Shell Weight 7100 kg {7½ tons - 15,653 lbs}
Dr. R. also links a
German Dora site (nur auf Deutsch).
There is a lot of question over how many 80cm RR guns Krupp actually made after
Hitler released an order for three. Some undocumented accounts show that
Schwerer Gustav was a proof piece and scrapped after test firings and that Dora E
was the second unit. Personally, I doubt this very much; it's amost as
believable as building a test Empire State Building, Hindenburg, or Queen Mary and
junking it after. Just isn't likely, especially not in wartime Germany. I
would respectfully submit that the test unit was refitted (the normal procedure) and
shipped to Sevastopol under the moniker Dora.
At last! On the German site, I found this small
picture of a BIG gun being fired:
(from German Dora site;
sorry, I can not provide a larger image.)
There WERE larger guns, by caliber (calibre)
alone. Of course, caliber (calibre) has two meanings; bore diameter and length
in diameters. Thus, the Paris Gun was by far the longest gun ever (unless one
of the HARP models, or Saddam Hussein's equivalent, was longer) or just the beast
described above at Aberdeen would qualify for diameter, as would the monster mortar
in Red Square in Moscow. However, Dora/Gustav is by FAR
the largest railway (even mobile) gun ever!
Actually, looking at "Armor No. 15" again after many years, I see that there were
several RR guns larger than the "standard" 280mm used in WWII; 30, 30.5, 32, 34,
and even 37cm RR guns were used by the French, captured by the Germans, and
turned on the Allies. These were, however, "normal" length guns, neither
howitzers nor extreme.
There were enormously long RR guns in use at 20.3 and 21cm dia.; the barrels were
so long that, as with the WWI Paris gun, the 1,215cm (over 257'!)
long barrels had to be trussed to keep from drooping.
Dr. R. found plans showing both a roadable version of Dora/Gustav and one
to hide in a tunnel (to fire across the English Channel)!
Dr. R. also links an American site,
Michael McSwiney's, with an enormous amount of information on German
ordnance, especially on AFVs and Dora/Gustav and speculation about their roadable
version.
Dr. R. has some background on the special paired
boxcab oil-electric locomotives used to pull and power the Dora, the
V 188. Märklin makes (made?) a 3-rail model (37284) of them in HO scale
in red and states that they survived and have been restored ! Trix makes the
same model in green in HO 2-rail (22541).
(28 Feb 06)
The 1976 Squadron/Signal Publications "Armor No. 15", "German Railroad Guns in
Action", by Joachim Engelmann, noted above, carries outstanding coverage of
Dora/Gustav on pp. 35-41.
There is a 14" railway gun on display at the U.S.
Naval Historical Center at the Navy Yard in SE Washington, D.C.; it was one of
eight* built for service in Europe in WWI.
* - according to Navy Yard placarding, but read on:
(Photo from Dr. Robinson's site)
Frederick Westing's "The Locomotives that Baldwin Built" (1966, Bonanza Books/Crown
Publishers/Superior Publishing Company, LoC 66-25422) reproduces the "History of
the Baldwin Works - 1831-1923", which relates the almost-contemporaneous story of
these guns. They were intended for use against long-range German guns firing
into Dunkirk from Ostend and the mounts were designed by the Naval Gun Factory in
Washington, D.C., utilizing available standard naval 14" guns. Baldwin's
president, Samuel M. Vauclain, was also the Chairman of the Munitions Committee of
the War Industries Board and offered on 25 Jan 1918 to have Baldwin, working with
American Bridge Company, build five units in from 100 to 120 days and the first gun,
scheduled for 15 Jun, was delivered on 25 May! The mounts were on four
six-wheel trucks and proved out just fine but could not be deployed to the Belgian
coast and were instead sent to the Western Front, where they served for six weeks
until the Armistice, firing 782 rounds in 25 days. Six more mounts were
completed after the Armistice, plus an additional two of an improved design, for a
total of thirteen (not eight) units. Incidentally, these land-based batteries
were served by U. S. Navy crews (much like the very first tanks).
