The unusual calibre of 5.4 inches may have been determined by a requirement to fire a 60 lb shell.

Also, Hogg & Thurston surmise that raw weight of shell was seen as necessary in India to "put a reasonable amount of fear into the hearts of obstreperous tribesmen inhabiting home-built but robust local fortresses":[2] different conditions than regular British Army artillery was expected to be employed in.

[3] The battery is reported as firing 102 rounds in the bombardment of German positions on the Mgeta river (approximately 100 miles (160 km) SW of Dar es Salam) on 1 January 1917, part of the Rufiji River campaign.

This allowed Cunliffe's Nigerian Brigade to cross the Mgeta river and pursue the German force south.

One of the guns was destroyed by a premature explosion in this action, with 1 gunner killed and 2 wounded.