Gun caliber. Artillery: large caliber

For all the years of the war, he never managed to get close to the American battleships at the distance of his monstrous artillery, and he died without seeing the enemy under the blows of carrier-based aircraft of invisible aircraft carriers. In her last battle, the Yamato shot down five and damaged twenty American planes, a paltry price for the most expensive ship in the world. This was the last point in the history of sea giants - dreadnoughts were not built anywhere else in the world.

Superdreadnoughts

And this last chapter in the history of superships began on October 23, 1911, when the British Prime Minister McKenna appointed 36-year-old Sir Winston Churchill as Secretary of the Navy. A few weeks later, Churchill made a policy statement in Glasgow: “The English fleet is a necessity for us, and if we approach the German fleet from a certain point of view, then for the Germans it is basically a luxury.

The very existence of England is directly connected with our naval power. It is the guarantee of our existence. For the Germans, naval power is expansion." Churchill, concerned about the qualitative superiority of the German naval artillery, proposed to increase the caliber of battleship guns to 381 mm. “I immediately decided to go an order of magnitude higher,” Churchill recalled in his memoirs, “and during the regatta I hinted at this to Lord Fisher. Not less than 15 inches for battleships and battlecruisers of the new program.

And on October 21, 1912, the world's first superdreadnought Queen Elizabeth was laid down with a displacement of 33,000 tons and a speed of 24 knots. Armament consisted of eight 381 mm MK.1 guns in four turrets. To imagine all the power new artillery, note that the mass of a 15-inch (381-mm) projectile was 885 kg - 2.3 times more than that of a 12-inch! An experimental 15-inch gun with a barrel length of 42 calibers was manufactured by the military plant in Elsvik in just 4 months. The test results exceeded all expectations. Shooting accuracy even at maximum range(at the training ground - 32 km; for ship installations, due to the lower elevation angle of the trunks, the range did not exceed 21.4 km) was simply excellent.

The German battleship Bismarck, equipped with eight 381 mm guns, was defeated in a battle with British warships in May 1941. Two torpedoes crashed into the battleship, damaging the propellers, smashing the steering gear and jamming the rudders. On May 27, the Bismarck sank in the waters of the North Atlantic.

Like the Dreadnought, the Queen Elizabeth could hit any battleship in the world and quietly escape if necessary. Five ships of the Queen Elizabeth type entered service during the war, in January 1915 - February 1916. A year later, five more Rivage-class battleships with similar armament entered service. The Germans, with some delay, responded by building four of their own superdreadnoughts, the lead of which, Baden, with a displacement of 28,500 tons and a speed of 22 knots, was laid down in 1913. The main battery artillery was represented by eight 380-mm cannons with a firing range of 37.3 km.

Restriction of naval armaments

In the early 1920s, the "winners" England and the United States decided to limit the naval arms race. On February 6, 1922, the delegates of the USA, England, Japan, France and Italy signed a treatise "on the limitation of naval armaments", according to which the following ratios of the size of the linear fleet were established: USA: England: Japan: France: Italy - 5: 5: 3 : 1.75: 1.75. As a result, England received the right to have twenty battleships with a total displacement of 558,950 tons, the USA - eighteen battleships (525,850 tons), Japan - ten battleships (301,320 tons), France - ten battleships (221,170 tons), Italy - ten battleships (182 800 tons). The powers that signed the agreement pledged not to buy or build battleships with a displacement of more than 35,000 tons and not to equip them with guns with a caliber of more than 16 inches (406 mm). The total tonnage of battleships that could be replaced should not have exceeded: for the USA and England - 525,000 tons, for Japan - 315,000 tons, for France and Italy - 175,000 tons each. Thus, England was forced retreat from its principle of having a fleet equal to the combined fleet of the two strongest maritime powers.

