It is not for nothing that artillery is called the “god of war.” Since its appearance on the battlefield, it has become one of the main and most important strike forces ground forces.
Tsar Cannon
The “Tsar Cannon” is decorated with intricate patterns and has several inscriptions engraved on it. Experts are confident that the gun was fired at least once, but historical evidence for this has not been found. Today the Tsar Cannon is included in the Guinness Book of Records and is one of the main Moscow attractions.
Self-propelled mortar "Karl"
This is German self-propelled gun period of the Second World War. "Karl" had a caliber of 600 mm and a weight of 126 tons. A total of seven copies of this weapon, which would be more correctly called a self-propelled mortar, were built. The Germans built them to destroy enemy fortresses or other heavily fortified positions. Initially, these guns were developed for the assault on the French Maginot Line, but due to the transience of the campaign they were never used. For the first time, mortars were used on the Eastern Front; the Nazis used them during the assault Brest Fortress, and then during the siege of Sevastopol. At the end of the war, one of the mortars was captured by the Red Army, and today anyone can see this self-propelled gun in the armored museum in Kubinka, near Moscow.
"Crazy Greta"
“Mad Greta” is one of the few large-caliber medieval forged guns that have survived to this day. The cannon fired stone cannonballs; its barrel consisted of 32 forged steel strips, fastened with numerous hoops. The dimensions of the Greta are truly impressive: its barrel length is 5 meters, its weight is 16 tons, and its caliber is 660 mm.
Howitzer "Saint-Chamond"
This cannon was so large that it had to be mounted on a railway platform. The total weight of the structure was 137 tons, the gun could send projectiles weighing 641 kg over a distance of 17 km. True, in order to equip a position for Saint-Chamond, the French were forced to lay railway tracks.
Faule Mette
Unfortunately, none of these guns have survived to this day, so the characteristics of the gun can only be restored from the descriptions of its contemporaries. “Lazy Metta” was made in the German city of Braunschweig at the beginning of the 15th century. Master Henning Bussenschutte is considered its creator. The gun had impressive dimensions: weight about 8.7 tons, caliber from 67 to 80 cm, the mass of one stone core reached 430 kg. For each shot, it was necessary to put about 30 kg of gunpowder into the cannon.
« Big Bertha»
Famous German large-caliber gun from the First World War. The gun was developed at the beginning of the last century and manufactured at the Krupp factories in 1914. “Big Bertha” had a caliber of 420 mm, its projectile weighed 900 kg, and the firing range was 14 km. The weapon was intended to destroy particularly strong enemy fortifications. The gun was manufactured in two versions: semi-stationary and mobile. The weight of the mobile modification was 42 tons; the Germans used steam tractors to transport it. When it exploded, the shell formed a crater with a diameter of more than ten meters; the gun’s rate of fire was one shot every eight minutes.
Mortar "Oka"
Soviet self-propelled mortar large caliber "Oka", developed in the mid-50s. At that time the USSR already had nuclear bomb, but had difficulties with the means of its delivery. Therefore, Soviet strategists decided to create a mortar capable of firing nuclear charges. Its caliber was 420 mm, the total weight of the vehicle was 55 tons, and the firing range could reach 50 km. The Oka mortar had such monstrous recoil that its production was abandoned. A total of four self-propelled mortars were manufactured.
Little David
“Little David” was intended to destroy particularly powerful enemy fortifications and was developed for the Pacific theater of military operations. But, in the end, this gun never left the test site. The barrel was installed in a special metal box dug into the ground. “David” fired special cone-shaped projectiles, the weight of which reached 1678 kg. After their explosion, a crater with a diameter of 12 meters and a depth of 4 meters remained.
"Dora"
This gun was created by Krupp engineers in the mid-30s. It had a caliber of 807 mm, was installed on a railway platform and could fire at a distance of 48 km. In total, the Germans managed to produce two “Doras”, one of them was used during the siege of Sevastopol, and possibly during the suppression of the uprising in Warsaw. The total weight of one gun was 1350 tons. The gun could fire one shot in 30-40 minutes. It should be noted that the combat effectiveness of this monster is questioned by many experts and military historians.
Basilica or Ottoman cannon
It was made in the middle of the 15th century by the Hungarian master Urban specially commissioned by Sultan Mehmed II. This artillery gun had colossal dimensions: its length was approximately 12 meters, diameter - 75-90 cm, total weight– about 32 tons. The bombard was cast from bronze and required 30 bulls to move it. In addition, the “crew” of the gun included another 50 carpenters, whose task was to make a special platform, as well as up to 200 workers who moved the gun. The Basilica's firing range was 2 km.