The Wehrmacht also built a giant 60cm howitzer-cum-mortar and a giant medium-
length 54cm gun on huge tracked carriages which were hoisted on split
Schnabel cars; here's the Hasegawa 1/72-scale model of the mortar, Mörser Karl:
Six (6) 60cm Mörser Karl, Gerät 040, at 5.068m (16' 7½") gun length, were built
but Hitler ordered that a longer-range (10km) version be made and the 54cm gun
[7.108m (23' 3¾") long] was substituted on three (3) chassis to make the
Gerät 041.
Here, from the good Dr. R's site are a drawing and the 60cm 040, the 54cm 041, the
loading scheme, and the whole shebang, plus another kit picture:
(Photos from Dr. Robinson's site)
[Three images restored 03 Jul 08]
Having managed to lose three of those Karl
images, I appled to Dr. R.; he did not have them any longer, but sent these, instead:
(Photos courtesy of Dr. N. D. P. Robinson)
Oh, wow! That last is clearly of the 54cm 041, and, if you look closely, the
tracked carriage is being dropped onto (or lifted from) the rails at the left!
A 27 Jan 00 search for something else brought up TWO Hasegawa kits for
Mörser Karl, the rail version, kit #HA31032, and a tracked version, with a Pz IV ammo
carrier, kit #HA31033, as well as their Leopold, kit #HA31028, all in 1/72 scale at
around $30.00 each.
See Ordnance page 3 for Russian Armor, with a link to a Dutch site and a Kiev museum with a twin-122mm-turreted armored railcar.
An old RR book of mine turns out to have had great WWII RR gun (and armored train)
photos all along: "Steel Rails to Victory", Ron Ziel, 1970,
Hawthorn Books, LoC 76-126785.
Ross Winans, famed early RR locomotive designer and builder (especially on the B&O)
also not only built a steam railcar in 1861, he also built a steam machine gun!
From my Steam Car page:
-
Looking up something unrelated in my 1945 "Tanks and Armored Vehicles,
by Lt. Col. Robert J. Icks, Duell Sloane and Pearce, New York, I ran across a reference
I'd completely forgotten. In 1861, Charles S. Dickinson invented and
Ross Winans (the famed locomotive builder) built a "Steam Battery" or "Winans Steam
Gun", a semi-armored, four-wheeled, steam-propelled wagon mounting a steam
cannon. The latter came in many sizes and was practical but the wagon, built
in Baltimore, and sent to Harper's Ferry for Confederate use, was captured by the
Feds, tested, and deemed impractical (so what else is new?).
Well, on 05 Nov 03 Larry McClelland reminded me of the machine gun; what follows is
substantially his telling:
-
Winans built the gun wagon in Elkridge, near Baltimore, Maryland, on the Patapsco
River, on the main rail line from Baltimore to Washington. As were most
Marylanders, Winans was a Confederate sympathizer. Lincoln's first act following Fort
Sumpter was to start arresting prominent Marylanders, of whom the builder was one.
The rail lines were at the time in the hands of Confederate sympathizers and Lincoln
used Union troops to capture and hold them. Lacking any central leadership,
the Maryland Confederates were caught unprepared and the battery was captured
before it could be gotten across the Potomac to Virginia or placed on ship at Elkridge
Landing and sent down the Cheaspeake Bay. The battery DID WORK
(emphases Larry's); the builder had built it with the idea of selling it to the
Federal Government but the Civil War startedbefore the government had approved its
purchase. The battery was known to the Union troops and their specific goal
was to capture it before the builder could get it to the Confederacy. Well
before the first battles of the war, and when there were very few Union troops and
control of the rail lines was very much in doubt, the decision was made to destroy the
gun rather than let it fall into Confederate hands. When later in the war the
Union became interested in rebuilding the battery, the builder chose prison over
cooperation. An exact model sits on the east side of Route #1 (until l965, the
main and only direct Baltimore-to-Washington road) where it is passed by thousands
of motorists (including at one point me, SB,III) every day, traveling through
Elkridge.
