Obukhovskii 12-inch/52-caliber Pattern 1907 gun
Obukhovskii 12"/52 Pattern 1907 gun | ||
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Breech Welin breech block | | |
Elevation | Original: -5° to +25° | |
Rate of fire | 1-2 rounds per minute | |
Muzzle velocity | Average: 815 m/s (2,670 ft/s) | |
Maximum firing range | Average: 31 km (19 mi)[1] |
The Obukhovskii 12"/52 Pattern 1907 gun was a 12-inch (305 mm), 52-caliber naval gun. It was the most powerful gun to be mounted aboard battleships of the Imperial Russian Navy and later the Soviet Navy during both world wars. It was later modified by the Soviets and employed as coastal artillery and as a railway gun during World War II.
History
The Obukhovskii 12"/52 Pattern 1907 was designed to reflect lessons learned from the
The gun originally envisioned was 12in/50 caliber, weighing 47.3 t (52.1 short tons), with a 331 kg (730 lb) shell, at a muzzle velocity of 914 m/s (3,000 ft/s). These new guns were to be based on the
Construction
The Obukhovskii 12"/52 Pattern 1907 was constructed of A tube, two B tubes to the muzzle, two C tubes, two D tubes and jacket. The breech bush screwed into the jacket, locking the parts together, and a collar was shrunk on the breech bush and the end of the collar covered by a small ring with a shoulder. Both collar and ring were placed in position when hot. A Welin breech block was used.[4] Allowable barrel life for pieces mounted aboard Black Sea Fleet units was 400 rounds per gun.
General characteristics
- Barrel length: 52 calibers
- Maximum laying speed: vertical - 4 degrees per second, horizontal - 3.2 degrees per second
- Shell weight:
- Naval 1911 : 471 kg (1.038 lb)
- Coastal defense : 446 kg (984 lb)
- German coastal HE : 405 kg (893 lb)
- Initial velocity of the shell:
- Naval 1911 471 kg shell : 762 meters/second (2,500 feet/second)
- Coastal defense 446 kg shell : 853 meters/second (2800 feet/second)
- Range:
- With 471 kg shell : 29,340 meters (32,080 yards)
Coastal artillery
In addition to being deployed aboard the Gangut-class and Imperatritsa Mariya-class battleships, the guns were also emplaced as coastal artillery in the
Between the wars, Soviet forces placed four four-gun batteries around the
1938 Railway gun TM-3-12
Three railway guns were built, using guns from the sunken battleship Imperatritsa Mariya, which had been lost to a magazine explosion in Sevastopol harbor in October 1916. They were used in the Soviet-Finnish war in 1939-1940. In June–December 1941 they took part in the defense of the Soviet naval base on Finland's Hanko Peninsula (Rus. Gangut/ Гангут). They were disabled by Soviet seamen when the base was evacuated, and were later restored by Finnish specialists using guns from the withdrawn Russian battleship Imperator Aleksandr III. After the war these were handed over to the Soviet Union, which were maintained in operational condition until 1991. Withdrawn from service in 1999, they were the last Obukhov pieces still operational in the world.
Weapons of comparable role, performance and era
- BL 12 inch Mk XI - XII naval gunVickers British equivalent
- 30.5 cm SK L/50 gun German equivalent
Photo gallery
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Triple gun turrets aboard Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya
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Coastal defense turret at Kuivasaari, Finland
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Turret interior at Kuivasaari. Note the Welin breech block
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One of two Maxim Gorki batteries destroyed during theSiege of Sevastopol
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TM-3-12 atSt.Petersburg
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Moscow Victory park
Notes
- ^ DiGiulian, Tony. "Russia / USSR 14"/52 (35.6 cm) Pattern 1913 - NavWeaps". www.navweaps.com. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
- OCLC 786178793.
- OCLC 786178793.
- OCLC 51995246.
- ^ "The History of Maxim Gorky-I Naval Battery, Sevastopol". www.allworldwars.com. Retrieved 2017-01-25.
References
- Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War Two. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
- ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- DiGiulian, Tony. "12 inch mod 1907 gun". Navweapons.com.
- Kosar, Franz (1998). "Re: New Information on Russian Naval Guns". Warship International. XXXV (2): 224. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Ley, Michael P. (1998). "Re: New Information on Russian Naval Guns". Warship International. XXXV (1): 10–14. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Vinogradov, Sergei (2023). "The Strange Fate of the General Alekseev's Guns". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2023. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp. 128–141. ISBN 978-1-4728-5713-2.
- Volz, Arthur G. (1998). "Re: New Information on Russian Naval Guns". Warship International. XXXV (2): 223–224. ISSN 0043-0374.