I'd never heard of this until very recently. It struck me as strange because the British at that time did not use millimetres for gun calibre (they would have said QF 13pdr, or QF 3in, for example). It took me a while to get to see this gun, but here it is:
Can anybody offer any more information on these guns (there is another in the War Museum, Ottawa)? How did the British get some 77mm guns, and when? Is "RGF" Royal Gun Factory?
There's at least one 77mm QF Mk.1 in Australia. Attached is a gun at Mannum in South Australia. This has the markings:
Q.F. 77 M/M MK1 R.G.F. 1918 NO41. N
(Breech ring)
Nr 9151 Fr.Kp.
1917 Fr.Kp.
(data from www.tributesofhonour.info)
The conversion of this gun seems to have been done by the Royal Gun Factory at Woolwich, London. Afaik RCD is the Royal Carriage Department a separate factory within the Arsenal at Woolwich.
I believe that something like 100 FK 96 n.As were converted to emergency merchant shipping guns. The idea seems to have been to equip merchant ships with guns to offer some sort of defence against U-boats. It was U-boat practice to surface and engage single merchant ships with guns before the adoption of convoys.
Regards,
Charlie
-- Edited by CharlieC on Thursday 28th of June 2012 11:23:27 PM
I think it is a captured german 7,7-cm FK 96 tube mounted on improvised mount for use on merchant ships.An other gun with same mounting and similar marks is in Australia. The high number 8368 and "Fr Kp" confirm german origin of this gun made by Krupp during the war. The french navy used some captured 7,7-cm german guns on special mounts to arm merchant ships against the U-Boats. Yours sincerely, Guy François.
Thanks, Guy. Definitely a Krupp 77fk96 on a pedestal mounting.
I'm just wondering if anybody knows anything about when all those 77fk96s were captured - this is number 34 - taken to England, re-mounted, and issued out to the field? Seems like a lot of guns, so I'm surprised the topic hasn't come up before. Ordinarily when you see British anti-aircraft guns they are the deDion Bouton, or the modified 13pdr on Thornycroft, or the 3in.
The same type of "beute Feldgeschütz" () can be seen in the War Museum in Ottawa, but that one's pedestal mount is made by a different factory, ie it is not "RGF", but it is the same design.
Would this have been mounted on a truck, or a ship's deck? Or a roof of a building?
) can be seen in the War Museum in Ottawa, but that one's pedestal mount is made by a different factory, ie it is not "RGF", but it is the same design.
