[8], Photographic evidence exists of at least one Union 13-inch siege mortar mounted on a rail car during the Siege of Petersburg. [33][28], World War II saw the final use of the railway gun, with the massive 80 cm (31 in) Schwerer Gustav gun,[34] the largest artillery piece to be used in combat, deployed by Nazi Germany. In 1930 the US Army tested them at Fort Hancock, New Jersey, and Fort Miles, Delaware. By 1916, both sides were deploying numerous types of railway guns. [4], The methods were often used in combination with each other.

He created a simple electric cannon, which caught the attention of the French military—who were seeking a weapon that could rival such long-range cannons as Germany’s so-called “Paris Gun.”. [16], During the First World War France produced more railway guns in more calibers and with different mountings than everyone else combined. Namely how the gun is going to be traversed – i.e.

[citation needed], The first method of traverse is to rely entirely on movement along a curved section of track or on a turntable with no provision to traverse the gun on its mount. "British Artillery 1914–19. Then there is the issue of resistive heat, which can damage the surface of the rails. While it might seem revolutionary today for the French military to be so forward-thinking, it should be remembered that at the start of the war its uniforms and tactics were little changed from that of a generation earlier.
The Dictator silenced the Confederate guns on Chesterfield Heights to prevent them from enfilading the right end of the Union line.

These latter were mostly used by the Germans for the 21 cm (8.3 in) and larger railway guns and by the French for their Batignollesmounts. Dale Clarke. The other method is build a firing position and recoil pit (épi de tir in French) underneath the tracks, using either heavy timbers like the French 340 mm (13 in) and 400 mm (16 in) howitzers or an elaborate concrete or steel base.

The concept of the railgun, a technology that could utilize a large circuit to launch a projectile far further than one launched via the use of a chemical reaction, was developed by Andre Louis Octave Fauchon-Villeplee.

Far from it in fact, and the Chinese are getting closer to fielding a true railgun, while the United States Navy has continued to see the potential for such a weapon on its stealth warships—even if the expected rate of fire would be just ten rounds per minute. Generally, for these emplacements the rails merely served to guide the gun into position and the gun was often mounted on a central pivot to allow up to 360° of traverse. A sixth locomotive pulled a headquarters car for Rear Admiral Charles Peshall Plunkett, with a machine-shop car, a spare parts car, a berthing car, a kitchen car, a commissary car, and a medical dispensary car.

This article first appeared earlier this year.

They are projected to shoot massive slugs at Mach 10. The French arms maker Schneider offered a number of models in the late 1880s and produced a 120 mm (4.7 in) gun intended for coastal defense, selling some to the Danish government in the 1890s. Ninety-one 12-inch railway mortars were ordered, with 45 complete by 7 April 1919 and the remainder eventually completed.

The bogies were interchangeable for standard-gauge or (with 12-wheel bogies) 60-cm (23.6-inch) gauge track.

[12] In France, Lt. Col Peigné is often credited with designing the first railway gun in 1883. About 12 of these were used for the defense of Oahu, Hawaii. After reaching its intended firing site and constructing the recoil pit, each gun could fire about two shells per hour.

Heavy Artillery". During World War II, Joachim Hänsler of Nazi Germany’s Ordnance Office also developed a concept for a railgun that that was supposed to launch projectiles at a speed of two thousand meters per second. On 29 June 1862, Robert E. Lee had the gun pushed by a locomotive over the Richmond and York River line (later part of the Southern Railway) and used at the Battle of Savage's Station to interfere with General George McClellan's plans for siege operations against Richmond during the Union advance up the peninsula. I miss the old model and does anyone know a way to change it back? Only the shooter game Battlefield: 2142 envisioned a stationary, anti-vehicle emplacement as being a railgun, but even that probably misses the mark in terms of the scale for such a heavy armament. Already it is easy to see why it would be terribly difficult to have a railgun the size of a rifle or machine gun.

Twelve 7-inch ex-Navy guns and six 12-inch guns being built for Chile were also available.
In fact, the kinetic energy could be so great that a non-explosive projectile could do as much damage to a warship as a Tomahawk missile. Generally this is limited to a few degrees of traverse to either side unless an elaborate foundation is built with a centre pivot and traversing rollers.

[18], Baldwin Locomotive Works delivered five 14"/50 caliber railway guns on trains for the United States Navy during April and May 1918. Moreover, he was simply ahead of his time. The final problem is that because the currents can also create serious wear and tear—meaning many prototypes will break after just a few uses.

The 8-inch guns and 12-inch mortars were kept on railway mountings after the war, while almost all of the 7-inch, 10-inch, and 12-inch guns were returned to the coastal forts.


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