Artillery by caliber. Russian artillery caliber

Caliber of rifled small arms

The most popular pistol calibers are:

577 (14.7 mm) - the largest of the series, the revolver "Eley" (Great Britain);

45 (11.4 mm) - the "national" US caliber, the most common in the Wild West. In 1911, the Colt M1911 automatic pistol of this caliber entered service with the army and navy and, repeatedly upgraded, served until 1985, when the US military switched to 9mm for the Beretta_92.

38; .357 (9mm) - is currently considered optimal for handguns (less - the bullet is too "weak", more - the gun is too heavy).

25 (6.35 mm) - TOZ-8.

2.7 mm - the smallest of the serial ones, had a Hummingbird pistol of the Pieper system (Belgium).

Caliber of a smoothbore hunting weapon

For smoothbore hunting rifles, calibers are measured differently: caliber number means number of bullets, which can be cast from 1 English pound of lead (453.6 g). In this case, the bullets must be spherical, identical in mass and diameter, which is equal to the inner diameter of the barrel in its middle part. The smaller the barrel diameter, the greater the number of bullets. In this way twentieth gauge is less than sixteenth, a sixteenth less than twelfth.

In the designation of cartridges for smoothbore weapons, as in the designation of cartridges for rifled weapons, it is customary to indicate the length of the sleeve, for example: 12/70 - a 12 gauge cartridge with a sleeve 70 mm long. Most common case lengths: 65, 70, 76 (magnum). Along with them there are: 60 and 89 (super magnum). The most widespread in Russia are hunting rifles of 12 gauge. There are (in descending order of prevalence) 16, 20, 36 (.410), 32, 28, and the distribution of caliber 36 (.410) is due solely to the release of Saiga carbines of the corresponding caliber.

The actual diameter of the bore of a given caliber in each country may differ from those indicated within certain limits. In addition, we should not forget that the shotgun barrel hunting weapon usually has various types of constrictions (choks), through which not any bullet of its caliber can pass without damaging the barrel, so in many cases bullets are made according to the diameter of the choke and are equipped with easily cut sealing belts that are cut down when passing through the choke. It should be noted that the common caliber of signal pistols - 26.5 mm - is nothing more than the 4th hunting.

Caliber of Russian artillery, air bombs, torpedoes and rockets

In Europe the term artillery caliber appeared in 1546, when Hartmann from Nuremberg developed a device called the Hartmann scale. It was a prismatic tetrahedral ruler. Units of measurement (inches) were marked on one face, and the actual dimensions, depending on the weight in pounds, of iron, lead and stone cores, respectively, were applied to the other three.

Example(approximately):

1 face - mark lead 1 pound kernels - corresponds to 1.5 inches

2 edge - iron cores 1 f. - from 2.5

3 face - stone cores 1 f. - from 3

Thus, knowing either the size or weight of the projectile, it was easy to complete, and most importantly, manufacture ammunition. A similar system existed in the world for about 300 years.

In Russia, before Peter 1, there were no standards. At the beginning of the 18th century, on behalf of Peter the Great, Feldzeugmeister General Count Bruce developed a domestic caliber system based on the Hartmann scale. She divided the guns according to artillery weight projectile (cast iron core). The unit of measurement was the artillery pound, a cast-iron ball 2 inches in diameter and weighing 115 spools (about 490 grams). A scale was also created that correlated artillery weight with the diameter of the bore, that is, with what we now call the caliber. At the same time, it did not matter what types of shells the gun fired - buckshot, bombs, or anything else. Only the theoretical artillery weight was taken into account, which the gun could shoot with its size. This system was introduced by royal decree in the city and lasted for a century and a half.

Example:

3 pound gun, 3 pound gun- official name;

artillery weight 3 pounds- the main characteristic of the weapon.

2.8 inch scale- diameter of the bore, an auxiliary characteristic of the gun.

In practice, it was a small cannon, firing rounds weighing about 1.5 kg and having a caliber (in our understanding) of about 70 mm.

D. E. Kozlovsky in his book translates the Russian artillery weight into metric calibers:

3 pounds - 76 mm.

A special place in this system was occupied by explosive shells (bomb). Their weight was measured in poods (1 pood = 40 trade pounds = approx. 16.3 kg). This is due to the fact that the bombs were hollow, with explosives inside, that is, they were made of materials of different densities. In their production, it was much more convenient to operate with generally accepted weight units.

D. Kozlovsky leads the next. ratios:

1/4 pud - 120 mm

For bombs, a special weapon was intended - a bombard, or mortar. Its tactical and technical characteristics, combat missions and the calibration system allow us to talk about a special type of artillery. In practice, small bombards often fired ordinary cannonballs, and then the same gun had different calibers- general at 12 pounds and special at 10 pounds.

The introduction of calibers, among other things, has become a good financial incentive for soldiers and officers. So, in the “Book of the Charter of the Sea”, printed in St. Petersburg in 1720, in the chapter “On Rewarding”, the amounts of award payments for cannons taken from the enemy are given:

30-pound - 300 rubles

In the second half of the 19th century, with the introduction of rifled artillery, the scale was adjusted due to changes in the characteristics of the projectile, but the principle remained the same.

Interesting fact: in our time, artillery pieces calibrated by weight are still in service. This is due to the fact that in the UK a similar system was maintained until the end of the Second World War. At the end of it, a large number of guns were sold and transferred to countries like that. called Third world. In the WB itself, 25-pound (87.6 mm) guns were in service until the end of the 70s. last century, and now remain in salute units.

In 1877, the inch system was introduced. At the same time, the former dimensions according to the "Bruce" scale to new system had nothing to do with it. True, the “Bryusov” scale and artillery weight remained for some time after 1877 due to the fact that many obsolete guns remained in the army.

Example:

Notes

The caliber of air bombs is measured in kilograms.

see also

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .

Caliber is the diameter of the bore of an artillery gun, as well as a pistol, machine gun and hunting rifle. Any person who is somehow connected with military affairs is familiar with this term, knows what it is, and knows, of course, that aircraft guns and machine guns have one caliber, and others on sea vessels. Well, what calibers exist in military affairs in general, and how many are there in total? The answer to this question will not be as simple as it seems, primarily because there are a lot of calibers. Well, just a lot, and far from always they were due to some special considerations - that's how! And since all this "violence of calibers" is directly related to the development of military equipment, we decided to tell you about it. At the same time, start with guns, because small arms calibers are their own separate issue.

So, the calibers of guns ... But what can be the minimum caliber in order to say for sure: this is a gun, but this is a machine gun? Experts argued about this for a long time and decided this: everything that is less than 15 mm is a machine gun, but everything that is more is a cannon! Since the most common caliber of aircraft guns during the Second World War was 20 mm, then, therefore, the smallest caliber gun will have a bore diameter of 20 mm, although there are exceptions. The most famous is the Japanese anti-tank gun, created back in the early 30s of the twentieth century. exactly this caliber. It was the heaviest anti-tank gun in the world, but since it was still a "gun", it could be carried by two people. A large caliber means greater armor penetration, but in general it did not justify itself, since the speed of its armor-piercing bullet was not very high, and this is a very important indicator for this type of weapon!

M61 Vulcan

But there are a lot of automatic aircraft guns of 20-mm caliber, and the most famous of them is the Vulkan automatic gun, developed in the USA for arming aircraft and helicopters, as well as anti-aircraft guns. artillery systems on armored personnel carriers and ships. In the second film about the Terminator, you can see how such systems operate, although in reality a person cannot withstand the recoil of such a weapon.
And not only guns, but even a machine gun! “You have 20,” our military decided, having met with German aircraft guns during the Great Patriotic War, - but we will have 23 mm! And such a gun with a heavier, and therefore more destructive projectile, the VYa brand, was created and stood on many of our aircraft, including the IL-2 attack aircraft. And in other countries, aircraft and anti-aircraft guns with a caliber of 25 and 27 mm were developed, until, finally, the 30-mm caliber did not supplant all the others. However, it is known that larger-caliber guns were also installed on the planes: 35, 37, 40, 45, 50, 55 and even 75 mm, which turned them into real “flying artillery”. However, all of them turned out to be too heavy for aircraft, which is why today the military settled on the 30-mm caliber ...

But on land and at sea, 23, 25, 35 and 37 mm anti-aircraft guns, as well as 40 mm, were very popular and remain so now, only 25 mm is found today mainly on American infantry fighting vehicles " Bradley." We meet anti-aircraft guns in 35-mm on the German "Gepard" and the Japanese ZSU "Type 87". The 45-mm caliber was very popular in the Red Army, where anti-tank guns - "magpies" were its main means of fighting German tanks almost throughout the Great Patriotic War. But in other armies of the world they did not know such a caliber, except that in Italy there was such a mortar. But there, from Sweden to Japan, anti-tank guns of 37.40 and 47 mm were distributed, as well as 57 mm - a caliber that appeared with us already during the war. Known calibers 50, 51 and 55 mm, but they are not widely used. Calibers 50 and 51 mm are modern light mortars in foreign armies. 60-mm is also a “mortar” caliber, but already 64-mm is a very serious artillery system - the caliber of the first rapid-fire guns designed by Baranovsky in Russia, which had a recoil brake and a knurler! 65 mm is the caliber of light Spanish howitzers, and 68 mm is the caliber of Austrian mountain guns of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 73-mm guns "Grom" were on the first Soviet infantry fighting vehicles and infantry fighting vehicles, but this caliber somehow did not really take root with us. But a lot of people know about the Russian "three-inch" of the Putilov factory.

Baranovsky rapid-fire cannon

However, the caliber of 75 mm, which is not very different from it, is more famous all over the world. The first French rapid-fire gun by Puteaux and Duport of the 1897 model had such a name, and already our 76.2-mm gun is its direct successor. But why "three inches" is understandable. In Russia, as in many other countries in the nineteenth century. Weapon calibers were then measured in inches, not millimeters. One inch is 25.4 mm, so three inches will equal 76.2 mm!

The German gun - the opponent of our three-inch gun on the battlefields of the First World War - had a caliber of 77 mm, and in general, 75 and 76.2 calibers are the most common calibers in the world. It was these guns that were also produced as mountain, trench, tank, field and anti-aircraft guns, although exceptions are known. For example, the English mountain gun had a 70-mm caliber, and the Japanese Type 92 infantry gun, which was actively used during the Second World War, had the same caliber. Interestingly, it is still in service in China and Vietnam, primarily because it is ideal for short soldiers! By the way, for the same reason, the weight of the shells of this gun was 3.8 kg for the Japanese, but for the British - 4.5! It is interesting that the same British also had one more measurement for their guns, but not in inches, but according to tradition in pounds by the weight of the projectile. However, it turned out that this is not very convenient and sometimes leads to confusion. So, the English three-inch gun BL Mk2, used in English army during the Anglo-Boer War, it was called a 15-pounder, but a gun of exactly the same caliber during the First World War - a 13-pounder, and only because it had a lighter projectile! By the way, in Germany, the calibers of guns were traditionally measured not in millimeters and not in inches, but in centimeters and, accordingly, they were indicated in them.

81 and 82 mm are traditionally mortar calibers. Moreover, the 81-mm was adopted abroad, but the 82-mm - here. It is believed that this was done so that their mines could be fired from our mortars, but ours cannot be fired from their mortars! Of course, in combat conditions this is beneficial, although the accuracy of shooting when using “not our own” mines was somewhat reduced.

Then come the very common both in the field troops and in the tank, such medium calibers as 85.87.6, 88.90 and 94 mm. The 85 mm is a Soviet anti-aircraft gun and the cannon of the T-34/85 tank, the 87.6 mm is an English 25-pound Mk2 howitzer gun that fired from the base plate, which allowed it to turn 360 degrees, and the 88 mm caliber had the famous German anti-aircraft gun"eight-eight". It was also the caliber of the guns of the Tiger tanks and the Ferdinand self-propelled guns. The 3.7-inch or 94-mm gun is the anti-aircraft gun of the British in 1937-1950, with a reach of 10 kilometers. But the 90-millimeter gun stood on American tank"Pershing", which appeared at the very end of the war of World War II.

Calibers 100, 102, 105, 107 mm were very popular both in the army and in the navy. A 106 mm recoilless gun is also known, but 105 and 107 mm guns were also recoilless. As for rifled guns, they were placed on ships (as the main caliber on light cruisers and destroyers and auxiliary on large ones) and on tanks. Moreover, 105-mm tank guns became the answer of foreign tank builders to the 100-mm caliber of tank guns adopted in our country. When the 105-mm caliber “went” there, then we put 115-caliber guns on our tanks, and then 125-mm guns! But the caliber of 114-mm guns had English field howitzers, and they were also placed on the so-called "artillery boats"! It is interesting that for some reason such a howitzer was in the storeroom historical museum in Kazan. Or is it no longer worth it?

120-mm is a typical mortar caliber, but the same guns were on ships (in particular, in the USSR they were used on monitors and gunboats), and on heavy foreign tanks. But 122-mm howitzers existed only in Russia. Caliber 127-mm - had universal guns on US warships and heavy English guns used both by the British army and in the artillery of the Red Army. 130-mm - caliber of Soviet naval, coastal and tank guns. 135,140,150,152 mm are the calibers of cruiser guns. Moreover, 152 mm - "six-inch" - for a long time was considered the most massive and was also installed on battleships, while the 140-mm is the caliber of promising tank guns currently being developed to replace the aging 120-mm guns.

mortar MT-13

At the same time, 152 and 155 mm are the calibers of heavy howitzers and guns in the ground forces, including self-propelled ones. 160-mm is the caliber of our Soviet (as well as Israeli and Chinese) MT-13 mortar, as well as some naval guns on cruisers and battleships. But our ships did not have such guns. 175-mm - on the contrary, it was never used at sea, but the Americans used it in their M107 heavy self-propelled artillery system. 180,190 and 195 mm are again the calibers of naval guns that were on cruisers, but 203 mm is the famous "Washington caliber" of heavy cruisers. However, it had (and still has) some ground heavy guns of the ground forces, designed to suppress and destroy the enemy at a great distance or destroy especially strong fortifications. For example, this is our Peony. 210-mm is also the caliber of high-powered land guns, which were in service with the Red Army and the Wehrmacht at the beginning of World War II.

"Peony". 210 mm

The diameter of the bore equal to 229, 234, 240, 254 mm had naval and coastal guns. In particular, our mortar "Tulip" just has a caliber of 240 mm. But the calibers of 270 and 280 mm also belonged to land mortars and long-range guns of battleships and battleships. "Twelve inches" - 305-mm - the most common main caliber on battleships and battleships, but also in coastal and railway artillery, and, in addition, it was also the caliber of heavy howitzers of the reserve of the High Command and individual artillery battalions of special power.

However, soon after its appearance on ships, the twelve-inch caliber ceased to satisfy naval gunners, and from 1875 they began to install more and more powerful guns on ships. First, 320, 330, 340, 343, 356, 381 mm - that's how they gradually became larger and larger, while the shells for them were getting heavier and deadlier. At the same time, the American land siege mortar, first installed on a railway platform in 1865, had a 330-mm caliber, but many railway guns had a 356-mm caliber. The projectile of such a gun could weigh 747 kg, and fly out of the barrel at a speed of 731 m / s!

The lifting mechanism of the French heavy 240-mm cannon of the Saint-Chamon concern, model 84/17, captured by the Germans

The 400-mm caliber was also used by the railway gun - the French Saint-Chamon heavy gun of the 1916 model. The range of its shot was 16 km. The weight of the projectile was 900 kg. 406, 412 and 420 mm are the calibers of monster sea guns with barrels weighing over 100 tons! An experimental 406-mm cannon is still standing at the training ground near St. Petersburg, and our post-war self-propelled guns "Condenser" had the same caliber. 412-mm guns were on the English battleship Benbow. 420-mm - the guns of the French battleship Cayman (1875), and the German heavy field mortar Big Bertha, which fired shells weighing 810 kg. It is also the caliber of the Soviet post-war self-propelled mortar "Oka". The 450-mm guns were the main caliber of the Italian battleships Duilio and Dandolo. Finally, the largest in terms of weight were the 457-mm guns of the Japanese battleship Yamato (and the Musashi of the same type with it), of which there were nine pieces on it: a kind of record and now not beaten by any other country in the world. But it's not the most large guns. An even larger caliber equal to 508 mm had guns of American monitors of the period civil war in the USA. Moreover, they sent nuclei weighing 500 kg to the target. They lifted them with a special crane installed inside the tower, by the ears cast on their body, and rolled them inside along a special tray inserted into the barrel. The impact force of such nuclei was truly monstrous, only they were made of cast iron, therefore, having hit against sufficiently strong armor, they often simply split, which is why they were abandoned in favor of shells with a pointed warhead.

ACS "Condenser"

On land, guns of larger calibers also existed in abundance. For example, back in 1489, a 495-mm Mons Meg cannon was made in Flanders, with a screw-down charging chamber, but the mortar of the Knights of Rhodes, which has also survived to this day, was even larger - 584 mm! No less powerful guns were in the 15th century. and opponents of the then Christians - the Turks, who fought with Constantinople, as well as with the Knights of Malta. So, during its siege in 1453, the Hungarian caster Urban cast them a copper bombard of 610-mm caliber, which fired stone balls weighing 328 kg. In 1480, during the siege of the island of Rhodes, the Turks used bombards with a caliber of 890 mm. In response, the Rhodian knights managed to cast the Pumhard mortar of exactly the same caliber, throwing their stone cores steeply upwards, which was more convenient for the Europeans, while the Turks had to shoot from the bottom up. This also includes our legendary "Tsar Cannon", which had an initial barrel diameter of 900 mm, and a final one, near a very narrow charging chamber - 825 mm!

"Mons Meg"

"Tsar Cannon"

But the largest cannon (and not a bombard!) Was cast on the orders of the Indian Raja Gopola in 1670. True, it is inferior in caliber to the Tsar Cannon, but surpasses it in weight and bore length! The German self-propelled guns "Karl" originally had a caliber of 600 mm, but after the first barrels fell into disrepair, they were replaced with new 540 mm ones. The famous "supergun" "Dora" had a caliber of 800 mm and was a giant railway transporter with its own bakery and bathhouse, not to mention air defense systems. But the largest ground gun was still not her, but the American installation "Little David" with a caliber of 914 mm. Initially, it was used for experimental throwing of aerial bombs, during their tests it replaced the bomber aircraft. At the end of the war, they tried to use it to destroy Japanese ground fortifications, but the war ended before this idea really worked.

"Little David" caliber 914 mm

However, this gun is not the largest in terms of bore diameter! The Englishman Robert Mallet's 920-mm mortar, created back in 1857, is rightfully considered the largest-caliber mortar. And, by the way, also no! Indeed, in Jules Verne's novel "Five Hundred Million Begums" a much more monstrous cannon is described, with one shot of which the evil Professor Schulze intended to destroy the entire city of Franceville. And although this is not the best of Jules Verne's novels, the cannon located in the "Tower of the Bull" is described in it in sufficient detail and competently. And, nevertheless, this is still fiction, but the “Little David” can be seen with your own eyes on the open area of ​​the Aberdeen Proving Ground in the USA.

Interestingly, during the Second World War, the so-called bicaliber guns appeared, that is, guns with a conical bore. At the entrance to it there was one caliber, but at the exit there was another - smaller! They used the "Gerlich principle": when the tapered barrel compresses the bullet to a slightly smaller diameter. At the same time, the pressure of gases on its bottom increases, and starting speed and energy increase. A typical representative of such weapon systems was the German 28/20 mm (28 mm at the entrance to the cone, and 20 mm at the muzzle) anti-tank gun. With the gun itself weighing 229 kg, its armor-piercing projectile had a speed of 1400 m/s, which was an order of magnitude higher than other similar guns at that time. But such an achievement went to the Germans at a high price. Tapered barrels it was difficult to produce, and they wore out much faster. The shells for them are also much more difficult, but they can hold less than conventional, caliber explosives. That is why in the end they had to abandon them, although some of them even participated in the battles.

2.8 cm schwere Panzerbüchse 41

Most likely, this is far from full list, however, is sufficient for derivation. And what is the conclusion? Only the fact that almost any "hole in the pipe" can be made shooting, there would only be a desire! After all, the same Japanese, for example, made cannons from tree trunks even in 1905 and fired from them, although, of course, not with cannonballs, but with incendiary shells from segments of bamboo trunks.

Naval artillery is a set of artillery weapons mounted on warships and intended for use against coastal (ground), sea (surface) and air targets. Naval artillery can be classified according to a number of criteria.

Classification of naval artillery

Classification by purpose

Universal ship artillery installation A190

The most common classification in the literature naval artillery by appointment. After all, even with the same caliber on different ships, guns can perform a completely different role. For example, on Soviet destroyers, 130 mm guns were used as main battery guns.

At the same time, on battleships, such guns cannot be main guns and most often serve as anti-mine (PMK), auxiliary caliber, or even anti-aircraft artillery. Because of this, all weapons are divided into:

• Main caliber- main firepower most ships, is used to fire at surface and land targets. With the advent missile weapons artillery of the main caliber has lost its relevance.

• Universal Artillery- has the widest range of applications, it is used for sea, coastal and air targets. With the spread of missile weapons, it was the universal that became the main naval artillery. In connection with such changes in the armament of ships, the main targets of universal artillery are air targets, and secondary targets are sea and coastal targets.

• Flak- naval artillery, used exclusively for air targets. Previously, depending on the caliber, it was divided into 3 groups: large-caliber (100 mm or more), medium-caliber (57 - 88 mm) and small-caliber (less than 57 mm). But in modern conditions, guns with a caliber of more than 152 mm are not produced, medium-caliber air defense guns are used as universal artillery. Thus, anti-aircraft artillery on modern ships consists of 20-30 mm rapid-fire machine guns. In some states, guns with a caliber of up to 40 mm are used.

• rocket artillery- installation of unguided rocket weapons.

105 mm anti-aircraft gun SKC/33

Classification by caliber

The classification of artillery by caliber also changed depending on the time. It is worth noting that until 1922, ship guns with a caliber from 193 to 238 mm belonged to an intermediate caliber.

Classification of naval artillery in the period from 1860 to 1946:

• large caliber- 240 mm and more.
• medium caliber- from 100 to 190 mm
• small caliber- less than 100 mm.

Classification of naval artillery after 1946:

• large caliber- 180 mm and more.
• medium caliber- from 100 to 179 mm
• small caliber- less than 100 mm.

Classification by type of accommodation

Naval artillery has many placement options. Basically, they depend on the goals and scope of artillery. According to the type of artillery installations are divided into:

• Tower units- guns are placed in armored towers, which provides protection personnel guns and mechanisms from enemy shells, chemical weapons and air bombs. Each tower consists of a fighting compartment (protected top part towers) and under-turret compartment (hidden part of the tower installation, which includes elevators and artillery cellars). Tower installations are divided into single-gun and multi-gun (two-, three-, four-gun). Each of the concepts has its own advantages and disadvantages.

• Deck type units- unlike turret-type installations, they do not have a turret compartment, and the gun and service systems are separate. Unlike turrets, such installations have completely isolated cellars and ammunition supply routes.

• Deck-tower units- have part of the armor protection, which provides better security compared to deck installations. Also, the gun, guidance and loading mechanisms are one piece, and all other systems are placed separately. The turret compartment consists of a lifting mechanism (elevator). The armor protection of such installations is most often an open bulletproof and anti-fragmentation armor, which is a rotating part of the installation.

Classification by shooting method

• Automatic settings- such artillery mounts loading, pointing, shooting and reloading are performed automatically without human intervention.

• Semi-automatic installations- some operations in the process of shooting are performed by people, and the rest are automated. Most often, the artillery crew performs the loading of guns, aiming and reloading.

• Non-automatic settings- all actions are performed directly by artillery crew manually or using certain mechanisms (most often feed and loading mechanisms) driven by a person.

Classification by loading method

• With unitary loading- a unitary cartridge is a projectile combined into a whole, a propellant charge and a means of ignition. Loading is done in one step, which allows you to achieve a higher rate of fire compared to separate-sleeve or cap loading.

