World One War: 'Long Max' Supergun
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The German Army not only produced the ‘Paris Gun’ but another large rail gun which was more lethal.
The 38cm SK L/45 ‘Max’ or known as ‘Lange Max’ or ‘Long Max’ was originally a naval gun which was adapted due to its long range, to be used as a heavy siege and coast defence gun used on the Western Front.
Originally designed as the main armament of the Bayern-Class battleship, the gun was deployed in a fixed and semi-portable concrete emplacement which took months to build. One major change from naval to army was the placement of a large folding counterweight which was located forward of the trunnions which counteracted the weight of the barrel.
In order to meet the demand for more mobile and faster artillery, German company Krupp, designed a combination of a railroad and firing platform at the end of 1917 using guns from SMS Sachsen and SMS Wurttemberg. This design allowed the gun to fire from any suitable section of track and from a fixed emplacement. The gun design used a combination of cradle and rolling recoil system in order to absorb the recoil when fired.
The gun could traverse a total of 2 degrees for fine aiming, for less defined aiming, the whole carriage had to be moved. Incidentally the gun had to be loaded at zero elevation so it had to be re-aimed for every shot. One major problem was that due to the position of the gun, elevation past 18 degrees was prohibited in case the recoiling breach hit the ground. This gremlin limited the range of ‘Long Max’ to 22.2 kilometres.
The guns supporting barrel and transportable carriage were used in the famed ‘Paris Gun’.
The first emplacements used concrete and required a month or more in order to complete. The Germans began constructing the emplacements in late 1917 in preparation for their ‘Spring Offensive’ of 1918. From May 1918, the gunners used a removable steel box instead of concrete which shortened construction time. The emplacement consisted of a central rotating platform, three horizontal tracks and an outer track to handle the ammunition. The middle platform had the railroad track on one axis and the firing mount on the other. In a nutshell, all that was necessary to emplace the gun was to jack it up, remove the supporting wagons and rotate the platform 90 degrees and lower the mount to be bolted onto the platform.
In terms of loading the gun when used as a rolling mount, an extension carriage was fitted over the rear trucks to allow an ammunition car behind to place ammunition on the shot truck which was then manually ran up to the breach.
The gun used the German naval system of ammunition where the base charge was held in a metallic cartridge which was supplemented by a charge in a silk bag which was rammed first.
In looking at the details of ‘Long Max’
Weight: 267.9 tonnes (263.7 LT; 295.3 ST)
Length: 31.61 metres (103.7 ft.)
Barrel length: 16.13 metres (52.9 ft.) L/42
Shell: Separate-loading, case charge
Calibre: 38 centimetres (15 in)
Breech: horizontal sliding-block
Recoil: hydro-pneumatic
Carriage: 2 x 5-axle and 2 x 4-axle bogies
Elevation: +0° to +18.5° (+55° if emplaced)
Traverse: 2° (up to 360° if emplaced)
Muzzle Velocity: 800 to 1,040 m/s (2,600 to 3,400 ft. /s)
Effective range: 22.2 kilometres (24,300 yds.) (From rails)
Maximum range: 47.5 kilometres (51,900 yds.) (If emplaced)
The longest engagement of ‘Long Max’ was 44 kilometres during the bombardment of Dunkirk in 1917-1918.
The first salvo from ‘Long Max’ commenced the first massive German bombardment of Verdun.
Three ‘Long Max’ guns participated in the spring offensive of 1918, and two bombarded French positions during the 2nd Battle of the Marne.
At the end of the war, one gun was found abandoned west of Brussels by the Belgian Army, nut seven others had been transported back to Germany before the armistice of November 1918. Although seven were transported, these were destroyed by the Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control between 1921 and 1922. The gun the Belgians found was sold to the French in 1924 for experimental purposes. This gun was later re-captured by the Germans in 1940 following the French surrender, but it was not used by the Third Reich.
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