[b]Max E[/span][p]

[aimg96]high_res/artillery/railway_cannon_max_e.jpg[*aimg96]low_res/artillery/
railway_cannon_max_e.jpg[/aimg96][p]
The Schiffskanone L/35 Max Eisenbahn und Bettungs Gerust of caliber 380 millimeters
was a naval cannon adaptable to any railroad or to a barbette, as the ones used for
coastal defense, and the Max

E was the Eisenbahn or railway version. When only few shots were required, it could
be emplaced easily, passing it from a main railroad to a branch line, but it was
preferable to properly cover it

in an excavated pit, in which it was mounted a steel and cement pivot on which the
cannon would descend by means of two rails that were later retired. During the
night, occasionally, when it was

required to enter action, the cannon was brought out of the hideout; this would
take quite long time, so the Max E used to be emplaced far behind the own lines. It
was used in 1916 to bombard the

enemy forts in Verdun and it was emplaced also near Dunkerque to bombard the
British and Belgian lines.[p]
[box]
Country: Germany[p]
Caliber: 380 millimeters[p]
Length of the barrel: 17.05 meters[p]
Total length: 31.61 meters[p]
Weight in battery: 274.3 tonnes[p]
Elevation sector: From -5 to +55 degrees on pivot; from -5 to +18.5 degrees on
wheels[p]
Horizontal sector: 4 degrees[p]
Type of the grenade: High explosive[p]
Weight of the grenade: 400 kilograms[p]
Muzzle speed: 800 meters/second[p]
Maximum range: 47.5 kilometers[p]
[/div][p]
[b]Howitzer Mk 5[/span][p]
[aimg96]high_res/artillery/railway_howitzer_mk_5.jpg[*aimg96]low_res/artillery/
railway_howitzer_mk_5.jpg[/aimg96][p]
During the First World War, the British developed three 305 millimeters railway
howitzers. The Mark 1 had 12 calibers in length and the Army requested one of
higher range. The Mark 2, of 17

calibers, brought an increase in range: from 10177 meters to 13715 meters. However,
it could be fired only from an elevation angle of 40 degrees onwards, otherwise the
recoil would cause the

derailment of the artillery piece. The Army was satisifed with this increase in
range, but wanted to solve the inconvenience, so the Vickers company made a third
attempt, developing the howitzer

Mark 5, which could fire in every direction and be stabilized by means of jacks and
seesaws. The Mark 3 and Mark 5 survived the war: in 1939 they were brough out of
their storages to be

reaconditioned and deployed as counterinvasion defense weapons along the eastern

coast of England.[p]
[box]
Country: Great Britain[p]
Caliber: 305 millimeters[p]
Length of the barrel: 5.71 meters[p]
Total length: 12.19 meters[p]
Weight in battery: 77.2 tonnes[p]
Elevation sector: From 0 to +45 degrees[p]
Horizontal sector: 240 degrees[p]
Type of the grenade: High explosive[p]
Weight of the grenade: 340 kilograms[p]
Muzzle speed: 447.4 meters/second[p]
Maximum range: 13121 meters[p]
[/div][p]
[b]Sceneshifter[/span][p]
[aimg96]high_res/artillery/railway_cannon_sceneshifter.jpg[*aimg96]low_res/
artillery/railway_cannon_sceneshifter.jpg[/aimg96][p]
During the First World War, Great Britain developed, built and deployed in France
four 356 millimeters railway cannons. During the 1920s, the barrels were scrapped,
but the carriages were stored.

In 1940, the Admiralty delivered to the Army three barrels of caliber 343
millimeters (13.5 inches). Being their caliber close to the former barrels (14
inches), the carriage of those was used to

install the new barrels. The three reconstructed artillery pieces were deployed in
the area of Dover and used in counterbattery actions against the German cannons
deployed in the region of Calais.

