Depth of field trickery ....it's a 155 - still big enough to ruin your day (from either end)

Yup, I figured the picture had a bit of perspective altering the relative size, but still, a big piece.

25 years ago, the USS Iowa was shooting its 16 inch guns 20 or 30 miles away from where I was living and the atmospherics were just right - to shake the house like an earthquake!

Hands up!

I don't think that the picture is too much out of proportion if any. Here is a couple pics of an M109 series 155mm howitzer that I've got some time on. IIRC the muzzle break weighs 350 lbs and the tube is a bit over 19 feet. Rodney.

quote:

Originally posted by swheeler:
Hands up!

Larry says they could lop their rounds into the target more accurately with a slower twist rate or to stay within his rpm threshold!!!!

All I can say is the accuracy would surprise most anyone especially over the distances that a round can be lobbed. Another interesting howitzer is the M102 which is a 105mm towed cannon that is air mobile. A six gun battery of M102 howitzers can have 36 rounds in the air before the first one hits and thats not bad for hand loaded cannons. Rodney.

Then there was it's older brother...the M110 (203mm gun)

I liked the ole 8" M110 cannon but the blasted projectiles were pushing 200 lbs each and that was getting a bit much for me compared to the 95 lb standard HE round for the 155mm. They have a hydraulic ram for pushing the round into the start of the lands and grooves but it is much too slow compared to doing it by hand so you can imagine the work involved when multiple rounds are needed. Rodney.

I used to build 109's and they are a very impressive vehicle, now i build the A-3 bradley and they have a 25 mm gun and that is an impressive round. I tried to get a dummy round but they woulnd give me one.

bill23, thats a cool job that if asked what you do for a living you tell them that you build stuff that blows up stuff. Heavy mechanized was cool in that we roll into battle rather than walk. Rodney.

I like Artillery, how about more.

This is what we called "hipshoots" Baumholder range what was then West Germany.





Rodney.

36" bore mortar...

I'd like to see how they load that 36" mortar. Cannot imagine that was done by hand. Was that one of the guns that were to be set up on our Pacific coast during WWII? Rodney.

Have to dig into the history some. Sure the muzzle gets horozontal some sort of ram loads the charge and projo and there ya go ... don't think a mortar would be good for coastal defence - no range and poor accuracy. There used to be some REALLY big guns installed here in shore battery's for coastal/harbor defense. Pre-WWI - they were long barreled rifled bores - not sure how they were loaded either.

13" US Civil War Seige Mortar - they were made in several sizes with the 13" being the largest.

This is a big one.

quote:

Originally posted by Rodney H.{500Jeffery}:
I'd like to see how they load that 36" mortar. Cannot imagine that was done by hand. Was that one of the guns that were to be set up on our Pacific coast during WWII? Rodney.

I don't think this was actually a combat weapon. It was built to test the aerodynamic qualities of aerial bombs.

Edmond, thats an interesting piece. The length of the tube seems a bit longer than any of the American versions and the muzzle brake looks as though it would vent alot more also. What is the bore size? Rodney.

Grizzly Adams, Guess if you had a 36" cannon like that just about anything could be launched out of it, even Super Dave Osborne. I can see where it could be used to test the aerodynamic qualities of bomb shapes and designs. Out on the battlefield it looks as though it would be more of a burden compared to the artillery availlable at the time. Rodney.

I like this picture, took it during an exercise in "Graf" Germany.



And this one.



Nothing like the smell of burnt gun powder in the morning! Rodney.

Notice the camo net in the above pic, the blast from muzzlebrake knocked it down. Some of the other pics I have show giant holes in the net from the blast of the muzzlebrake. Rodney.

On the 36" mortar (914mm),it was called Little David. It was originally developed for projecting aerial bombs in testing. It was more accurate than droping from plains. It was at APG when I was there in 67. The base was like a 40' cargo container with the top off. They were thinking of useing it in the invasion of Japan. When I was at EOD school in 68 one of the instuctor said that the first time they tried it with a HE projectil they didn't push the shell all the way in. When they elavated the barrel the 3400lb shell popped out the muzzle. They built in a air release valve so it wouldn't do that again. See Hogg's book " ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ARTILLERY" page 188 PS: I almost went to Nam in a 175mm unit(got out of the unit two weeks before they went) Meet some of the people when they came back to Ft Sill. They were south of DMZ. All the guns(12)had the barrels changed to 8" as the 175's were wearing out too fast.

quote:

Originally posted by Macifej:
Have to dig into the history some. Sure the muzzle gets horozontal some sort of ram loads the charge and projo and there ya go ... don't think a mortar would be good for coastal defence - no range and poor accuracy. There used to be some REALLY big guns installed here in shore battery's for coastal/harbor defense. Pre-WWI - they were long barreled rifled bores - not sure how they were loaded either.

I don't know about the mortars projected here but where did you get the idea "don't think a mortar would be good for coastal defence - no range and poor accuracy." Maybe not for coastal defense either but I've known a couple or three guys that could drop a projectile down a chimney or put it in you hip pocket with a mortar. Just a thump, a cough and on the way - BLOOEY! Perfect example of handcarried, hand served "heavy artillery" - and it worked. Just needed more rounds or less bad guys.

"The U.S. Navy created the original 31-foot fiberglass-hulled Mk I PBR from a modified leisure craft design. The boats were outfitted with one twin 50-caliber machine gun forward and an after-mount of either a machine gun or mortar." Actually, most of the 42's and the PBR's ended up with both, sometimes more than one MG.

quote:

Originally posted by Macifej:
36" bore mortar...

The 36 inch mortar was a "secret weapon" built to bust Japanese caves in the invasion of the Japanese home islands. The atomic bomb aced out the 36 incher!
LLS

Nah! We Brits got there first with Mallet's Mortar in the 1850s! All 36" of her. Here's a picture:



More on the USA's Little David - with more pictures - here:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/...und/little-david.htm

quote:

Originally posted by A7Dave:
Yup, I figured the picture had a bit of perspective altering the relative size, but still, a big piece.

25 years ago, the USS Iowa was shooting its 16 inch guns 20 or 30 miles away from where I was living and the atmospherics were just right - to shake the house like an earthquake!

A7Dave - do you happen to live on St Thomas? I was a division officer on the IOWA 86'-89', and can recall having to stop gunex on Vieques because we were rattling windows on St Thomas...