Meanwhile, the British had another naval idea: lightly armored, but fast ships the size of a dreadnought. They called them quite funny - "large light cruisers." Three of these ships, Koreydzhis, Glorius and Furies, with a displacement of 23,000 tons and a speed of 31-32 knots, were laid down in March-June 1915. The first two ships were armed with four 381 mm guns in two turrets, while the Furies were armed with two 457 mm and four 140 mm guns. Monstrous 457-mm cannons with a barrel weight of 150 tons fired one and a half ton projectiles at a range of 27.4 km. However, the "large light cruisers" were too vulnerable to enemy fire, and at the end of the First World War they were converted into aircraft carriers.

For the filming of the Japanese film Yamato for Men, a life-size model of a battleship was created (length 263 m, width 40 m).

Three guns

Of the other states, the United States was the first to raise the caliber of the guns of its dreadnoughts - from 305 mm to 356 mm. New York and Texas were laid down in 1911 and commissioned in the spring of 1914. Their displacement was 28,400 tons, speed - 21 knots, and armament - ten 356-mm and twenty-one 127-mm guns. It is curious that the Americans for the first time used three-gun turrets of the main caliber. Then the United States built two more ships with the same weapons. But the Pennsylvania dreadnought, laid down on October 27, 1913, with a displacement of 32,600 tons, already had twelve 356-mm guns. In total, seven battleships with twelve 356-mm guns were commissioned in the United States.

On April 24, 1917, the new Maryland superdreadnought was laid down with eight 406-mm guns in four turrets. A series of four such ships entered service in 1917-1923, a little later they were joined by six huge Lexington-class battlecruisers with similar weapons. In parallel, in 1920, six super-dreadnoughts of the South Dakota type were laid down, carrying twelve 406-mm guns. In Japan, the first 356-mm guns appeared on four Kongo-class battleships in 1913-1915. And in 1917, the battleship Nagato entered service with eight 410-mm guns.

government ships

On June 30, 1909, four dreadnoughts were laid down at state-owned factories in St. Petersburg: "Petropavlovsk" and "Sevastopol" - on the Baltic, and "Gangut" and "Poltava" - on the Admiralteysky, with twelve 305-mm guns of the main caliber. A lot has been written about these ships in our literature, and I will confine myself to a very brief remark that the artillery on them was unsuccessfully located, and the armor also left much to be desired. At the time of laying firepower Russian ships was not inferior to the British dreadnoughts, but by the beginning of 1915, by the time they were commissioned, they were significantly inferior to battleships with 343-mm and 381-mm guns. Therefore, the Naval Ministry decided to increase the caliber of the guns, and on December 19, 1913, four Borodino-class battlecruisers with a total displacement of 36,646 tons, armed with twelve 356-mm guns each, were laid down at state-owned shipyards in St. Petersburg.

Winston Churchill congratulates the crew of the cruiser Exeter on their homecoming, standing on a chair under 6-inch guns.

At the same time, the design of new battleships. At the beginning of 1914, Deputy Chief of the Naval General Staff for Shipbuilding, Captain 1st Rank Nenyukov provided the Minister of the Sea Grigorovich with the “Basic tasks for battleships Baltic Sea". According to the General Staff, the guns of battleships at a distance of 100 cables (18,520 m) were supposed to penetrate armor equal in thickness to the caliber of the gun. After reviewing the characteristics of modern 14-, 15-, and 16-inch guns, the staff of the General Staff came to the conclusion that "subject to almost the same ballistic data, the advantage remains with 16-inch guns."

At the beginning of 1914, a 406/45-mm gun was designed in the Artillery Department of the Main Directorate of Shipbuilding, which was similar in design to 305-mm and 356-mm guns. In April 1914, the Obukhov plant received an order for the production of an experimental 406-mm gun by the end of 1915. In parallel, Vickers ordered a 406/45 mm cannon of a slightly different design for £27,000, in particular, with two inner tubes. The ballistic data for the project were as follows: projectile weight 1128 kg, charge weight 332 kg, starting speed 758 m/s.

The 460-mm guns of the Yamato super battleship were used in combat conditions only once: on October 25, 1944, off the island of Samar (Philippines).

