Strangest Tanks: The Giant Karl
The development of the Karl mortar began in 1935. The German company Rheinmetall-Borsig AG received an order to create a super-heavy rifled mortar capable of launching a 4-ton projectile at a distance of more than 1000 meters. 2-ton ammunition, in turn, had to overcome about 3 kilometers. The main task of such weapons there was the destruction of long-term defense lines, including forts.
The first mortar was made in November 1940 and was officially named "Adam". In total, Germany had 7 such guns, of which 6 took part in battles. The second mortar was designated "Eve", and the subsequent ones were named after the heroes of Scandinavian mythology. However, due to the fact that the design was carried out under the leadership of Karl Becker, most often the German monsters were called exactly "Karl".
The first thing that catches your eye is the size of the mortar. This is the unique and largest-caliber SPG that was destined to become legendary. A cannon of 600 and 540 mm caliber was "spat" by shells weighing more than 2 tons, containing from 280 to 348 kg of explosives. In this case, the barrel length was only 8,5 calibers. It was a monoblock with 112 grooves. Together with the breech, the barrel mass was more than 28 tons. The consequences of the hit "Karl" can be compared with the explosion of a powerful bomb. At the point of impact, the shells pierced craters more than 10 meters deep and threw out clouds of sand to a height of about 170 meters.
A feature of the giant mortar was the chassis, with which it could move independently. In the bow there was an engine with a capacity of 580 hp, but the speed did not exceed 10 km / h. Basically, the car was transported by rail. She was balanced on two platforms and transported to her destination. Often, the ACS was completely disassembled and reassembled already on the front line. It was quite difficult to carry out the delivery unnoticed, so those who were supposed to guard it were added to the 16 crew members serving the mortar. By the way, Karl's armor was far from being the strongest.
To use the huge mortar required "greenhouse" conditions. The aiming of the gun in the horizontal plane was carried out by turning the lower machine in a sector of only ± 2,5 degrees. To increase the sector, it was necessary to rotate the entire chassis. The vertical guidance angles were in the range from 0 to 70 degrees. All operations were carried out manually, and the time between shots was about 10 minutes.
Although the large caliber of the German mortar provided enormous firepower, in practice the Karls did not live up to the hopes placed on them and did not have a significant value in battles. A huge machine with a terrifying cannon could somehow declare itself only in 3 battles - the siege of the Brest Fortress, the battle of Sevastopol and the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising.
For more details about the huge German mortar, see the video from Wargaming.
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