4.1 KiB
| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| V-3 cannon | 2/4 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-3_cannon | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:26:21.126097+00:00 | kb-cron |
== Development == In 1918, the French Army made plans for a very long range multi-chamber gun in response to the German Paris Gun. The Paris Gun was built by Friedrich Krupp AG and could bombard Paris from German lines over a distance of 125 kilometres (78 mi). The French initiative did not reach the prototype stage. It was discontinued and the plans archived when the retreat of the German armies and the armistice put an end to the bombardment. France collapsed in June 1940 at the beginning of World War II, and German troops acquired the plans of this long-range gun. In 1942, this patent attracted the attention of August Coenders, developer of the Röchling shell and chief engineer of the plants "Röchling Stahlwerk AG" in Wetzlar, Germany. Coenders thought that the gradual acceleration of the shell by a series of small charges spread over the length of the barrel might be the solution to the problem of designing very long range guns. The very strong explosive charge needed to project shells at a high speed was causing rapid degradation of the gun tubes of conventional guns. Coenders proposed the use of electrically activated charges to eliminate the problem of the premature ignition of the subsidiary charges as experienced by the Lyman-Haskell gun. Coenders built a prototype of a 20 mm multi-chamber gun using machinery readily available at the Wetzlar plant to produce tubes of this calibre for the Flak 38 anti-aircraft guns of 20 mm. The first tests were encouraging, but to get the support of the Ministry of arms, Hermann Röchling had to present to Albert Speer Coenders' project of a cannon capable of firing on London from the coast of the Pas-de-Calais. The project intended to use two batteries to crush London under a barrage of hundreds (per hour) of 140 kilograms (310 lb) shells with an explosive charge of 25 kilograms (55 lb). Speer told Adolf Hitler about the proposal in May 1943. After the Royal Air Force (RAF) bombed the Peenemünde rocket center on 17 August, Hitler agreed to Speer's suggestion that the gun be built without more tests. Coenders constructed a full-calibre gun at the Hillersleben proving ground near Magdeburg but, by the end of 1943, he had encountered severe problems both in putting the gun's basic principle into operation and in producing a feasible design for the shells that it was to fire. Even when everything worked, the muzzle velocity was just over 1,000 metres per second (3,300 ft/s), which was nowhere near what had been promised. Nonetheless, a proposal was made to build a single full-sized gun with a 150-metre (490 ft) barrel at Misdroy on the Baltic island of Wolin, near Peenemünde, while construction went ahead at the Mimoyecques site in France, which had already been attacked by the USAAF and the RAF. The Heereswaffenamt (Weapon Procurement Office) took control of the project by March 1944, and, with no good news from Misdroy, Coenders became one of the engineers working on the three chief problems: projectile design, obturation, and ignition of the secondary charges.
Six different companies produced satisfactory designs for projectiles, including Krupp and Škoda Works. Obturation problems were solved by placing a sealing piston between the projectile and the initial propellant charge, which prevented the flash from the charge from getting ahead of the projectile, and solved the problem of controlling the initiation of the secondary charges. By the end of May 1944 there were four designs for the 150 mm finned projectile, one manufactured by Fasterstoff (designed by Füstenberg) and three others by Röchling (Coenders), Bochumer (Verein-Haack), and Witkowitz Ironworks (Athem). Trials were held at Misdroy from 20–24 May 1944 with ranges of up to 88 km (55 mi) being attained. On 4 July 1944, the Misdroy gun was test-fired with 8 rounds; one of the 1.8 m (5.9 ft) long shells travelled 93 km (58 mi). The gun burst during the testing, putting an end to the tests.
== Mimoyecques site ==