Schwerer Gustav (black) compared to an OTR-21 TochkaSRBM launcher (red) with human figures for scale.
Hello, this blog will be taking a trip into WWII
and one of my favorite parts of that time.
The experimental Nazi weaponry. More precisely experimental artillery.
The Schwerer Gustav, my new favorite artillery piece. It was the largest-calibre rifled weapon ever used in combat, the heaviest mobile artillery piece ever built in terms of overall weight, and fired the heaviest shells of any artillery piece. This thing is a monster designed with the battle of France in mind but was never finished until after that battle was over.
The Schwerer Gustav weighted 1350 tonnes, was 155 ft. 2 in. long with a
barrel of 106 ft. 8 in. And was 38 ft. 1
in. tall. This behemoth fired a 31 inch caliber (800 mm) 1,500 lb. bullet at an
effective range of 48 Km. upon impact it exploded causing a 30 ft. wide by 30
ft. deep crater. It could fire these projectiles at a rate of 1 every 30-45
minutes. It was very effective once it got into place.
The problems were many and the reason there was only 2 built. The cost in 1941 when it was completed was 7 million Reichsmark which I can’t find a conversion to today’s currency but 7 million anything in 1941 would be a lot now. The next reason is it took a team of 2,500 to lay track and dig embankments. 2 Flak battalions to protect the gun from air attack. It was a crazy idea but effective the only other things that could deliver that much firepower were bombers but they took longer to get to the target. If the reason it failed is not clear the price was ridiculous and you needed a small army to work the thing. But that’s the reason I love it so much. It’s just ridiculous.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwerer_Gustav
Yikes, that is one huge tank!
ReplyDeleteFun blog and a fascinating look at all the weapon ideas that have failed in the past. I'm actually pretty interested in the gun that needs to sync up with a watch on the user's wrist. It might prevent a lot of dangerous situations.
A lot of formatting issues on this blog. You have different font sizes and have your posts are highlighted (which means you copy pasted those sections). Many plagiarism concerns including highlighted areas, the pepperbox post (where there is no sourcing) etc. I would have liked to see more of your opinion in many of your blogs, vs just the facts. Finally, you only have 7/10 posts up.
+ still no comments up.
ReplyDelete