The guns on the railway transporter. French 164-mm cannons M 1893, M 1893 / 96 and M 1893 / 96 M

The successful experience of installing the 155 mm M 1877 cannon on a railway conveyor made it possible to create a series of railway artillery installations in which 164 mm caliber naval guns were used. Already in 1915, Schneider manufactured 5 railway artillery installations with 164-millimeter M 1893 guns, which were made in the mid-1890s for the so-called “protected” cruiser, which was never created. On the navy the gun was assigned the designation L 45 ("45" is the length of the threaded part in calibers). The barrel weight was 7000 kg. The ammunition included high-explosive fragmentation (weight - 50,5 kg, firing range - 18000 m, initial velocity - 775 m / s) and armor-piercing shells (weight - 52,6 kg, firing range - 15400 m, initial velocity - 770 m /from).

In general, the design of the railway conveyors used for the installation of the gun was similar to that of a railway conveyor for a millimeter 155 caliber gun. At the same time, two platforms were mounted on both sides of the platform, which were reclined upward in the stowed position, and in the combat position were flush with the flooring of the railway platform. Thanks to this innovation, the calculation of the gun on the platform could serve the gun in any direction of fire. Another innovation was the device armored cellars for charges and shells at both ends of the conveyor.

Ammunition was supplied to the cannon by two payroll numbers using a trolley. This slightly increased the rate of fire, however, limited the angle of fire along the axis of the railway conveyor: the gun did not fall lower than + 10 degrees. The machine gun, which was also previously intended for the “protected” cruiser, allowed to fire with a maximum angle of elevation + 40 degrees. To protect the calculation on the machine was mounted shield shield.

Additional measures were also taken to increase the stability of the gun when firing. With the help of two screw jacks on rails, two steel beams were lowered from each end of the conveyor, which were fixed on the rails by means of special collet grips. As in the 155-millimeter rail installation, outrigger supports with base plates and screw jacks were used.

Performance characteristics:
Caliber - 164,7 mm;
Barrel length - 47 calibers;
The largest elevation angle is + 40 degrees;
Angle of horizontal fire - 360 degrees;
Weight in traveling position - 60000 kg;
The mass of the high-explosive projectile - 50,5 kg;
The initial velocity of the projectile - 775 m / s;
The longest firing range - 18000 m.

According to the site http://milday.ru

Comments

[Iraclius]

Informative article, put a plus. Why are the differences M 1893, M 1893 / 96 and M 1893 / 96 M not indicated? Why is it not said, at least briefly, about the combat use of the gun? How was horizontal guidance done? Curved paths?
Well, and so - the gun is rather big, it’s not the M 1877 with its modest 10 km range. Here they write about the brakes and jacking of the conveyor, and the video shows that after the shot, the gun recoils by recoil force. So, in combat conditions did not use jacks?

PS The gauge is kind of ridiculous - 164-mm.

[ICT]

it still seems to me that she’s not in the photo, it’s kind of like a caliber at least more

[Denzel13]

Yes, it’s informative whether their combat use was interesting and if it would be nice to know more about it.
I only drew attention to the inaccuracy - "... which were made in the middle 1990-x years for the so-called “protected” cruiser. ”Apparently a typo.

[Iraclius]

I still could not find data on the combat use of these guns, but I found interesting data on the German shelling of Paris in 1918 from the Colossal cannon. Here is her photo in a combat position:

The firing range -130 km - was provided by the movement of the projectile in the stratosphere.
Paris was fired from German rear from a distance of 125 km. A duel of German and French guns is curiously described:

According to the flight of shells to the target, experts determined the direction from which the shooting was carried out. Soon, French pilots discovered three artillery railway installations belonging to German forces in a forest southwest of Lyon. The location of the installations was estimated at a distance of 125 kilometers from Paris. The installations were located very deep in the German rear, and therefore the only one capable of “resisting” them was the 34-cm 45-caliber naval cannon located on a railway conveyor (I could not identify this gun). However, within reach was only one installation of the Germans. The French forces managed to drive their conveyor to German positions; did it from the side of the hill; the hill covered from direct observation. In order to mislead the sound direction finders of the Germans, at a distance of several hundred meters from the main installation, two more, only a smaller caliber were placed. They started firing a few seconds earlier.
Correction of fire occurred with the help of airplanes. By the time the day was over, the German artillery station nearby was destroyed; all other installations were not damaged and continued to shell Paris. In total, the German troops conducted three series of shelling: from 23 of March to 1 of May, from 27 of May to 11 of June, and also from 15 of July to 9 of August; according to the famous engineer A. G. Dukelsky, “the whole artillery-technical world was stunned by these shellings”

[AK-47]

Quote: Iraclius

found interesting data about the shelling of Paris by the Germans in 1918 from the Colossal gun

A total of about 400 shots were fired. 367 confirmed hits. 351 shells exploded within Paris. On March 29 at 16:27 a shell hit the church, 91 people were killed, 68 were injured. In total, 256 people were killed as a result of the shelling, 620 were injured. Huge material damage was caused.
Tolbiac Street (Paris, 13th arrondissement), Bombing June 2, 1918

[Natalia]

Well, just the same prodigy ....