The three cannons held the names of the original pieces from the First World War:
"Sceneshifter", "Piecemaker" and "Gladiator". The fourth piece, "Boche-buster", was
reconverted into a 457

millimeters howitzer, also used near Dover, but only for defense of the beaches.[p]
[box]
Country: Great Britain[p]
Caliber: 343 millimeters[p]
Length of the barrel: 15.90 meters[p]
Total length: 26.62 meters[p]
Weight in battery: 243.9 tonnes[p]
Elevation sector: From 0 to +40 degrees[p]
Horizontal sector: 4 degrees[p]
Type of the grenade: High explosive[p]
Weight of the grenade: 567 kilograms[p]
Muzzle speed: 777 meters/second[p]
Maximum range: 36.6 kilometers[p]
[/div][p]
[b]Mle 93/96 on St. Chamond carriage[/span][p]
[aimg96]high_res/artillery/railway_cannon_st_chamond.jpg[*aimg96]low_res/
artillery/railway_cannon_st_chamond.jpg[/aimg96][p]
This cannon came from the dismantlement of the coastal artillery in several French
colonies. In France the company St. Chamond installed the retrieved cannons on
railway carriages. More

specifically, the cannons were mounted in a rotatory carriage that allowed 360
degrees of rotation in the horizontal sector. To allow the cannon to fire
transversally to the direction of the

railroad, the rotatory carriage had to be stabilized with supports in the rear and
barrel sides. When firing in the direction of the railroad, the elevation sector
was limited to 29 degrees, to

prevent the breechblock from hitting the wheeled trucks when recoiling. The rear
truck had installed on it a storage for ammunition and a feeding system with rails
delivered the projectiles

directly to the load platform behind the breech.[p]

[box]
Country: France[p]
Caliber: 240 millimeters[p]
Length of the barrel: 10.05 meters[p]
Total length: 19.50 meters[p]
Weight in battery: 140 tonnes[p]
Elevation sector: From +15 to +35 degrees[p]
Horizontal sector: 360 degrees[p]
Type of the grenade: High explosive[p]
Weight of the grenade: 162 kilograms[p]
Muzzle speed: 840 meters/second[p]
Maximum range: 23 kilometers[p]
[/div][p]
[b]Mle 1870/93 on Schneider carriage[/span][p]
[aimg96]high_res/artillery/railway_cannon_schneider.jpg[*aimg96]low_res/artillery/
railway_cannon_schneider.jpg[/aimg96][p]
The 320-millimeter cannon was one of the coastal or fortress cannons put into
service in the Western Front due to the lack of heavy field artillery. To save
time, it was not fitted with a recoil

system, but the trunnion bearings were bound to the carriage by means of reinforced
bearings. To absorb the recoil, were lowered onto the railroad six transversal
steel beams located beneath the

carriage and to these was loaded the weight of the mounting by means of jacks. When
firing, the entire artillery piece slided backwards along the railroad, and the
bogies in which it was supported

kept the direction. After firing several times, the jacks were lowered and the
mounting rested onto its wheels, operation needed to return the cannon to its
original firing position, so this one

could start to fire again. There was no horizontal firing sector and to aim in the
desired direction the cannon was moved along a curved railroad until having it
pointing towards the exact

direction.[p]
[box]
Country: France[p]
Caliber: 320 millimeters[p]
Length of the barrel: 10.44 meters[p]
Total length: 25.90 meters[p]
Weight in battery: 162 tonnes[p]
Elevation sector: From +22 to +40 degrees[p]
Horizontal sector: 0 degrees[p]
Type of the grenade: High explosive[p]
Weight of the grenade: 388 kilograms[p]
Muzzle speed: 675 meters/second[p]
Maximum range: 24.8 kilometers[p]
[/div][p]
[b]K 12 (E)[/span][p]
[aimg96]high_res/artillery/railway_cannon_k_12.jpg[*aimg96]low_res/artillery/
railway_cannon_k_12.jpg[/aimg96][p]
The German Navy's cannon from the First World War known as "Paris Gun" reached the
record of highest range when it bombarded Paris from a distance of about 110
kilometers. The German Army decided,

in 1930, to beat this record with a new cannon: the K 12 (E). This one fired a
grenade with curved ribs that fitted into the deep striations of the bore; the
projectile was separated from the

powerful propellant charge by a special sealing ring. To allow the artillery piece
to recoil without hitting the railroad when firing with a great elevation angle,
the platform of the cannon was

raised from the wheeled trucks by means of jacks. In the late 1940, this cannon
fired from a railroad in France and its grenades fell in Rainham Marshes (England),
at 88.5 kilometers from the

nearest point in the French coast.[p]