The first test of an experimental 406-mm gun manufactured by Vickers was carried out on August 22, 1917 at the company's training ground near the city of Exmills. In January 1914, the Naval Ministry issued a tactical and technical assignment for the design of a battleship for the Baltic Sea. It was supposed to have twelve 406-mm guns in three- or four-gun turrets, as well as twenty-four 130-mm guns. The speed of the battleship was to be 25 knots, cruising range - 5000 miles. The thickness of the main armor belt along the waterline is 280 mm.

If such a battleship could be built, then in terms of artillery weapons it would surpass any battleship in the world built before 1946, except for the Japanese Yamato-class battleships with 460-mm artillery. However, in 1917 a revolution broke out in Russia, and the projects of Russian superdreadnoughts remained on paper.

Expensive toys

Ironically, the ultra-expensive super battleships practically failed to make war. The only classic battleship battle of the First World War - the Battle of Jutland, in which four Queen Elizabeth-class super battleships - Barham, Warspite, Valient and Malaya - took part, ended not in favor of the British (fourteen ships with a total tonnage 111,000 tons and 6,784 sailors and officers killed against eleven German ships (62,000 tons) and 3,058 people personnel), despite the fact that the German battleships were inferior to the British in caliber (the largest German caliber in that battle was 305 mm versus 381 mm for the British).

In World War II, the role of super battleships was completely comical - only two Japanese took part in the hostilities - Yamato and Musashi. The 460-mm Yamato guns were used in combat conditions only once: on October 25, 1944, near the island of Samar (Philippines). Several shells pierced through the American escort aircraft carriers, but did not explode, since the fuses were designed for the armor of the battleships. Most of the time, countries that own super battleships hid their super-expensive toys in protected raids, but still most of them were sunk by enemy aircraft. Until now, only two super battleships have remained in service - the American Iowa and Wisconsin (nine 406-mm guns each), which are used more as a psychological than as a real weapon.

We decided to start this article not quite traditionally. Simply because they considered it appropriate to talk about one of the little-known episodes of the war on the Karelian Isthmus. Due, probably, to the absence of more or less critical battles in this area, we generally talk little about the Karelian Front. So, a story about the work of Captain Ivan Vedemenko, in the future - the Hero of the Soviet Union.

Captain Vedemenko commanded a battery of Karelian Sculptors. It was this name that 203-mm howitzers of special power B-4 received during the Soviet-Finnish war. They deserved it. These howitzers perfectly "dismantled for parts" Finnish pillboxes. What remained after the shelling of pillboxes with heavy shells looked really bizarre. Pieces of concrete with rebar sticking out in all directions. So, the soldier's name of the howitzer is well deserved and honorable.

But we will talk about another time. About June 1944. It was at this time that our army launched an offensive on the Karelian Isthmus. During the offensive, the assault group reached the impregnable Finnish bunker "Millionaire". Unapproachable in the literal sense of the word. The thickness of the walls of the bunker was such that it was not realistic to destroy it even with aviation heavy bombs - 2 meters of reinforced concrete!

The walls of the pillbox went into the ground for 3 floors. The top of the pillbox, in addition to reinforced concrete, was protected by an armored dome. The flanks were covered by smaller pillboxes. The bunker was built as the main defense center of the area.

The battery of Captain Vedemenko came to the aid of the assault group of Nikolai Bogaev (group commander). Two B-4 howitzers were located 12 km from the pillbox in closed positions.

The commanders located their NP at a short distance from the pillbox. Practically on a minefield (the bunker was surrounded by several rows of minefields and barbed wire). Morning has come. Battalion commander Vedemenko started shooting.

The first shell tore off the embankment of the bunker, exposing a concrete wall. The second shell ricocheted off the wall. The third hit the corner of the bunker. This was enough for the battalion commander to make the necessary adjustments and begin shelling the structure. By the way, it is worth noting one circumstance.

The proximity of the OP not only made it possible for the battery commander to adjust each shot, but also provided an "unforgettable experience" for everyone who was on the OP. Shells weighing 100 kg, with a corresponding roar, flew to the bunker at a low altitude above our commanders and soldiers.

