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SURVIVING GUN FILE (# 180)
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Belgium

Canon de 7c5 M1899 Cockerill-Nordenfelt

Light artillery

Contributor :
Bernard Plumier      http://www.passioncompassion1418.com
     
     
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Location :
Belgium
Brussels
Musée Royal de l'Armée
Coordinates : Lat : 50.84410 / Long : 4.39230
General comments on this surviving gun :


Identical items in the same location : 1
Items covered by this file : 1

Front view of this gun still equipped with a bronze barrel

Rear view, the Nordenfelt breech is missing

Breech markings : 'TYPE Sté Nordenfeld - Paris - 75m/m - 30 Cal. - Cockerill - Seraing - n°1503 - n°1804'.


Historic and technical information
Denomination :     7c5 M 1899 Origin :       ( Cockerill)             ( Nordenfelt )          

Historic context :

In 1896 / 1897 the Belgian army organised compartive tests on numerous materials in order to select a new quick fire fieldgun that would replace the obsolescent 7c5 M 1866 fieldguns. The competing weapons were proposed by Krupp (Germany), St Chamond (France), Le Creusot (France), FRC (Belgium) and Cockerill-Nordenfelt (France / Belgium). Only the latter presented a static link fildgun based on its later quick-firing 7c5 M 1895 (although equipped with a recoil brake), in contrast with the more modern elastic link concepts proposed by their competitors.

The small differences checked during the tests between thes two types of materials induced a preference for the old, simple and rustic type with the static link, opposed to the more complex and sophisticated modern elastic link types that were believed to be more fragile at use.

This is how the Cockerill-Nordenfelt solution was choosen to be tested in a pilot battery from 1900, and finally adopted. The definitive model was the '7c5 Cockerill-Nordenfelt M 1899' manufactured in Belgium, with a barrel elongated from 24 to 30 calibres, and equipped with the famous eccentric breech system Nordenfelt that was also used on the revolutionary French 75mm Mle 1897 fieldgun.

Although the guns of the test battery created in 1900 were giving satisfactory results, this choice was quickly challenged by lucid officers, who realized that most countries were abandoning the accelerated fire fieldguns on static link carriages to turn to the much more performing quick firing fieldguns with elastic link, similar to the ones that had been rejected during the 1896/1897 trials... A new commission was created in 1902 in order to re-start the process and issue a new call for bidding to the manufacturors.

This time, none of the Cockerill Nordenfelt guns (this one and an newer one equipped with a recoil recuperating system) succeeded the competition, and a Krupp gun was selected.

Technical data :

  • Complete description : 7.5 cm Cockerill-Nordenfelt Gun M 1899
  • Design year : 1898
  • Calibre : 75.00 mm
  • Weight in firing position : 1840 kg
  • Weight for transportation :
  • Tube length in calibres : 30.00
  • Grooves : 0 unknown
  • Projectile weight : 4.3 kg
  • Initial speed : unknown
  • Fire rate :
  • Range : 5000 m
  • Elevation range : -7 / +25 degrees
  • Direction range : None


Sources
  • L'Artillerie Légère de Campagne Belge de 1900 à 1940 - Tome I           Colonel Roger Lothaire                   Editions du Patrimoine Militaire   2011  
  • L'Artillerie Légère de Campagne Belge de 1900 à 1940 - Tome II       Colonel Roger Lothaire                   Editions du Patrimoine Militaire   2012