At different times in different countries, the designers began an attack of gigantomania. Gigantomania manifested itself in various directions, including artillery. For example, in 1586, the Tsar Cannon was cast from bronze in Russia. Its dimensions were impressive: barrel length - 5340 mm, weight - 39, 31 tons, caliber - 890 mm. In 1857, a mortar by Robert Mallet was built in Great Britain. Its caliber was 914 millimeters, and its weight was 42.67 tons. During World War II, the Douro was built in Germany - a 1350-ton monster of 807 mm caliber. In other countries, large-caliber guns were also created, but not so large.
Already someone who, and the American designers in the Second World War were not noticed in the gun gigantomania, however, they turned out, as they say, "not without sin." The Americans created the giant Little David mortar, the caliber of which was 914 mm. "Little David" was the prototype of the heavy siege weapon with which the US military was going to storm the Japanese islands.
In the United States, during World War II, at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, decommissioned large-caliber naval artillery barrels were used to test the shooting of armor-piercing, concrete-piercing and high-explosive aerial bombs. The test air bombs were launched using a relatively small powder charge and launched at a distance of several hundred yards. This system was used because during a normal airplane release, much depended on the crew's ability to accurately comply with test conditions and weather conditions. Attempts to use the bored barrels of 234-mm British and 305-mm American howitzers for such tests did not meet the growing caliber of aerial bombs. In this regard, it was decided to design and build a special device for throwing aerial bombs called Bomb Testing Device T1. After construction, this device worked well enough and the idea arose of using it as an artillery weapon. It was expected that during the invasion of Japan, the American army would encounter well-defended fortifications - and such weapons would be ideal for destroying bunker fortifications. In March 1944, the modernization project was launched. In October of the same year, the gun received the status of a mortar and the name Little David. After that, test firing of artillery shells began.
Mortar "Little David" had a rifled barrel 7, 12 m long (7, 79 caliber) with right-hand grooves (the steepness of the rifling 1/30). The length of the barrel, taking into account the vertical guidance mechanism mounted on its breech, was 8530 mm, weight - 40 tons. The firing range of 1690 kg (explosive mass - 726, 5 kg) with a projectile - 8680 m. The mass of a full charge was 160 kg (caps of 18 and 62 kg). The muzzle velocity is 381 m / s. A box-type installation (dimensions 5500x3360x3000 mm) with swivel and lifting mechanisms was buried in the ground. The installation and removal of the artillery unit was carried out using six hydraulic jacks. Vertical guidance angles - +45.. + 65 °, horizontal - 13 ° in both directions. The hydraulic recoil brake is concentric, the knurler was absent, a pump was used to return the barrel to its original position after each shot. The total mass of the assembled gun was 82.8 tons.
Loading - muzzle, separate cap. The projectile at a zero elevation angle was fed using a crane, after which it moved a certain distance, after which the barrel was raised, and further loading was carried out under the influence of gravity. A primer-igniter was inserted into a socket made in the breech of the barrel. The crater from the Little David projectile was 12 meters in diameter and 4 meters deep.
To move, specially modified M26 tank tractors were used: one tractor, having a two-axle trailer, transported the mortar, the other - the installation. This made the mortar much more mobile than railroad guns. The artillery crew, in addition to tractors, included a bulldozer, a bucket excavator and a crane, which were used to install a mortar at a firing position. It took about 12 hours to place the mortar in position. For comparison: the German 810/813 mm Dora gun was transported in disassembled form by 25 railway platforms, and it took about 3 weeks to bring it into combat readiness.
In March 1944, they began converting the "device" into a military weapon. A high-explosive projectile with ready-made protrusions was being developed. Tests began at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Of course, a shell weighing 1678 kilograms "would have caused a rustle", but Little David had all the "diseases" inherent in medieval mortars - she hit inaccurately and not far. As a result, in order to intimidate the Japanese, something else was found (Little Boy is an atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima), and the super-mortar never took part in the hostilities. After the abandonment of the operation to land the Americans on the Japanese Islands, they wanted to transfer the mortar to the Coastal Artillery, but poor accuracy of fire prevented its use there. The project was suspended, and at the end of 1946 it was completely closed.
Currently, the mortar and the projectile are kept in the museum of the Aberdeen Proving Ground, to which they were delivered for testing.
Specifications:
Country of origin - USA.
The tests began in 1944.
Caliber - 914 mm.
Barrel length - 6700 mm.
Weight - 36.3 tons.
Range - 8687 meters (9500 yards).
Prepared based on materials:
