One of the railway artillery installations was armed with a newly developed coastal cannon M 17. The gun had a steel rifled barrel (barrel length 28,5 caliber, rifled portion - 22,3 caliber, weight - no more than 14 thousand kg). The X-NUMX gun M fired high-explosive shells, the mass of which was 17 kg. The firing range at the initial speed of 140 m / s was 640 m.
M 1884 - cast iron gun with an inner steel threaded tube and several fastening rings. The length of its barrel was 27,9 gauges, the rifled part — 20,7 gauges, weight — 13980 kg. The barrel bore was locked with a piston gate. For firing, the same high-explosive shells were used as for the 17 M cannon. The firing range of these shells at the initial speed of 614 m / s was 17,3 km. During the war, high-explosive shells with a mass increased to 159 kg were also taken to the cannon. The initial velocity of the projectile data was 526 m / s, and the firing range - 14 km.
To simplify the production of railway installations, Batignolles maximally unified the design of railway transporters and gun carriages. The 1888 M gun carriages, which were designed for coastal artillery guns, were used. The laft consisted of upper and lower machines. The upper machine during the shot shifted backwards and upwards along the inclined surface of the lower machine, thus quenching some of the recoil energy. The rest of this energy was perceived by the hydraulic recoil brake. Nakat occurred under the action of gravity. To ensure circular fire, the carriage was mounted on a pivoting frame, which was supported on the base frame by means of rollers. For horizontal and vertical guidance served as manual actuators. The minimum declination angle was 3 degrees, the maximum angle of elevation was 38 degrees.
The turning frame on the part of the breech had a platform on which charges and projectiles were delivered from the cellar, which was mounted in the aft part of the conveyor. The railway transporter is a specially designed railway platform with two three-axle bogies. To ensure the stability of the conveyor during firing, it was equipped with eight grippers (4 on each side), with which it was rigidly attached to the rails. In addition, on each side mounted on 2 outriggers, equipped with screw jacks and supporting shields (wooden bars). The stability of the conveyor during firing was largely ensured by its large mass, which was about 90 tons.
It should also be noted that the transfer of the installation to the combat position from the traveling one was made in 10 minutes. Both versions of the 240-millimeter rail artillery installation were made before the end of the First World War. By the beginning of the Second World War, the French army had at its disposal 8 of such installations.
Performance characteristics:
Caliber - 240 mm;
Barrel length - 27,9 calibers;
The largest elevation angle is + 38 degrees;
Declination angle - -3 degrees;
Angle of horizontal fire - 360 degrees;
Weight in the fighting position - 90000 kg;
Weight in traveling position - 90000 kg;
The mass of the high-explosive projectile - 140 kg;
The initial velocity of the projectile - 614 m / s;
The longest firing range - 17300 m.
According to the site http://milday.ru