Cartridge shot

• With separate case loading- with this method of loading, the projectile consists of several non-integrated parts - the projectile, propellant charge and ignition means. Thanks to the ability to change the weight of the warhead, you can adjust it for certain tasks and conditions. This method of loading does not ensure the tightness of the warhead, which can adversely affect its qualities and lower the speed of the guns compared to unitary loading. Also, capped loading belongs to separate-sleeve loading. Unlike separate case loading, this method does not use shells, which makes their production easier and cheaper. But loading is carried out in three stages, which significantly reduces the rate of fire compared to unitary and separate-sleeve loading. Also, the presence of a separate means of ignition and the absence of a sleeve significantly complicates the design of the shutter and loading methods. For this reason, shots of this type are used exclusively in large-caliber guns.

The caliber of artillery, as a term, appeared in Europe in 1546, when Hartmann from Nuremberg introduced a prismatic tetrahedral ruler. This device is called the Hartmann scale. Units of measurement (inches) were marked on one side, and the actual dimensions (depending on weight in pounds) of iron, lead and stone cores, respectively, were applied to the other three.

Examples (approximately):

• 1 face - the mark of the lead core weighing 1 pound - corresponds to 1.5 inches;
• 2 face - iron core weighing 1 pound - with 2.5;
• 3 face - stone core weighing 1 pound - with 3.

Knowing the size or weight of the projectile, it was possible to manufacture ammunition to complete the charge in advance. This system has existed in the world for about three centuries. In Russia, uniform standards did not exist before the reforms of Peter I. Army squeaks and guns had individual characteristics by projectile weight, in Russian national units. There were tools from 1/8 hryvnia to a pood. At the beginning of the 18th century, on behalf of Peter I, a domestic system of calibers was developed under the leadership of General Feldzeugmeister Count Bruce. The Hartmann scale was taken as the basis. This system divided the guns according to the artillery weight of the projectile (cast iron core). The unit of measurement was the artillery pound - a cast-iron core with a diameter of 2 inches and a weight of 115 spools (approximately 490 grams). It did not matter what types of shells the gun fired - bombs, buckshot or something else. Only the theoretical artillery weight was taken into account, which the gun could shoot with its size. Tables were developed correlating artillery weight (caliber) with bore diameter. Artillerymen were required to operate with calibers and diameters. In the "Naval Charter" (St. Petersburg, 1720), in chapter seven "On the artillery officer, or constapel", in paragraph 2 it is written: "It is necessary to measure the cores, whether their diameters are similar to the calibers of the guns and place them on the ship according to their places." This system was introduced by royal decree in 1707 and lasted more than a century and a half.

• 3-pounder gun, 3-pounder gun - official names;
• artillery weight 3 pounds - the main characteristic of the gun;
• size 2.8 inches - diameter of the bore, an auxiliary characteristic of the gun.

In practice, it was a small cannon, firing rounds weighing about 1.5 kg and having a caliber (in our understanding) of about 70 mm. D. E. Kozlovsky in his book gives the translation of Russian artillery weight into metric calibers:

• 3 pounds - 76 mm,
• 4 lbs - 88 mm,
• 6 pounds - 96 mm,
• 12 pounds - 120 mm,
• 18 pounds - 137 mm,
• 24 lbs - 152 mm,
• 60 pounds - 195 mm.

A special place in this system was occupied by explosive shells (bomb). Their weight was measured in poods (1 pood - 40 trade pounds - equals approximately 16.3 kg). This is due to the fact that the bombs were hollow, with explosives inside, that is, they were made of materials of different densities. In their production, it was much more convenient to operate with generally accepted weight units.

D. Kozlovsky gives the following ratios:

• 1/4 pood - 120 mm,
• 1/2 - 152,
• 1 pood - 196,
• 2 - 245.v
• 3 - 273,
• 5 - 333.

For bombs, a special weapon was intended - a bombard, or mortar. Its tactical and technical characteristics, combat missions and calibration system make it possible to speak of a special type of artillery. In practice, small bombards were often fired with ordinary cannonballs, and then the same gun had different calibers - a general 12 pounds and a special 10 pounds.

The introduction of calibers, among other things, has become a good financial incentive for soldiers and officers. So, in the “Naval Charter”, printed in St. Petersburg in 1720, in the chapter “On Rewarding”, the amounts of award payments for cannons taken from the enemy are given:

• 30-pound - 300 rubles,
• 24 - 250,
• 18 - 210,
• 12 - 170,
• 8 - 130,
• 6 - 90,
• 4 and 3 - 50,
• 2 and below - 15.

In the second half of the 19th century, with the introduction of rifled artillery, the scale was adjusted due to changes in the characteristics of the projectile, but the principle remained the same.

It is very difficult to talk about artillery today. In a simple way, that is Shirokorad, and those who are interested in artillery issues are well aware of the names of other Russian and foreign artillery historians. It's in particular. Survey things are easier to do, and such articles are good precisely because they push readers to independently search for material, to independent conclusions. Ultimately, to the formation own view on the topic of the article.

But it so happened that several readers at once raised enough interest Ask about heavy guns in the Russian army before and during the First World War.