[box]
Country: Germany[p]
Caliber: 210 millimeters[p]
Length of the barrel: 33.3 meters[p]
Total length: 41.3 meters[p]
Weight in battery: 302 tonnes[p]
Elevation sector: From +25 to +55 degrees[p]
Horizontal sector: 1 degree[p]
Type of the grenade: High explosive[p]
Weight of the grenade: 107.5 kilograms[p]
Muzzle speed: 1500 meters/second[p]
Maximum range: 115 kilometers[p]
[/div][p]
[b]K 5 (E)[/span][p]
[aimg96]high_res/artillery/railway_cannon_k_5.jpg[*aimg96]low_res/artillery/
railway_cannon_k_5.jpg[/aimg96][p]
The K 5 (E) was probably the best railway cannon ever made and it was the base of
the German railway artillery, entering action in many occasions. Projected at the
same time than the K 12, it had

many characteristics in commom with that one, particularly the bore with deep
striations and the grenade with curved ribs. It was developed a grenade impulsed by
rocket engine to reach a maximum

range of 86.5 kilometers, but this was possible only at the expense of precision.
After this the caliber of the barrel was increased to 310 millimeters and its bore
made smooth, to fire a dart-like

projectile stabilized by fins - known as "Peenemunde Arrow Shell" - with a special

propellant charge that granted a maximum range of 151 kilometers. Two exemplars
have been preserved of this

cannon: one in Cape Gris Nez, in France, and the other in the Aberdeen Proving
Ground, in United States.[p]
[box]
Country: Germany[p]
Caliber: 280 millimeters[p]
Length of the barrel: 21.53 meters[p]
Total length: 41.24 meters[p]
Weight in battery: 218 tonnes[p]
Elevation sector: From 0 to +50 degrees[p]
Horizontal sector: 2 degrees[p]
Type of the grenade: High explosive[p]
Weight of the grenade: 255.5 kilograms[p]
Muzzle speed: 1128 meters/second[p]
Maximum range: 62.18 kilometers with conventional projectiles[p]
[/div][p]
[b]Gustav[/span][p]
[aimg96]high_res/artillery/railway_cannon_gustav.jpg[*aimg96]low_res/artillery/
railway_cannon_gustav.jpg[/aimg96][p]
This is the largest cannon of all times: something that had never been seen and
that most likely will not be seen again. This monstrous cannon was transported
disassembled into its constituent parts and it required a special set of four
railroads installed in the firing emplacement: two for the carriage of the cannon
and another two for the assembling cranes. The assembly and disassembly required
weeks and the work of about 1200 persons, apart from an anti-aircraft regiment to
protect the artillery piece. Originally projected to demolish the fortifications of
the Maginot Line, it could not perform this mission because its development and
construction were longer than expected, so it was used only in the Eastern Front,
against Sevastopol and other fortresses. Two cannons were built, "Gustav" and
"Dora", and a third one was being built when the war ended. Since it was not
possible to gather the pieces required to assembly a complete cannon, the remains
of the three cannons were scrapped.[p]
[box]
Country: Germany[p]
Caliber: 800 millimeters[p]
Length of the barrel: 32.48 meters[p]
Total length: 42.97 meters[p]
Weight in battery: 1350 tonnes[p]
Elevation sector: From +10 to +65 degrees[p]
Horizontal sector: 0 degrees[p]
Type of the grenade: High explosive and piercing[p]
Weight of the grenade: 4800 and 7100 kilograms, respectively[p]
Muzzle speed: 820 and 710 meters/second, respectively[p]
Maximum range: 47 and 38 kilometers, respectively[p]
[/div][p]