Let's just say that the participants in the events could understand from their own experience what "direct support of heavy artillery" means.

It was possible to break through the wall only on about the 30th shell. The binoculars became visible bars of reinforcement. In total, 140 shells were used, of which 136 hit the target. "Karelian sculptors" created their next work, and "Millionaire" actually turned into an architectural monument.

And now we go directly to the "architects" and "sculptors", howitzers of special power B-4.

The story about these unique tools should start from afar. In November 1920, at the Artillery Committee, which was led by a former lieutenant general tsarist army Robert Avgustovich Durlyakher, aka Rostislav Avgustovich Durlyakhov, the Artillery design department under the leadership of Franz Frantsevich Linder. We have already talked about this person in one of the previous articles.

In accordance with the decision of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR on the re-equipment of artillery of large and special power with a new domestic materiel, on December 11, 1926, the Linder Design Bureau received the task of developing a project of a 203-mm long-reach howitzer within 46 months. Naturally, the project was headed by the head of the design bureau.

However, on September 14, 1927, F. F. Linder died. The project was transferred to the Bolshevik plant (formerly the Obukhov plant). A. G. Gavrilov was entrusted to manage the project.

The design of the howitzer was completed on January 16, 1928. Moreover, the designers presented two projects at once. The bodies of the guns and ballistics in both versions were the same. The difference was the presence of a muzzle brake. When discussing options, preference was given to a howitzer without a muzzle brake.

The reason for this choice, as in the choice of other high-powered guns, was the unmasking factor. The muzzle brake created a column of dust visible for miles. The enemy could easily detect the battery with the help of aviation and even visual observation.

The first prototype of the B-4 howitzer was manufactured in early 1931. It was this gun that was used at the NIAP in July-August 1931 during firing in order to select charges for the B-4.

After lengthy ground and military tests in 1933, the howitzer was adopted by the Red Army under the designation "203-mm howitzer of the 1931 model." The howitzer was intended for the destruction of especially strong concrete, reinforced concrete and armored structures, for combating large-caliber or enemy artillery sheltered by strong structures, and for suppressing distant targets.

A feature of the howitzer is a caterpillar carriage. The successful design of this carriage, which provided the howitzer with a sufficiently high maneuverability and allowed firing from the ground without the use of special platforms, became unified for a whole family of high-powered guns. The use of this unified carriage also made it possible to speed up the development and introduction into production of new high-power guns.

The upper carriage of the B-4 howitzer was a riveted steel structure. With a pin socket, the upper machine was put on the combat pin of the lower machine and turned on it under the action of a rotary mechanism. The sector of fire provided at the same time was small and amounted to only ± 4 °.

To aim the gun in the horizontal plane at a larger angle, it was necessary to turn the entire gun in the appropriate direction. The lifting mechanism had one gear sector. attached to the cradle. With its help, the gun could be aimed in a vertical plane in the range of angles from 0° to +60°. To quickly bring the barrel to the loading angle, the gun had a special mechanism.

The recoil system included a hydraulic recoil brake and a hydropneumatic knurler. All recoil devices remained motionless during the roll. The stability of the gun during firing was also ensured by an opener mounted on the trunk part of the lower machine. Cast shoes were fixed in the frontal part of the lower machine, into which the combat axle was inserted. Caterpillars were put on the cone of the combat axis.

B-4 howitzers had two types of barrels: fastened without a liner and with a liner, as well as monoblock barrels with a liner. The liner could be replaced in the field. Regardless of the type of barrel, its length was 25 calibers, the length of the rifled part was 19.6 calibers. 64 grooves of constant steepness were made in the bore. The shutter was piston, both two-stroke and three-stroke shutters were used. The mass of the barrel with the shutter was 5200 kg.

The howitzer could fire various high-explosive and concrete-piercing shells, including shells supplied from Great Britain to Russia during the First World War. The use of full and 11 variable charges was envisaged. In this case, the mass of the full charge was 15.0-15.5 kg of gunpowder, and on the 11th - 3.24 kg.