Dora was developed in the late 1930s at the Krupp plant in Essen. The main task of the super-powerful weapon is to destroy the forts of the French Maginot Line during a siege. At that time these were the strongest fortifications that existed in the world.
"Dora" could fire projectiles weighing 7 tons at a distance of up to 47 kilometers. When fully assembled, Dora weighed about 1,350 tons. The Germans developed this powerful weapon when preparing for the Battle of France. But when fighting began in 1940, the biggest gun of World War II was not yet ready. In any case, Blitzkrieg tactics allowed the Germans to capture Belgium and France in just 40 days, bypassing the Maginot Line defenses. This forced the French to surrender with minimal resistance and the fortifications did not have to be stormed.
"Dora" was deployed later, during the war in the East, in the Soviet Union. It was used during the siege of Sevastopol for shelling coastal batteries who heroically defended the city. Preparing the gun from the traveling position for firing took a week and a half. In addition to the immediate crew of 500 people, a security battalion, a transport battalion, two trains for the supply of ammunition, anti-aircraft division, as well as its own military police and a field bakery.
The German gun, the height of a four-story building and 42 meters long, fired concrete-piercing and high-explosive shells up to 14 times a day. To push out the largest projectile in the world, a charge of 2 tons of explosives was needed.
It is believed that in June 1942, "Dora" fired 48 shots at Sevastopol. But due to the large distance to the target, only a few hits were obtained. In addition, if the heavy ingots did not hit the concrete armor, they would go 20-30 meters into the ground, where their explosion would not cause much damage. The supergun showed completely different results than the Germans, who poured a lot of money into this ambitious miracle weapon, had hoped for.
When the barrel expired, the gun was taken to the rear. After repairs, it was planned to use it under besieged Leningrad, but this was prevented by the liberation of the city by our troops. Then the supergun was taken through Poland to Bavaria, where in April 1945 it was blown up so that it would not become a trophy for the Americans.
In the XIX-XX centuries. there were only two weapons, with large caliber(90 cm for both): British Mallet mortar and American Little David. But "Dora" and the same type "Gustav" (which did not take part in hostilities) were artillery largest caliber who took part in the battles. They are also the largest self-propelled units ever built. However, these 800 mm guns went down in history as “a completely useless work of art.”
With the discovery of gunpowder, artillery began to flourish in the world. The walls of cities became thicker and stronger, and accordingly, ordinary trebuchets, catapults and small-caliber ones could no longer effectively penetrate them. As a result the dimensions artillery installations began to seriously increase in order to be able to combat the enemy’s defenses. This is how the largest cannon in the world appeared. Very few such weapons were created, so they are a kind of symbol of the power of the state that created them.
5. 2B1 "Oka"
Development of this self-propelled gun began on November 18, 1955, due to a resolution of the Council of Ministers. The main idea was to create a mobile unit capable of firing tactical nuclear warheads, since at that time the USSR had such weapons that strategists could not determine the method of delivering them to the final enemy. This self-propelled mortar had the following characteristics:
A total of four prototypes were produced, and all of them even took part in the parade on Red Square. Chassis was created on the basis heavy tank T-10 (IS-8). Subsequently, during field tests, the main drawback of the Oka was revealed, namely, the huge recoil, due to which the gun rolled back five meters after firing, which turned out to be unacceptable. Due to the fact that loading took place from the breech of the gun, the rate of fire was increased to 1 shot per 5 minutes.
However, even such characteristics did not satisfy the commission, and it was decided to abandon the project. At that time, mobile tactical weapons were already considered more promising. missile systems, like 2K6 “Luna” and the like, whose total power easily covered the potential of 2B1 “Oka”.
This mortar, created at the end of the Second World War, was a kind of experiment and was intended for shelling the most seriously fortified areas of the enemy’s defense. And although “little David” had a much more modest appearance, compared to monsters like “Dora” or “Karl”, its caliber was much more impressive, as were other characteristics, among them:
The mortar was supposed to be used during the US invasion of Japanese islands, since American strategists expected to see an extremely serious defense there, consisting of well-fortified bunkers and pillboxes. To hit such targets, a special projectile was even developed, which “little David” was supposed to fire. After the detonation of the ammunition, a crater with a diameter of more than 12 meters and a depth of more than 4 meters remained. Despite all its power, the mortar never left its test site, eventually turning into a museum exhibit; in addition, it was possible to save one shell from its ammunition load.
The Tsar Cannon is a monument to Russian foundry art and artillery. It was cast in bronze in 1586 by master Andrei Chokhov, who worked at the Cannon Yard. The Tsar Cannon has the following characteristics:
The Tsar Cannon itself is covered with various inscriptions relating to the greatness of the Russian Tsar, as well as containing the name of the master who cast it. Historians are confident that the gun was fired at least once, but no documents have yet been found that shed light on this point. Now the gun is one of the main attractions of Moscow.
