Combat Use
For home air defence the gun was typically mounted on a high-angle mounting with an additional spring recuperator above the barrel, on a 2-wheel towed traveling platform, 7 ft (2.1 m) x 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) The 4 stabilising arms at the corners were swung out, rods at the ends screwed down to lift the platform off the wheels which were then removed and the platform lowered to the ground.
It was also deployed on static mountings to defend prominent targets such as dockyards.
While the gun was much lighter than the QF 3 inch 20 cwt dedicated AA gun, for anti-aircraft use it lacked its range and shell weight. Hence the 3 inch 20 cwt gun became the heavy AA gun of choice both on land and ships from 1914 to 1937. The 12 pdr 12 cwt also proved only marginally superior to the much lighter QF 13 pounder 9 cwt as a light AA gun. Comparison :-
| Gun | m/v ft/s | Shell (lb) | Time to 5,000 ft (1,500 m) at 25° (seconds) | Time to 10,000 ft (3,000 m) at 40° (seconds) | Time to 15,000 ft (4,600 m) at 55° (seconds) | Max. height (ft) |
| 13 pdr 9 cwt | 1990 | 12.5 | 10.1 | 15.5 | 22.1 | 19,000 |
| 12 pdr 12 cwt | 2200 | 12.5 | 9.1 | 14.1 | 19.1 | 20,000 |
| 3 inch 20 cwt 1914 | 2500 | 12.5 | 8.3 | 12.6 | 16.3 | 23,500 |
| 3 inch 20 cwt 1916 | 2000 | 16 | 9.2 | 13.7 | 18.8 | 22,000 |
At the end of World War I, 36 guns were still in service in the home air defense of Britain, 10 on the Western Front and 2 in Mesopotamia where it was typically mounted on river barges.
The gun remained in Royal Navy anti-aircraft use, in the form of the new Mk V version, on smaller ships in World War II because of its dual capability of both low and high angle firing.
Read more about this topic: QF 12 Pounder 12 Cwt AA Gun
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