The appearance of this type of weapon in Russia was a bit chaotic. In 1894, the first 152-mm howitzers appeared, imported from France, and, interestingly, the customer of these guns was not artillery troops, but engineers. After the first shooting practice, it turned out that the French howitzers were mediocre, the firing characteristics were unsatisfactory. For comparison, domestic 152 mm artillery guns fired 41 kilogram shells at a distance of 8.5 kilometers, French howitzers fired 33 kilogram shells at a distance of 6.5 kilometers. The service personnel are 9 people, the transition to the firing position is 3 minutes, the transfer of the gun to the stowed position is 2 minutes.
The engineering department transfers the howitzers to the artillery department, which does not express much joy from the railway guns. The guns fall into the Kovno fortress, but they do not participate in hostilities, since at the time of the outbreak of the First World War they were morally obsolete.
The use of railway guns in hostilities and the large losses of stationary large-caliber guns make the issue of using artillery guns on a railway installation urgent. The Russian GAU begins the process of creating a mobile artillery gun, taking as a basis railway platforms for transporting large-caliber naval guns and 254-mm artillery guns, released in the 90s for installation on the battleship "Rostislav".
At the end of April 1917, GAU signed a contract with the Metallic Plant of St. Petersburg for the construction of two artillery railway systems.
On July 14, 1917, the first AU on the railway platform got on the rails, the second installation came out on August 16 of the same year. The tests were successful, and the guns were added to the ranks of the Russian Army. Already in the Red Army, the 254-mm artillery guns were dismantled, instead of them 203/50-mm guns of the M3 system were installed. From artillery installations of this type "TM-8" by the beginning of the Second World War, only 2 units remained in service.
In 1927, at the same plant, but already in another State - the USSR, engineer Dukelsky proposed the installation of 356 mm artillery pieces on a railway platform. In 1931, the order for the production of four TM-1-14 was received by the Nikolaev plant No. 198, during 1932-1936 orders were received for the production of TM-2-12, TM-3-12 with 305 mm guns.
Manufacturing of these units is practically the same. All the guns were taken from the battleships of the Navy or from the warehouses where they were in stock. The barrels of the guns were fastened, possessing a high firing range, and had low survivability. So, the barrel of a 305-mm gun was removed and sent to the factory after 300 shots, and the barrel of a 356-mm gun was removed after 150 shots. At the factory, the inner tube of the gun was changed, the production of this operation lasted a couple of months.
The most serious problem of artillery pieces on railway platforms is the production of horizontal aiming and guidance.
For the TM-8, the problem was solved quite simply - the entire system had a 360-degree rotation angle on the central axis, the platform itself was attached to the supporting legs extended and fixed on the ground.
This mounting system was not suitable for the TM-3-12, TM-2-12, TM-1-14 guns.
To increase the horizontal guidance angle, at first, rounded stripes were built, similar to a mustache, but this solution was not suitable for conducting aimed fire at moving enemy surface ships. It was decided to build fortified railway complexes with a concrete base in the strategic regions of the Pacific and Baltic coasts. The complex consisted of concrete platforms located in a triangle, located at a distance from each other, a reinforced concrete observation tower 30 meters high. Two direct railway lines and two spare lines led to the complex. When strengthening the gun platform in the complex, it turned into a standard coastal gun mount.
In the non-deployed position, the platforms could move along the railways of the Soviet Union without any problems, for example, moving the battery complex on railway platforms from the Nikolaev plant for testing in Leningrad and leaving for the Far East to be on alert was a simple matter. The speed of movement on a steam locomotive traction is 45 km / h, but the platforms TM-3-12 and TM-2-12 had their own engines that could move them at a speed of 22 km / h.
All railway platforms of the TM-3-12, TM-2-12, TM-1-14 projects were equipped with 3-gun artillery mounts and constituted railway batteries. Battery composition:
- 3 gun platforms;
- 3 carriages with artillery ammunition;
- 3 carriages of propulsion power plants;
- 1 carriage of an observation battery post;
- one or two leading E-class steam locomotives.
At the end of the 40s, an attempt was made to install artillery guns of 368 mm caliber on the TM-1-14 project platforms, in connection with the successful tests of shells of this caliber. So, a sub-caliber projectile of 368 mm caliber weighing 252 kg and an active ammunition weighing 120 kg at an estimated speed of 1400 m / s could hit an enemy armored target at a distance of 120 kilometers. But the serial replacement of 254-mm guns with 368-mm guns did not take place due to the constant workload of factories that could make this replacement - the Barrikady plant and the Bolshevik plant. Yes, and the tasks for the implementation of which at the time of production were not left - until 39, the strategic goals were in the Baltic States, and in 1939 the Baltic States became part of the USSR.
The 254 mm TM-3-12 railway artillery mount stands in an eternal parking lot near the Krasnoflotsky fort near the city of St. Petersburg.