Dora is one of the unique super-heavy artillery pieces that have only been produced in modern times. Built by Krupp in the late 1930s. The very idea of such a weapon was proposed by Adolf Hitler during a visit to one of the concern’s factories in 1936. Dora's main task was the complete destruction of the Maginot Line and some Belgian border forts. Soon a technical specification for the designers was drawn up, and work began to boil. In general, the following characteristics of this weapon can be distinguished:
It is known that Dora was used during the siege of Sevastopol. More than 50 shells were fired at the city, each weighing 7 tons. This caused quite serious destruction to the city, but most military experts are inclined to believe that such artillery systems are stillborn.
A giant bombard, which the Hungarian engineer Urban managed to cast in just a few months, around the 15th century. The Basilica was built for the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II and was intended to bombard the walls of Constantinople, which was still in the hands of the Byzantines. Bombarda had great amount shortcomings, but its strength was enough for the Turks to be able to punch a large hole in the city wall with one shot and win the battle. However, just two months after the shot, the Basilica collapsed from its own recoil. Accurate technical characteristics and no images have survived, but something is still known:
Considering the conditions under which the Basilica was created, we can say that this is the cannon in the world. The weight of the projectile of this bombard could reach 700 kilograms, which is quite serious for that time. Overall, this is one of the most terrible weapons, which, although it had its shortcomings, still completed its task.
The largest caliber gun in the world December 29th, 2015
After we were surprised looking at it yesterday and some time ago , I wondered, what is the largest caliber gun in the world? And here's what I found about it.
IN different times V different countries The designers began to experience an attack of gigantomania. Gigantomania manifested itself in various directions, including artillery. For example, in 1586 in Russia made of bronze. Its dimensions were impressive: barrel length - 5340 mm, weight - 39.31 tons, caliber - 890 mm. In 1857, the Robert Mallett mortar was built in Great Britain. Its caliber was 914 millimeters and its weight was 42.67 tons. During World War II, Germany built the Dora, a 1,350-ton monster with a caliber of 807 mm.
Other countries have also created large-caliber guns, but not that big.
During the Second World War, American designers were not seen in gun giantomania, however, they too turned out to be, as they say, “not without sin.” The Americans created the giant Little David mortar, the caliber of which was 914 mm.
"Little David" was the prototype of heavy siege weapon, with the help of which the American military was going to storm the Japanese islands.
In the United States during World War II at the Aberdeen Proving Ground for testing the shooting of armor-piercing, concrete-piercing and high-explosive aircraft bombs used large-caliber naval artillery gun barrels, removed from service. The test bombs were launched using a relatively small powder charge launching them at distances of several hundred yards. This system was used because during a routine airdrop, much often depended on the ability of the crew to strictly comply with the test conditions and weather conditions. Attempts to use the bored barrels of 234 mm British and 305 mm American howitzers for such tests did not meet the growing calibers of aerial bombs.
In this regard, it was decided to design and build a special device that threw aircraft bombs called Bomb Testing Device T1. After construction, this device proved itself quite well and the idea arose of using it as an artillery weapon. It was expected that during the invasion of Japan american army will face well-protected fortifications- and such a weapon would be ideal for destroying bunker fortifications. In March 1944, the modernization project was set in motion. In October of the same year, the gun received the status of a mortar and the name Little David. After this, test firing of artillery shells began.
The “Little David” mortar had a rifled barrel 7.12 m long (7.79 caliber) with right-hand rifling (rifling steepness 1/30). The length of the barrel, taking into account the vertical guidance mechanism mounted on its breech, was 8530 mm, weight - 40 tons. The firing range of a 1690 kg (explosive mass - 726.5 kg) projectile was 8680 m. The mass of the full charge was 160 kg (caps of 18 and 62 kg). The initial projectile speed is 381 m/s. A box-shaped installation (dimensions 5500x3360x3000 mm) with rotating and lifting mechanisms was buried in the ground. Installation and removal of the artillery unit was carried out using six hydraulic jacks. Vertical guidance angles - +45 .. +65°, horizontal - 13° in both directions. Hydraulic recoil brake - concentric, there was no knurl, to return the barrel to initial position a pump was used after each shot. The total weight of the assembled gun was 82.8 tons.
Loading - from the muzzle, separate cap. The projectile at zero elevation angle was fed using a crane, after which it advanced a certain distance, after which the barrel rose, and further loading was carried out under the influence of gravity. An igniter primer was inserted into a socket made in the breech of the barrel. The Little David shell crater was 12 meters in diameter and 4 meters deep.
