I’m trying to figure out how some weapons would perform if they’re added to the game. In particular, the five I’m looking information on are the:
- British designation / Russian designation
- O.Q.F. 1-pr. “pom-pom” / 37-mm Maxim-Nordenfelt
- O.Q.F. 2-pr. Mk. II “pom-pom” / ???
- O.Q.F. 3-pr. Hotchkiss / 47-mm Hotchkiss
- O.Q.F. 6-pr. Hotchkiss / 57-mm Hotchkiss
- O.Q.F. 6-pr. 6-cwt. Hotchkiss / Not used
The 2-pr. and the 3-pr. are both in-game. However, the 2-pr. in-game, the Mk. IIC, uses the high-velocity ammunition developed for the Second World War rather than what would’ve been used during the First World War. As for the 3-pr., it’s on a few ships but only has HE ammunition available to it.
From some research I did on these a while ago, and the sources of which I’ve used forgotten since, the armour piercing capability of these might be these; 26 mm, 37 mm, 40 mm, 43 mm, and 28 mm respectively. Though, I might’ve confused a high-explosive projectile for an armour-piercing projectile when plugging the information into the penetration calculator.
I have Norman Friedman’s Naval Weapons of WW1 and Shirokorad’s Russian Naval Artillery 1867-1922 which have some info on ammo.
Unfortunately they don’t specify ammunition type for these small guns. The Army might have also used different ammo too. Wikipedia says the “AP” shells of these guns were called “steel shells”, but I think they’re functionally the same thing
Also Friedman notes that different armies calibrated their tests at different temperatures, but thankfully the UK and Russia used the same standard.
UK info: (Filler should all be Lyddite)
37mm/29.9 1-pdr Mk II pom pom:
Shell weight: 1lb
Velocity: 1319ft/s
40mm/39.37 2-pdr Mk II pom pom:
AP?: (no filler info so I assume its an AP round)
Shell weight: 2lbs
Velocity: 2040ft/s
HE: (info for this given in 2pdr Mk III section which fired the same ammo)
Shell weight: 2lbs
Filler: 1 10/16oz
Velocity: 2000ft/s
47mm/43.59 3-pdr Hotchkiss: (Common or AP shell?)
Shell weight: 3 3/16lbs
Filler: 2 1/2 oz
Velocity: 1927ft/s or 1867ft/s, depending on how much charge (6 3/4oz or 7 1/4oz Cordite)
57mm/40 6-pdr 8-cwt Hotchkiss Mk I*: (I believe the this is the AP round, can’t imagine HE filler would be so low)
Shell weight: 6lbs
Filler: 4oz
Velocity: 1773ft/s
57mm/50 6-pdr Elswick Mk I: (Wikipedia says this is a license-built Hotchkiss)
Shell weight: 6lbs
Filler: 4oz
Velocity: 2500ft/s
Russian Info:
Sadly no velocity info on the Russian AA guns, but should be similar to UK ones.
37mm Maxim: (HE with Base Fuze?)
Shell weight: ~500g
Filler: 17g
40mm Vickers: (HE-TF with 8 or 10 second fuze)
Shell weight: 900g - 920g
Filler: 150g
47mm 47/1 Hotchkiss: (AP?, Navweaps says it’s an HE round but Shirokorad gives armour penetration, and also tiny filler)
Shell weight: 1.5kg
Filler: 20g
Velocity: 701m/s
Penetration: “88mm”
57mm/40 Hotchkiss: (HE rounds for the 3, but no filler info given)
Shell weight: 2.73kg (French round) or 2.22kg (Russian round)
Velocity: 649m/s or 731m/s
57mm/50 Hotchkiss:
Shell weight: 2.72g (French round) or 2.22kg (Russian round)
Velocity: 686m/s or 770m/s
57mm/58 Hotchkiss:
Shell weight: 2.72kg (French round) or 2.22kg (Russian round)
Velocity: 914m/s or 991m/s
Inserting what I can into the calculator and rounding numbers to the hundredth of a decimal, I get these results:
UK info:
37mm/29.9 1-pdr Mk II pom pom: Solid AP?
Penetration: 16.05 mm
40mm/39.37 2-pdr Mk II pom pom: Solid AP?
Penetration: 45.42 mm
47mm/43.59 3-pdr Hotchkiss: Common
Penetration: 36.86 mm to 38.56 mm
57mm/40 6-pdr 8-cwt Hotchkiss Mk I: AP
Penetration: 41.52 mm
57mm/50 6-pdr Elswick Mk I:
Penetration: 67.86 mm
Russian info:
47mm 47/1 Hotchkiss: AP
Penetration: 61.44 mm
Every other Russian gun not applicable due to listing HE instead of AP
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