How could it happen that Russia "missed" the strengthening of the importance of heavy guns at the beginning of the 20th century? And how did it happen that Soviet Russia turned out to be among the world leaders in the production of such guns before World War II?

We will try to answer both of these questions, especially since the answers are fraught with several interesting points.

In fact, everything was very, very natural!

To understand what the artillery of Russia was, it is necessary to clearly understand the structure of artillery units and subunits. In 1910, the organization of Russian artillery was adopted. So, artillery division:

- field, designed to support the combat operations of ground (field) troops. It included light and horse, mountain and horse-mountain, howitzer and field heavy.

- Fortress, designed to defend fortresses (land and coastal), ports and raids.

- siege, designed to destroy fortress walls, destroy enemy fortifications and ensure the offensive of ground forces.

As you can see, the presence of heavy guns seems to be mandatory. Even in the category of field guns.

But why, then, did we meet the war practically unarmed in this sense? Agree, a 122-mm field howitzer of the 1909 model of the year (firing range up to 7,700 m), a 152-mm field howitzer of the 1910 model of the year and a 152-mm siege gun of the 1910 model of the year are not enough for the army of a country like Russia. Moreover, if you follow the "letter of the law", of the three guns with a caliber of more than 120 mm, only 152 mm can "legitimately" be attributed to heavy artillery.

Siege gun 152 mm

The generals of the General Staff must be considered guilty of the fact that heavy artillery disappeared from the Russian army at the beginning of the century. It was the General Staff that actively developed the idea of ​​a fast, mobile war. But it is not Russian invention. This is the French doctrine of war, for which the presence of a large number of heavy guns is not necessary. And even harmful because of the difficulties in maneuvering and changing positions.

It is worth recalling that France at the beginning of the 20th century was the trendsetter of military fashion, and with France Russian empire ally. So - everything is natural.

It was this concept, as well as the obvious lag of Russian heavy artillery from modern models in other armies of the world, that led to the fact that the then existing siege artillery was disbanded.

The guns of the first half of the 19th century were sent to the warehouse or to the fortress. It was believed that 152-mm guns would be enough for a new war. More large caliber disposed of or sent to storage.

Instead of siege artillery, there should have been units of heavy army artillery. But... There were no modern weapons for these formations!

At the beginning of the war (August 1, 1914), the Russian army had 7,088 guns. Of these, howitzers - 512 pieces. In addition to the already listed heavy guns, there were other developments.

152 mm siege gun (mentioned above) - 1 piece.

203 mm howitzer mod. 1913 - 1 piece.

We will see an even more depressing picture if we look at the documents on the production of ammunition. For 107-mm guns and 152-mm howitzers, 1,000 shells per gun were produced. 48% of the required volume. But on the other hand, the plan for the production of shells for 76-mm guns was overfulfilled by more than 2 times.

It is impossible to ignore the organization of the Russian ground forces. It is from the point of view of artillery.

An infantry division included an artillery brigade consisting of two divisions, each of which consisted of 3 batteries of 76-mm light guns. 48 guns per brigade. The chiefs of artillery, the main organizers of the action of artillery in battle, were not provided for in the states at all. The army corps (two infantry divisions) had a division of 122-mm light howitzers (12 guns).

Through simple mathematical operations, we get terrible numbers of provision with artillery pieces of the Russian army. The army corps had only 108 guns! Of these, 12 howitzers. And not a single heavy one!

Even a simple mathematical calculation of the striking power of an army corps shows that in reality this formation did not have the necessary not only defensive, but also offensive power. And immediately another major miscalculation of our generals was highlighted. 12 howitzers per hull indicates an underestimation of guns for conducting mounted fire. There are light howitzers, but there were no mortars at all!

So, the transition to positional warfare showed the shortcomings of the Russian army. Guns for flat fire could not ensure the suppression of enemy infantry and fire weapons in the presence of a developed positional system. Defense in depth was excellent defense against cannons.

The understanding came that mortars and howitzers are simply vital. Moreover, guns require increased power. The enemy not only uses natural obstacles, but also builds serious engineering structures.

So, on the second line of defense, the Germans built dugouts up to 15 (!) meters deep to shelter the infantry! Guns or light howitzers are simply powerless here. But heavy howitzers or mortars will do just fine.

203 mm howitzer model 1913

Here the answer to one important question even today pops up. Versatile tool! When we wrote about universal tools, we believed in the need for such tools. But! Not a single “generalist” can surpass a “narrow specialist”. This means that all types of artillery are needed.

The command of the Russian army quickly learned the lessons of the first months of the war. In 1915-16, based on combat experience, several artillery systems were developed in Russia - a 203-mm howitzer of the 1915 model, a 280-mm mortar of the 1914-1915 model, and a 305-mm howitzer of the 1916 model. True, there were very few of them.

By January 1917, the General Staff of the Russian Army created the Special Purpose Heavy Artillery (TAON), or "48 Corps". TAON included 6 brigades with 388 guns, the most powerful of which were new, 120 mm long-range guns, 152 mm Kane coastal guns, 245 mm coastal guns, 152 and 203 mm. howitzers and new 305-mm howitzers of the Obukhov factory of the 1915 model, 280-mm mortars.

