Three Inch Naval Landing Gun, Carriage and Limber
Weight of gun and mechanism, 675 pounds. Length of gun, 74.35 inches (25 calibers). Weight of projectile, 13 pounds. Travel of projectile in bore, 62.9 inches (20.97 calibers). Weight of charge, 18 ounces of smokeless powder. Muzzle velocity, 1,650-foot seconds. Muzzle energy, 246-foot tons. Weight of gun, carriage, limber, drag ropes, tools, etc., and 60 rounds of ammunition, complete, 3,420 pounds. The carriage and limber have each two removable interchangeable ammunition boxes for 12 rounds each, with a box for 12 rounds below the axle of the limber.
Courtesy of the Bethlehem Steel Co.
Louis VI used bombards of great length and power against the Flemish in 1477, while as early as 1401 bronze cannon had been cast in several cities of West Prussia. Iron cannon were not cast until near the end of that century. Coming down to the seventeenth century, we are told of the great Bijapur cast-iron gun, the “Lord of the Plain,” cast by the Mogul emperor Auremgzebe or by his foes the Mahrattas. This huge gun was 14 feet long, 28 inches bore, and fired a ball of 1,600 pounds weight. Smooth-bore cannon and mortars of cast-iron and bronze are still retained in some fortresses, though rifled cannon are the only type now made. As late as 1864 smooth-bore 100- and 150-pounder wrought-iron guns were made for the British navy and a few bronze rifled guns were made in 1870 for service in India, but all such guns are now obsolete.
Twenty-eight Ton Austrian Siege Howitzer Which Fires a Thousand-pound Projectile
The Germans borrowed a large number of these great siege pieces from the Austrians and used them in the reduction of the Belgian defenses. Huge shells filled with high explosives from these mammoth guns rapidly destroyed the most modern and powerful fortifications known at the beginning of the great war. It is known that against such weapons of offense no fortifications can last and that the employment of such weapons has forced both armies to depend on their trenches as their main defense.