When fired at full charge, the F-625D, G-620 and G-620Sh shells had an initial velocity of 607 m/s and ensured the destruction of targets distant up to 17,890 m. Due to the large elevation angle (up to 60°) and variable charges, giving 12 different initial projectile velocities, it was possible to choose the optimal trajectories for hitting a variety of targets. Loading was carried out using a manually operated crane. The rate of fire was 1 shot every 2 minutes.

For transportation, the howitzer was disassembled into two parts: the barrel, removed from the carriage and laid on a special wagon, and a caterpillar carriage connected to the limber - a carriage wagon. For short distances, the howitzer was allowed to be transported unassembled. (This method of transportation was sometimes used during combat operations to extend howitzers for direct fire at the reinforced concrete defenses of the enemy.)

For transportation, caterpillar tractors of the Kommunar type were used, the highest permissible speed on the highway was 15 km / h. At the same time, the caterpillar track made it possible to increase the off-road patency of the guns. Sufficiently heavy guns easily overcame even swampy areas of the terrain.

By the way, the successful carriage design was used for other artillery systems. In particular, for intermediate samples of the 152-mm Br-19 gun and for the 280-mm mortar Br-5.

Naturally, the question arises about the differences in the design of howitzers. Why and how did they appear? The difference in the design of specific guns was obvious. At the same time, these were B-4 howitzers.

There were two reasons, in our opinion. The first and main one is the low production capacity of Soviet factories, the lack of the possibility of implementing projects. Simply put, the equipment of the factories did not allow to produce the required products. And the second reason is the presence directly in the production of a whole galaxy of outstanding designers who could adapt projects to the capabilities of a particular plant.

This is exactly what happened in the case of the B-4. Mass production howitzers began at the Bolshevik plant in 1932. In parallel, the task was set to start production and the plant "Barricades". Both factories could not mass-produce howitzers according to the project. Local designers finalized projects for production capabilities.

Bolshevik presented the first serial howitzer for delivery in 1933. But he could not hand it over to the state commission until the end of the year. "Barricades" in the first half of 1934 fired two howitzers. Further, the plant, with the last of its strength, was able to produce another 15 guns (1934). Production has been stopped. Bolshevik became the only manufacturer.

The designers of the "Bolshevik" finalized the howitzer. The new version received a longer barrel with improved ballistics. The new gun received a new index - B-4 BM (high power). The guns produced before the modernization began to be called B-4 MM (low power). The difference between BM and MM was 3 calibers (609 mm).

If we carefully consider the B-4 of these two plants, then a strong impression is created that these are two different guns. Perhaps our opinion is debatable, but different howitzers entered service with the Red Army under the same designation. However, for the soldiers and officers of the artillery units, this was not particularly important. The guns were the same in most respects.

But the "Bolshevik" could not boast of success in the production of the B-4. In 1937, howitzers were again assembled at the Barricades. Moreover, another plant, Novokramatorsky, was involved in the production. Thus, by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the production of howitzers was deployed at three factories. And the total number of guns that arrived in artillery units amounted to 849 pieces (both modifications).

The B-4 howitzer received its baptism of fire on the Soviet-Finnish front during the Winter War with Finland. On March 1, 1940, there were 142 B-4 howitzers. At the beginning of the article, we mentioned the soldier's name for this weapon. Karelian sculptor. Lost or disabled during this war were 4 howitzers. The indicator is more than worthy.

B-4 howitzers were only in howitzer artillery regiments of high power RVGK. According to the staff of the regiment (dated February 19, 1941), it had four divisions of a three-battery composition. Each battery consisted of 2 howitzers. One howitzer was considered a platoon. In total, the regiment had 24 howitzers, 112 tractors, 242 vehicles. 12 motorcycles and 2304 personnel (of which 174 officers). By June 22, 1941, the RVGK included 33 regiments with B-4 howitzers. That is, a total of 792 howitzers in the state.

The Great Patriotic B-4 actually started only in 1942. Although, in fairness, it should be noted that in 1941 we lost 75 howitzers. Of those that could not be sent to the eastern regions.