305 mm howitzer model 1915

First World War showed the commanders and military engineers the necessary and sufficient ratio of artillery, cannons and howitzers (mortars). In 1917, there were 4 howitzers for 5 guns! For comparison, at the beginning of the war, the numbers were different. For two guns one howitzer.

But in general, if we talk specifically about heavy artillery, at the end of the war the Russian army had 1430 heavy guns in its composition. For comparison: the Germans had 7862 guns. Even fighting on two fronts, the figure is indicative.

It was this war that made artillery the most important factor in any victory. God of War! And it pushed Soviet engineers to actively work on the design and creation of truly "divine" weapons.

Understanding the importance of heavy artillery and the possibility of creating it are really different things. But in new country this was well understood. Exactly the same had to be done with tanks and aircraft - if you can't create it yourself - copy it.

The guns were easier. There were Russian (quite good) models, there were a huge number of imported systems. Fortunately, they captured a lot of them, both capturing them on the fields of the First World War and during the intervention, and also due to the fact that yesterday's allies in the Entente actively supplied military equipment Yudenich, Kolchak, Denikin and others.

There were also officially acquired guns, such as, for example, such a 114-mm howitzer from Vickers. We will tell about it separately, as well as about all guns with a caliber of 120 mm and above.

114.3 mm quick-firing howitzer "Vickers" model 1910

In addition, howitzers located along the different sides front: Krupp and Schneider. The production of the Krupp model was taken up by the Putilovsky plant, and the production of the Schneider model by the Motovilihisky and Obukhov plants. And these two guns became the support base for all further development of heavy artillery.

122 mm howitzer model 1909

152 mm howitzer model 1910

In the Soviet Union, they understood: no way without bread, without guns too. Therefore, having finished with economic issues, it was Stalin who took up defense. The year 1930 can be called the starting point, because it was in this year that huge changes began in the army and navy.

This also applied to artillery. "Old women" howitzers were modernized. But that was only the beginning. British, German and French women became participants in the experiments of Soviet gunsmiths, the purpose of which was to obtain suitable and modern artillery systems. And, I must say, often success accompanied our engineers.

We will describe in detail and in colors the history of the creation and service of almost all of our large-caliber guns. The history of the creation of each is a separate detective story, since the authors did not even imagine this at all. A sort of "Rubik's Cube" from artillery developers. But interesting.

Meanwhile, while the Design Bureau was working on the design of new guns, the structure of the artillery of the Red Army has undergone very noticeable changes.

Perhaps a paradox, but better side. As early as 1922, military reform began in the army, which by 1930 had given its first fruits and results.

The author of the reform and the executor was M.V. Frunze, a man who could become not only an outstanding commander, but also a practitioner in building an army. Alas, his early death prevented him from doing so. The work on reforming the Red Army, begun by Frunze, was completed by K. E. Voroshilov.

M. V. Frunze

K. E. Voroshilov

We have already talked about the "polkovushka", a 76-mm regimental gun, which appeared in 1927. An epochal weapon, and not only outstanding performance characteristics. Yes, the gun fired at 6.7 km, despite the fact that it weighed only 740 kg. The light weight made the gun very mobile, which was beneficial and made it possible for the gunners to work closely with the units of the rifle regiment.

By the way, at the same time, there were no regimental artillery in the armies of other countries at all, and support issues were resolved by the allocation of infantry support guns from the divisional artillery. So in this matter, the specialists of the Red Army wiped their noses at Europe. And, the Great Patriotic War only confirmed the correctness of the way of organizing regimental artillery.

In 1923, such a unit was created as rifle corps. At the same time, the task of introducing corps artillery into the Red Army was solved. Each rifle corps received, in addition to regimental artillery, a heavy artillery battalion, armed with 107 mm guns and 152 mm howitzers. Subsequently, the corps artillery was reorganized into heavy artillery regiments.

In 1924, divisional artillery received a new organization. At the beginning of the composition rifle division was introduced artillery regiment two-divisional composition, as in the Russian army, then the number of divisions in the regiment was increased to three. With the same three batteries in the division. The armament of the divisional artillery consisted of 76-mm guns of the 1902 model of the year and 122-mm howitzers of the 1910 model of the year. The number of guns increased to 54 76-mm guns and 18 howitzers.

The organizational structure of the artillery of the Red Army at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War will be considered separately, since this is a rather serious study, especially in comparison with the artillery of the Wehrmacht.

In general, today it is customary to talk about the backlog of the Red Army from the armies European countries in the 30s of the last century. This is true for some branches of the military, but artillery is definitely not included in the sad list. If we look closely at large-caliber, field, anti-tank, anti-aircraft artillery, then many nuances will be revealed here, testifying in favor of the fact that the artillery of the Red Army was not just at a certain height, but at least was not inferior to the leading armies of the world. And in many ways, she excelled.

Further materials on this topic will be devoted to proving this assertion. The Red Army had a god of war.