For transportation, specially modified M26 tank tractors were used: one tractor with a two-axle trailer transported the mortar, the other transported the installation. This made the mortar much more mobile than railway guns. The artillery crew's equipment, in addition to tractors, included a bulldozer, a bucket excavator and a crane, which were used to install the mortar at the firing position. It took approximately 12 hours to install the mortar in position. For comparison: the German 810/813-mm Dora gun, disassembled, was transported on 25 railway platforms, and it took about 3 weeks to bring it into combat readiness.
In March 1944, they began to remake the “device” into military weapon. Was being developed high explosive shell with finished protrusions. Testing began at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Of course, a projectile weighing 1678 kilograms would have made a noise, but the Little David had all the “diseases” inherent in medieval mortars - it hit inaccurately and not far. In the end, something else was found to frighten the Japanese (Little Boy - atomic bomb, dropped on Hiroshima), but the supermortar never took part in the fighting. After the abandonment of the operation to land Americans on the Japanese Islands, they wanted to transfer the mortar to the Coastal Artillery, but poor accuracy of fire prevented its use there.
The project was suspended, and at the end of 1946 it was completely closed.
Currently, the mortar and shell are stored in the museum of the Aberdeen Proving Ground, where they were taken for testing.
Specifications:
Country of origin: USA.
Testing began in 1944.
Caliber - 914 mm.
Barrel length - 6700 mm.
Weight - 36.3 tons.
Range - 8687 meters (9500 yards).
Today we will tell you about the largest in the world, which was created during the Second World War - we will talk about a unique super-heavy railway artillery piece German army called "Dora".
If you are familiar with history, you probably remember that after the First World War the development German artillery it was almost impossible - the reason for this was the Treaty of Versailles, according to which Germany was prohibited from having a gun whose caliber exceeded 150 mm. Nazi leaders felt it was time to create a new large-caliber weapons, which would eclipse all existing ones in the world - this would also help raise the prestige of Germany in the eyes of other states.
During his next visit to the Krupp plant in 1936, Hitler, at a meeting with management, demanded the creation of a new super-powerful weapon that could easily destroy French and Belgian border posts. Its maximum range was supposed to reach about 45 kilometers, and the projectile itself could penetrate a 30-meter layer of soil, 7 m of concrete or 1 m of armor. The project was completed in 1937 and at the same time an order was placed for its production at the Krupp plant. In 1941, the first gun was built, which it was decided to call “Dora” - in honor of the wife of the chief designer’s wife. A few months later, a second cannon was created (it was significantly smaller than the first), the name of which was given in honor of the director of the plant - “Fat Gustav”. In total, Germany spent more than 10 million Reichsmarks to create weapons, some of which were used to create a third weapon. It, however, was never completed.
Some characteristics of the Dora: length - 47.3 m, width - 7.1 m, height - 11.6 m, barrel length - 32.5 m, weight - 1350 tons. In order to prepare the weapon for battle, about 250 people and 2,500 additional personnel were used, who did this in 54 hours. The weight of one projectile is 4.8 tons (high-explosive) or 7 tons (concrete-piercing), caliber is 807 mm. Number of shots - no more than 14 per day, maximum speed projectile - 720 m/s (concrete-piercing) or 820 m/s (high-explosive), sighting range- up to 48 kilometers depending on the projectile.
In order to deliver the Dora to one place or another, several locomotives were used (for example, it was brought to Sevastopol on five trains in 106 cars). Moreover, all the necessary personnel barely fit in 43 cars. It is interesting that in normal times only a couple of thousand people were enough to service the Dora, but during the war this figure at least doubled.
One of the most famous uses of the Dora is near Sevastopol. The Germans transported the gun to Crimea. A firing position was chosen there near the village of Duvankoy. Assembling the gun and preparing it for firing took the staff about 6 weeks. She fired her first shell (concrete-piercing) on June 5 at the northern part of Sevastopol. Unfortunately for the Germans, the attack did not have the effect that the Nazis expected - for the entire time, only one successful hit was recorded, which resulted in the explosion of one of the ammunition depots. In this case, the damage from the weapon could be colossal, but only if the projectile hit the target exactly, which did not happen. But in order to identify an exact target, it was necessary to keep the Dora almost near the city itself, which the Germans could not afford. In total, the shelling lasted 13 days, during which 53 shells were fired. Then the gun was dismantled and transported to Leningrad.
In 1945, American troops, while passing through the forests located near the city of Auerbach, came across the remains of a huge metal structure that was damaged by an explosion. A little further they found two trunks of incredible size. After interviewing the prisoners of war, it turned out that these were the remains of “Dora” and “Gustav”. After the investigation was completed, the remains of the guns were sent for melting down.
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