At the beginning of the war, several B-4 howitzers were captured by the Germans. So, in the city of Dubno, the Germans captured the 529th howitzer artillery regiment high power. Due to the lack of tractors, our troops abandoned 27 203-mm B-4 howitzers in good condition. Captured howitzers received the German designation 20.3 cm HaubiUe 503 (g). They were in service with several heavy artillery battalions of the Wehrmacht's RKG.

Most of the guns were destroyed during the war, but according to German sources, even in 1944, 8 more of these guns worked on the eastern front.

The loss of B-4 howitzers in 1941 was compensated by an increase in production. Factories produced 105 guns! However, their delivery to the front was suspended due to the impossibility of using them during the retreat. The Red Army accumulated strength.

By May 1, 1945, 30 brigades and 4 separate regiments of high-power artillery of the RVGK had 760 203-mm howitzers of the 1932 model of the year.

TTX heavy 203-mm howitzer model 1931 B-4:
Caliber - 203 mm;
Overall length - 5087 mm;
Weight - 17700 kg (in combat readiness);

Angle of vertical guidance - from 0 ° to + 60 °;
Angle of horizontal guidance - 8 °;
The initial speed of the projectile - 557 (607) m / s;
Maximum firing range - 18025 m;

Projectile weight - 100 kg .;
Ammunition - 8 shots;
Calculation - 15 people.

Trays on the carriage for shells

On the eve of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of our victory in Kursk Bulge, I would like to tell one more combat episode from the combat biography of the legendary howitzer. In the area of ​​the Ponyri station, scouts discovered a German Ferdinand self-propelled gun. The commander decided to destroy the Germans with their own artillery.

However, the power of the guns was not enough for guaranteed destruction even in the event of a hit. B-4 came to the rescue. A well-prepared howitzer crew skillfully aimed the gun and with one shot, actually hitting the Ferdinand's wheelhouse, smashed the enemy's car to shreds.

By the way, this battle is considered one of the most original ways of using howitzers in war so far. A lot of original things happen in war. The main thing is the effectiveness of such originality. 100 kilograms of originality on the head of German self-propelled gunners...

And one more episode. From the battle for Berlin. B-4s took part in street fighting! Probably the most epic shots of the capture of Berlin were shot with their participation. 38 guns on the streets of Berlin!

One of the guns was installed 100 meters from the enemy at the intersection of Linden Strasse and Ritter Strasse. The infantry could not move forward. The Germans prepared the house for defense. The guns could not destroy machine-gun nests and artillery firing positions. Our losses were great. It was necessary to take risks. Risk the gunners.

Calculation B-4, in fact, direct fire, 6 shots destroyed the house. Accordingly, together with the German garrison. Turning the gun, the battery commander simultaneously destroyed three more stone buildings prepared for defense. Thus ensuring the possibility of advancement of the infantry.

By the way, interesting fact about which we once wrote. In Berlin, there was only one building that withstood the blows of the B-4. This is the famous air defense tower in the Flakturm am Zoo area. Our howitzers were able to destroy only the corner of the tower. The garrison actually defended itself until the surrender was announced.

After the end of the war, the howitzer was withdrawn from service. Alas, the advantage of caterpillars played a disservice in peacetime.

But this is not the end of the story. Just an episode. The weapon is back in service! But now the designers were given the task of modernizing it. It was necessary to increase the speed of transportation of the gun.

In 1954, such a modernization was carried out at the Barricades plant. Howitzer B-4 became wheeled. The wheel drive significantly increased the speed of towing the gun, overall maneuverability, reduced the time it took to transfer from traveling to combat position due to the elimination of separate transportation of the gun carriage and barrel. The gun received a new name - B-4M.

Serial production of this weapon was not carried out. In fact, the existing howitzers were modernized. We could not find out the exact number of such guns.

But the fact that in 1964 it was for the B-4 that a nuclear weapon was created speaks volumes. Be that as it may, B-4s were in service until the early 80s. Almost half a century of service!