Thanks, Larry! Now, if only I could find my old photos of the replica [or get back
down there and take more (and I was just down near there)]!
Atomic Cannon - now on its own page.
Whil(e)(st) looking for another old model, I ran across the AUTHENTICAST Honest John Rocket Launcher in its original box (like the Atomic Cannon, it would not fit in my fitted case). The box is labelled "GUIDED MISSILE HONEST JOHN 5194" and probably dates from 1950 or so. I have moved pictures of the box to a separate Authenticast page, where fan(atic)s will find the box, as found and the label; here are the rocket, stowed on its "Jimmy" 10x10 (4¾" long, overall), and the rocket, in firing position:
These and more photos of this model and its box have been moved to the
Comet/AUTHENTICAST continuation page 2.
SMALL ARMS
(moved to Page 3 on 13 Apr 00)
Chrysler did an enormous amount of war work in the 1940s, but their 1940s Heritage pages have errors:
For the 1940s, they state that war production included "Pershing tanks and 40mm
trailer-mounted antiaircraft guns". They produced thousands of M3 Grant/Lee
and M4 Sherman tanks, which won the war; the Pershing only came along at the very
end. The 40mm towed mount was not trailer-mounted but had integral
retractable road gear.
I could swear I had this up on these or the Chrysler pages
but can't find it,
so here we go again (in both places):
When engines were hard to come by during WWII, Chrysler also fitted one of the
M3/M4 medium tank series with a really-strange motor made from five (5)
readily-available Royal 6 L-head engine blocks and heads, arranged in "W"
fashion [ _\|/_], with a common crankcase and crankshaft, sort
of like a weird cross between a radial and an in-line aircraft engine.
HELP!
a.k.a. Hilfe! Au Secours! Ayuda! Aiuto! Ajuda!
Hulp! Hjälpa! Hjælpe! Segít! Auttaa! Ops!
Tetsudau! Pomoci! Pahzhaloostah! Helpi!
Where I post inquiries (or offers) solely at my own discretion (moved to Ordnance
page 3 once-and-for-all 26 Feb 01)
[Material about the Drake gun/cannon moved to
Drake Gun/Cannon on continuation page 4.]
(19 Dec 06)
Not related to RR guns but BIG, I spotted this from the ocean-going 16-hour
ferry from Nova Scotia to Argentia, Newfoundland, in early Sep 1988; Argentia was
the old WWII U.S. Navy base and this gem is far newer than WWII but it hit me
between the eyes at pierside as we warped in:
This is but a small segment of a much larger picture and so won't blow up well but
let's home in on that odd, huge military vehicle to the left of the Army 18-wheeler:
(Sep 1988 photo by and © 1988/2003 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
See those gigantic tires and the low mid-section and SEEP-shaped hull? It's an
old BARC, the successor to the DUKW!
The ORDNANCE Main Page has had to be split; this is a continuation of ORDNANCE Continuation Page 1, and, in turn, continues on ORDNANCE Continuation Page 3.
THUMBS UP!
THUMBS UP! - Support your local police, fire, and emergency personnel!
S. Berliner, III
To contact S. Berliner, III, please click here.
of this series of Ordnance pages.
© Copyright S. Berliner, III -
1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006,
2008
- All rights reserved.
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times since the counter was reinstalled 11 Apr 00.
- I found a trove of WWII tank ID
plates and nameplates that I'd completely forgotten I had, mostly from
Wehrmacht panzers but also some U.S. and Japanese plates. If you are
seriously interested, and I won't give them away, let me know and I'll catalog them;
most have detailed accession tags but some are not quite so well documented.
