length of time and these were much more common on early Fairmiles."

A clear photo of Brandon's bridge layout, also in November 1943, in Corvettes of the Royal Canadian Navy 1939-1945 (Marc Milner, Vanwell, 2002) (p.58) bears this out. In the starboard Oerlikon position are visible the legs of something that looks just like the non-recoil mounting drawn by Roberts in the book above and completely unlike the pedestal of an Oerlikon. The gun itself is not in shot. .

Returning to the actual subject of your question, these links also suggest that Hotchkiss 6-pdrs were used:

http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_6pounder_m1.htm

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?/topic/95533-3-6-pdr-hotchkiss-in-wwii-mtbs-mgbs-mls-etc/

[NB reference to Flower class in 4th post, saving me from quoting John Campbell's Naval Weapons of World war Two.]

Peppering my shots all round the target, I fear, but I hope the above is of some interest/help.

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