An Cosantóir

Technical Details Calibre (inches) Weight in action (lbs) Elevation Limits (degrees) Traverse (degrees) Total length (inches) Muzzle velocity (ft/sec) Maximum range (yards) 3.7 1,856 -5 +40 20 left and right 46.8 973 6,000 | 29 that Vickers, Sons & Maxim would have spare capacity. That company duly designed and trialled the 3.7-inch howitzer in 1910 but funds were not made available by the Indian Office to put the gun in production. With the Indian Army fighting in France at the start of World War I funds were quickly made available and production was commenced in 1915. (Official approval only arrived in 1917, by which time the gun was already in service on the front line.) One of the things that made the 3.7-inch so useful was its split trail, which was still a novel idea at the time. Pole trails tended to limit the elevation and therefore the range of a weapon, whereas a split trail allowed much higher rates of elevation without the carriage fouling the gun tube. It also allowed large switches without having to shift the carriage, which necessitated relaying by the survey troop. A hydro-pneumatic recoil system was also fitted that allowed smoother recoil and better accuracy. The barrel consisted of two parts, a breech and a chase, which were joined by a junction nut inside an enveloping sleeve. It was easy for the junction nut to become loose and it was not unknown for a No 1���s order to ���Fire!��� to be followed by the chase flying up the range after the projectile in a spectacular but relatively harmless fashion. And so the most important bit, the ammunition. The 3.7-inch fired a 20lb (9 kg) HE shell to 4,500 yards (4,130m) or a shrapnel shell to a maximum of 6,000 yards (5,500m). There were five charges and the HE shell was restricted to charge 4. Charge bags, which were colour coded, consisted of 9oz of cordite. Charge 5 came with an additional bag that made up ���star shell charge���, which was an illum round. Other options were for HEAT, shrapnel and smoke, of which there were two options, bursting and base ejection. The cartridge case was rather small at 3.6 inches, and like the 25-pdr also made use of a beckett cup to produce a consistent burn on firing. When delivered to the Artillery Corps the guns were on wooden, spoked wheels. They also came with shields that could be extended to the sides of the main shield: a throw back to its design for use in India. They were seen in some of the early photos of the guns in Magee Bks, but when the guns were updated to pneumatic tyres they seem to have fallen out of favour, probable as they added to the time taken to get the gun into action; storage would also have been a problem. While the British detachment was nine-strong the Irish Army used six-man detachments as they didn���t have mules to look after as well. A well-trained detachment could unpack and have the gun in action in four minutes, which is pretty amazing as it takes up to two minutes to get most towed artillery into action, and that���s without the need to assemble their gun. All four of the first guns that entered Irish service remain in existence. One is with the Cavan/Leitrim Railway in Dromad; another can be seen outside the Curragh Military Museum; and the remaining two are to be found in the gun park of 62 Res Arty Regt in McKee Bks, Dublin. While the first two were restored to represent the more modern 3.7-inch howitzer design, hopefully the Reserve���s two guns will be restored to the earlier pre-mechanisation, wooden spoked-wheel pattern. www.military.ie the defence forces magazine

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