1-inch Nordenfelt gun

This article is about the anti-torpedo boat gun. For the rifle calibre "machine gun", see Nordenfelt gun.

1-inch Nordenfelt gun
Four-barrel version
Type	Naval gun
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Service history
In service	1880–1890s
Used by	Many navies
Production history
Designer	Helge Palmcrantz
Manufacturer	Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company
Specifications
Weight	447 pounds (203 kg)^[1]
Barrel length	35.48 inches (901 mm)^[1]

Shell	7.25 ounces (0.206 kg) solid steel bullet with brass jacket^[1]
Calibre	1-inch (25.40 mm)
Muzzle velocity	1,464 feet per second (446 m/s)^[1]

The 1-inch Nordenfelt gun was an early rapid-firing light gun intended to defend larger warships against the new small fast-moving torpedo boats in the late 1870s to the early 1880s.

Description

The gun was an enlarged version of the successful rifle-calibre Nordenfelt hand-cranked "machine gun" designed by Helge Palmcrantz and was intended to combine its rapid rate of fire with a projectile capable of deterring attacking torpedo boats. The gun fired a solid steel bullet with hardened tip and brass jacket: under the terms of the St. Petersburg Declaration of 1868, exploding shells weighing less than 400 grams were not allowed to be used in warfare between the signatory nations.

Woodcut depicting Royal Navy gunners in action with four-barrel model. The gun captain, left, is operating the training handwheel

The gun was used in one, two and four-barrel versions. The ammunition was fed by gravity from a hopper above the breech subdivided into separate columns for each barrel. The gunner loaded and fired the multiple barrels by moving a lever on the right side of the gun forward and backwards. Pulling the lever backwards extracted the fired cartridges, pushing it forward then loaded fresh cartridges into all the barrels, and the final part of the forward motion fired all the barrels, one at a time in quick succession. Hence the gun functioned as a type of volley gun, firing bullets in bursts, compared to the contemporary Gatling gun and the true machine guns which succeeded it such as the Maxim gun, which fired at a steady continuous rate.

The gunner was occupied with manually operating the loading and firing lever, while the gun captain aimed the gun and operated the elevation and training handwheels.

It was superseded for anti-torpedo boat defence in the mid-1880s by the new generation of Hotchkiss and Nordenfelt "QF" guns of 47-mm and 57-mm calibre firing exploding "common pointed" shells weighing 3–6 pounds.

Ammunition

British Mk VI round (left) and blank round (right)

Surviving examples

A 4-barreled gun at United States Army Ordnance Museum, MD, USA
A 4-barreled gun in The Gardens, Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia
A 2-barreled gun in The Gardens, Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia
A 2-barreled gun at Queens Park, Maryborough, Queensland, Australia

A 4-barrelled gun at The Tower of London. London, England

Notes and references

1 2 3 4 British service Mk III 4-barrel version. Text Book of Gunnery, 1887. Table XVI

Bibliography

Text Book of Gunnery, 1887. LONDON: PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, BY HARRISON AND SONS, ST. MARTIN'S LANE

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1-inch Nordenfelt gun.

Handbook for Nordenfelt gun, l-in. 2-Barrel, Mark I. 1886 at State Library of Victoria
Handbook for the 1" 4-barrel Nordenfelt gun : 1886 at State Library of Victoria
Handbook of the 1" 4 barrel Nordenfelt gun, 1889 at State Library of Victoria
Handbook of the 1" 4-barrel Nordenfelt gun, 1894 at State Library of Victoria
Handbook for Nordenfelt gun, 1-inch, 2 barrel, Mark I, 1895 at State Library of Victoria
Description, Drill, Ammunition. Manual for Victorian Naval Forces 1887, pages 41 - 52 from HMVS Cerberus website
1 inch 4-barrel Nordenfelt Mk III Machine-Gun History, technical details, animations
1 inch 2-barrel Nordenfelt Machine-Gun History, technical details, animations

Multiple barrel firearms

Handguns

Rifles

Shotguns

Combination guns

Submachine Guns

Machine guns

Bira gun Caldwell machine gun Gardner gun Gast gun Fyodorov–Shpagin Model 1922 Mitrailleuse Montigny mitrailleuse Nikonov machine gun Nordenfelt gun Ribauldequin Type 89 machine gun Type 100 machine gun Volley gun

Rotary type	Gatling gun GAU-19 GShG-7.62 Fokker-Leimberger Hotchkiss revolving cannon Hua Qing Minigun Minigun XM214 Microgun YakB-12.7

Non-lethal

Amphibious firearms

Flare launchers

Krieghoff Model L
Nambu Type 90

Grenade launchers

Cannon

British Empire naval weapons of the Victorian era

Smoothbore muzzle-loading cannons	18-pounder 24-pounder 32-pounder 58 cwt 68-pounder Somerset cannon

Smoothbore muzzle-loading shell guns	8 inch 10-inch 86 cwt

Mortars	10-inch Blomefield 13-inch Blomefield

Howitzers	12-pounder Millar 24-pounder Millar

Rifled breechloaders (Armstrong)	RBL 9 pounder RBL 20 pounder RBL 40 pounder RBL 7 inch 110 pounder

Rifled muzzle-loaders (Lancaster)	68-Pounder Lancaster gun

Rifled muzzle-loaders (converted)	RML 64 pounder 71 cwt

Rifled muzzle-loaders (Woolwich)	RML 9 pounder 8 cwt RML 64 pounder 64 cwt RML 7 inch RML 8 inch RML 9 inch RML 10 inch RML 11 inch RML 12 inch 25 ton RML 12 inch 35 ton RML 12.5 inch RML 16 inch

Quick-firing guns	QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss QF 6 pounder Nordenfelt QF 12-pounder 12 cwt Mk I QF 4 inch QF 4.7 inch QF 6 inch

Breech-loaders (new pattern)	BL 4 inch BL 5 inch BL 6 inch 80 pounder BL 6 inch Mk II – VI BL 8 inch BL 9.2 inch Mk I – VII BL 9.2 inch Mk VIII BL 10 inch BL 12 inch Mk I – VII BL 12 inch Mk VIII BL 13.5 inch BL 16.25 inch

Light weapons	Gatling gun Gardner gun Nordenfelt gun 1-inch Nordenfelt gun

Torpedoes	Whitehead torpedo

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