Agree, this is an indicator of the value of the tool. A gun that rightfully takes its place among the best examples of artillery engineering and design ideas.

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 of their 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 was 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. A larger caliber was 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 Yudenich, Kolchak, Denikin and others with military equipment.

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.

A paradox, perhaps, but for the better. 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 as a rifle corps was created. 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, a two-division artillery regiment was introduced into the rifle division, 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.

), for shells (bullets) the caliber is determined by their largest diameter. Guns with a tapered barrel are characterized by input and output calibers.

Caliber of rifled small arms

The caliber is indicated both on the weapon and on the cartridges. However, with the same caliber numbers, the diameters of the bores of the barrels (and bullets) may vary. For example, the 9x18 Makarov and 9x19 Parabellum (or 9x17 Browning) cartridges have the same 9mm caliber. The distance between the fields of the Makarov pistol (the smallest diameter of the bore) is 9 mm, the distance between the rifling is 9.27 mm, the sleeve diameter is 9.25 mm. For weapons for the second ammunition, the distance between the fields is 8.8 mm, the distance between the rifling is 9 mm, the sleeve diameter is 9.03 mm.

The caliber of rifled small arms in countries using the English system of measures is measured in fractions of an inch: in the USA - in hundredths (0.01 inch), in the UK - in thousandths (0.001 inch). In the record, the zero of the integer part of the number and the designation of the unit of measurement (inch) are omitted, a dot is used as a decimal separator: .45 , .450 . In Russian texts, traditional English and American calibers are written in the same way (with a dot, not a comma, the decimal separator adopted in Russia): cal.45, cal.450; in colloquial speech: forty-five caliber, four hundred and fifty caliber.

Small arms caliber classification:

As a rule, small arms differ from artillery weapons by the type of ammunition. Weapon designed to fire bullets, while artillery systems fire projectiles. At the same time, for a rifled firearms one of the differences between bullets and projectiles is that the bullets, when passing through the bore, cut into the rifling with their shell. It creates torque, which increases the stability of the bullet in flight. The projectile, when fired, is given rotation with the help of leading belts (made from materials of less hardness than the shell of the shell of the projectile). Leading bands of copper are commonly used; and, for example, a new generation of projectiles for Russian 30 mm aircraft and naval guns uses plastic leading devices.

The most common calibers for pistols, rifles and machine guns are:

• .577 (14.7 mm) - the largest of the series, the revolver "Eley" (Great Britain);
• .50 (12.7 mm) - used for heavy machine guns and sniper rifles, as well as for well-known brand Desert Eagle pistol
• .45 (11.43 mm) - the "national" caliber of the United States, the most common in the Wild West; in 1911, the Colt M1911 self-loading pistol of this caliber entered service with the army and navy and, with minor changes in 1926, served until 1985, when armed forces The US switched to 9mm for the Beretta 92; continues to be used in civil circulation;
• .40 (10.2 mm) - a relatively new pistol caliber; provides better efficiency, for which he received great popularity in the US law enforcement agencies;
• .38; .357 (9 mm), currently considered the best for short-barreled weapons (less - the cartridge is "weak", more - the gun is too bulky and heavy, strong recoil);
• .30 (7.62 mm) - caliber of ammunition for the Nagant revolver, TT pistol, Mosin rifle, Simonov self-loading carbine, Kalashnikov assault rifle, Kalashnikov light machine gun, Dragunov sniper rifle, PK / PKM / PKT machine guns;
• .22 LR (5.6 mm) - TOZ-8 rifle ammunition caliber (TOZ-10, TOZ-12);
• .223 (5.56 mm) - ammunition caliber automatic rifle M16;
• 5.45 mm - AK-74 ammunition caliber;
• 2.7 mm - the smallest serial caliber; was used in the Hummingbird pistol of the Franz Pfannl system (Austria) [ ] .

