In January 1939 a specification was issued for a gun no heavier than 5.5 tons to replace the 6 inch 26 cwt howitzers in use with most medium batteries.

For the desired range of 16,000 yards (15 km) ballistic studies recommended making a new calibre of 5.5 inches.

The Asbury interrupted screw breechblock initially featured a semi-automatic firing mechanism used on naval guns, which often malfunctioned in the field and thus had to be replaced with a simpler design from WWI field artillery, while the complex hydropneumatic equilibrators had to be swapped for heavier but cheaper and less finicky spring ones.

Subsequently, it also equipped Canadian, Australian, South African, Polish and Indian regiments, and after the war, it was also used by New Zealand.

From the 1950s in British service, the 5.5 was typically towed by an AEC Militant Mk 1 6x6 truck and subsequently the FV 1103 Leyland Martian 6x6 Medium Artillery Tractor.

There were four marks of 5.5 inch ordnance, three of which entered service during World War II and the fourth after; differences between them were only minor.

Figures for the weight of the gun differ between sources: Ian Hogg states "total weight in action" of 13,646 pounds (6.190 t), Nigel Evans mentions "basic weight" of 5.3 unspecified "tons", and a WWII US manual claims 12,678 pounds (5.751 t)[4] During World War II the PL Locks and AC Slide Boxes (a component separate to the gun attached to the bottom and face of the breech block using a rifle-calibre tube insert to initiate firing of the bagged charge) utilising 0.5 inch (12.7 mm) tubes were replaced by PK Locks and Y Slide Boxes using 0.303 inch (7.7 mm) tubes.

Late in the war a sight adapter was introduced to permit upper register (high angle) fire when the wheels were raised significantly above the level of the spades.

The second, FV3805, in the 1950s used a Centurion tank carriage, the gun being in a barbette mounting in a fully enclosed casemate.