The Royal Navy's command field gun competition was a contest between teams from three Royal Navy commands, in which teams of sailors compete to transport a field gun and its equipment over and through a series of obstacles in the shortest time. The competition evolved during the early years of the 20th century. The "Command" format, negotiating walls and a chasm, was held annually at the Royal Tournament in London solely as a public display and as recruitment purposes from 1907 until 1999, apart from the periods during the World Wars. The "Inter-Port" or "Command" Competition was contested by teams from the Royal Navy annually, and was a popular item at the Royal Tournament until finishing in 1999.
Field gun competition at Earl's Court in 1975
Statue at Portsmouth commemorating the field gun competition
Naval crew with the 12-pounder 8 cwt, the type used in the competition, in the 1890s
A field gun is a field artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march, that when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances, as opposed to guns installed in a fort, or to siege cannons and mortars which are too large to be moved quickly, and would be used only in a prolonged siege.
A WWI French 105 mm field gun
German field guns captured by the NZEF displayed in London, 1918