Caliber of a smoothbore or other hunting weapon

The caliber is determined by the inner diameter of the barrel. 18 gauge barrel

For smoothbore hunting rifles, calibers are measured differently: the caliber number means the whole number of spherical bullets that can be cast from 1 English pound of lead (453.592 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 more bullets are produced from a pound of lead. Thus, the twentieth gauge is less than the tenth, and the sixteenth is less than the twelfth.

You can also use the formula for determining the caliber (K) by the diameter of the barrel (D, cm):

K = 453 , 592 ⋅ 6 π ⋅ D 3 ⋅ 11 , 3415 ≈ 76 , 3829 D 3 (\displaystyle K=(\frac (453,592\cdot 6)(\pi \cdot ((D)^(3))\ cdot 11.3415))\approx (\frac (76.3829)((D)^(3))))

In the designation of the caliber of cartridges to 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 - cartridge 12 caliber with a sleeve 70 mm long. Most common case lengths: 65, 70, 76mm (Magnum); along with them there are 60 and 89 mm (Super Magnum).

The most widespread in Russia are hunting rifles of 12 gauge. There are (in descending order of prevalence) 20, 16, 24, 28, 32 (the so-called 36), .410, and the distribution of .410 is due solely to the release of Saiga carbines of the appropriate caliber.

The actual diameter of the bore of a given caliber depends, firstly, on the specific manufacturer and, secondly, on drilling for a certain type of sleeve: metal, plastic or folder. For example, a 12-gauge barrel drilled for a folder or plastic sleeve has a bore diameter of 18.3 mm, while a barrel drilled for a metal one has a bore diameter of 19.4 mm. In addition, we should not forget that the shotgun barrel hunting weapons usually has various types of chokes, through which not any bullet of its caliber can pass without damaging the barrel, so in many cases the body of the bullet is made according to the diameter of the choke and is equipped with centering belts that are easily crushed 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.

Caliber is the diameter of the bore, expressed in different measures (see table)

*All errors in determining the value of the caliber are explained by the different weight of a pound of lead in different number systems, as well as the rules for rounding and the desire to get a beautiful number in a row.

Thus, breech-loading weapons of many calibers were supplanted as having very similar combat performance. Already in the 19th century, cases and barrels were made, the calibers of which were multiples of 4 on an even scale from 12 to 36, and larger calibers were multiples of 2, including 10, 8, 6, and even 4 gauge.

Cartridges for hunting and sporting weapons with drill type Lancaster and Paradox

The length of the chambers of hunting smoothbore guns in millimeters

Russian artillery caliber

In Europe the term artillery caliber appeared in 1546 when Georg Hartmann from Nuremberg developed a device called the Hartmann scale. It was a prismatic tetrahedral ruler. 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 - the mark of an iron core weighing 1 pound - corresponds to 2.5 inches;
• 3 face - the mark of a stone core weighing 1 pound - corresponds to 3 inches.

Thus, knowing 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 three hundred years.

In Russia, before Peter I, there were no uniform standards. The guns and squeaks available in the army were each individually characterized by the weight of the projectile, in Russian national units. The pre-Petrine inventories mention tools from 1/8

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 military equipment, then 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

On the other hand, a lot of 20-mm automatic aircraft guns are known, 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 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 become acquainted 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 the whole 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 quite a serious artillery system- the caliber of the first in Russia rapid-fire guns designed by Baranovsky, 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 the British army during the Anglo-Boer War, was called the 15-pounder, but the cannon of exactly the same caliber during the First World War was called the 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 the famous German anti-aircraft gun "eight-eight" had a caliber. 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 was on the American Pershing tank, which appeared at the very end of the Second World War.

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, the 152-mm - "six-inch" - was considered the most massive for a long time 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 these are not the largest weapons. An even larger caliber equal to 508 mm had guns of American monitors during the American Civil War. 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! German self-propelled guns"Karl" originally had a caliber of 600 mm, but after the first trunks 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 conical channel trunk. 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 the initial velocity 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 were difficult to produce and 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 not a complete list, but sufficient for the conclusion. 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, completely made guns from tree trunks even in 1905, they were also fired, although, of course, not with cannonballs, but with incendiary shells from pieces of bamboo trunks.