The guns on the railway transporter. French 340-mm cannons M 1881, M 1884, M 1893 and M 1912
The design of the 340-mm guns M 1881 and M 1884, selected first for installation on the railway conveyors, was almost the same. The length of these guns was 30 calibers, rifled part of the barrel - 22,2 caliber. High-explosive shells with a mass of 432 —465 kg were used for firing; the firing range was 19,5 —18,3 km. The mass of the gun - 51,8 t, this was the reason for increasing the weight of the entire artillery rail installation to 187 tons. In turn, this required an increase in the number of supports to 7 units (the installation was based on them during firing). At the same time, the time required for transferring the installation to the combat position from the traveling one did not practically increase. A trained calculation to perform this operation required 30 — 35 minutes.
The 340 millimeter cannon M 1893 was already mounted on a modernized carriage having 7 supports. Initially, it was also intended for coastal artillery, but it had a larger barrel length (36,8 caliber) compared to the previous two guns and higher ballistic characteristics. 432-kilogram high-explosive projectile gun fired at a distance of 26,9 km with an initial speed of 740 m / s. The range of the 465-kilogram shell was 25,4 km. In the vertical plane, the gun could be induced in the range of + 3 .. + 40 degrees. Guidance drives - manual. Guidance in the horizontal plane was carried out by moving the conveyor along curved sections of the railway track. Despite the large length of the barrel, the mass M of the 1893 was not much more than the two previous guns, and was 53 t, and the weight of the entire installation was even reduced to 183 tons. Nevertheless, the designers realized that the possibilities of the conveyor, which was developed for the 274-millimeter cannon, were almost exhausted, and for more powerful artillery rail installations, its design should be significantly changed.
First of all, this railway installation could not be used due to the loads on the six-axle undercarriage carts that increased to the limit values. Therefore, the company Schneider, having received an order for the creation of an artillery rail installation with a 340-mm naval gun having a barrel length 47,4 caliber and a mass of 66950 kg, began a substantial reworking of the design of a generally successful conveyor.
The problem of high loads on the axles of railway trucks was decided by installing under each of the ends of the conveyor, the so-called balancer, supported on two four-axle bogies. Thus, the number of axles of the entire installation increased to 16, which, with the weight of the installation of about 290 thousand kg, made it possible to keep the load on each axis within 17 thousand kg. This constructive decision became the reason for increasing the length of the conveyor to the 33,22 meter, however, thanks to the balance weights, the maneuverability while moving along the railway tracks remained almost unchanged.
Schneder for installation on modified conveyors received 340 mm M 1912 guns in the amount of 6 pieces. These guns were intended for battleships of the Normandie type, but after the cancellation of the decision to create battleships, 12 ready-made M 1912 guns remained in stock fleetlying dead weight. In the face of an acute shortage of heavy artillery guns by the ground forces, the use of these guns to create artillery railway installations was a very reasonable decision.
The 1912 M cannon was a modern maritime weapon weighing 67 tons. The length of the rifled part of the barrel was equal to 39 gauges. The 465-kilogram high-explosive projectile could hit targets at a distance of 33 km, having an initial speed of 893, m / s. After adopting the 445-kilogram projectile with a ballistic tip, the firing range increased to 37,6 km. For the destruction of long-term fire installations could be used armor-piercing shells weighing 555 kilogram.
It should be noted that the maximum firing range from railway transporters turned out to be greater than the calculated maximum range of fire from the tower installation, designed for battleships. This can be explained by the fact that the maximum elevation angle at the order of fire from the tower installations was + 23 degrees, while the elevation angle of the gun on the railway conveyor was equal to 37 degrees.
In 1918, Schneider installed all 340 mm pawns of 1912 M on railway artillery installations. They participated in the last battles of the First World War. Installations in service with the French army remained until May 1940, when they fell into the hands of the Germans as war trophies. In the Wehrmacht, these installations were used under the designation 34 Kanone (E) 673 (f).
Performance characteristics of M 1884 / M 1893 / M M 1912:
Caliber - 340 mm;
Barrel length - 30,0 / 36,8 / 47,4 caliber;
The largest angle of elevation is 40 / 40 / 37 degrees;
Angle of horizontal fire - 0 degrees;
Weight in the fighting position - 187 / 183 / 270 tons;
Mass of high-explosive projectile - 432 / 432 / 465 kg;
The initial velocity of the projectile - 600 / 740 / 893 m / s;
The greatest range of shooting - 19500 / 26900 / 33000 m.
According to the site http://milday.ru
- Peter Ulyakin
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