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Ordóñez guns are a type of coastal artillery that Salvador Diaz Ordóñez, an artillery officer in the Spanish Army, designed in the late 19th Century. Most of the models were guns, but some were howitzers. The guns ranged in caliber from 150mm (5.9") to 305mm (12"). They were made in Spain, at the Trubia Arms Factory (Fábrica de armas de Trubia), in Asturias, and the Spanish installed them in forts and batteries at home, for instance at Ceuta,〔''Journal of the United States Artillery'', (1898), Vol. 10, p.143.〕 and throughout their empire, in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines. The Ordóñez guns appear to have been used for protecting Spain's colonies; reportedly the Spanish generally reserved the higher quality, and much more expensive, Hontoria guns for the defense of Spain.〔Shull (1901), p.130.〕 Although they have been obsolete for more than a century, a few Ordóñez guns have survived to the present as historical artifacts. There is one at Santa Clara Battery in Havana, a second, heavily damaged by the explosion of a shell, and brought from Subic Bay, at the Presidio of San Francisco, and a third at Castillo de San Cristóbal (Puerto Rico). ==Design== The guns were rifled breech-loading weapons with a cast iron body, hooped with wrought iron, and with a steel tube screwed in place that contained the breechblock and extended just forward of the trunnions. The Ordóñez guns captured at Havana were all 35 to 36 calibers in length.〔United States Office of Naval Intelligence, (1899) pp.35-6.〕) The breechblocks were lever-actuated, and of the French or interrupted screw type, though the obturating ring followed the Krupp design.〔Schull (1901), p.132-4.〕 The guns appear to have been mounted ''en barbette'', rather than on a disappearing carriage. A US Naval Intelligence report from 1892 described the Ordóñez guns as being less powerful than most other modern guns of equal calibers, but also much cheaper (because they were of iron rather than entirely steel).〔United States, Office of Naval Intelligence (1892), p.90.〕 Comparison of the 305mm Ordóñez guns captured at Havana with the US 12" all-steel naval gun found that the Ordóñez guns had a longer though narrower powder chamber that held less powder. As a result, the Ordóñez guns threw a lighter shell with less velocity to a shorter range than the US 12" gun.〔Schull (1901), pp.137-8.〕 The Americans captured guns of 150mm (5.9") at Havana, Manilla and Puerto Rico, 240mm (9.45") guns at Havana and Manilla, and 305mm (12") guns at Havana. At Havana the Americans also captured Ordóñez 210mm (8.27") howitzers.〔Congress (1902), Vol 4285, pp.648-51.〕 There may also have been 140mm (5.5") and 280mm (11") Ordóñez guns, though none at any place that the Americans captured. Ordóñez also designed the 1891 240mm coastal artillery breech-loading howitzer, which was 14 calibers in length. It could fire a 140 kg projectile to 9,000 meters. Some of the howitzers served in Spain, including four at a battery at Fort La Mola in Menorca, and some at Montjuïc Castle, Barcelona. In 1896 Ordóñez designed another 240mm howitzer, this one 16 calibers in length and consisting of a tube and two sleeves. The howitzer was made of forged and tempered steel, with a de Bange interrupted-screw breech-block with six screw sectors. The howitzer also had a hydraulic recoil mechanism. It could fire a 200 kg shell 11,320 metres. The artillery factory at Trubia produced the first exemplars in 1903, but the howitzer was not ready for adoption for active duty until 1916, by which time it was obsolescent. Still, it went into service and by 1936 M1916 240mm howitzers armed several batteries around Spain. Four were at Ferrol in the Fuente Seca Battery, four at Cartagena at the Loma Larga Battery, which were moved in 1940 to Ceuta, and four each were in the Regana and Refeubeitx batteries on Mallorca. Lastly, eight of the howitzers were held in reserve at an artillery park. In April 1937 the army moved four of these howitzers by rail to Águilas. The four remaining howitzers were sent to Madrid where three were emplaced and one was converted to a railway gun. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ordóñez guns」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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