Landships II

Date: Aug 22, 2005

mystery gun

Date: Aug 22, 2005

I will check with my material later, and get back to you.

My opinion, off the top of my head, is that it looks like one of these Naval Guns taken ashore and used in Land Warfare. All countries did this: they were all in desperate need of guns, and the navies did surprisingly little with them during this war.

/PK

Date: Aug 22, 2005

It looks like the 155mm or 6.1 inch Modele 1877, indeed designed by De Bange. If there is no recoil mechanism, it probably is.

Many were still in service in 1914 and Scneider began modernising them, but the need for artillery was so pressing that some were used as they were, however obsolete.

Has anyone got any other ideas?

Date: Sep 2, 2005

Peter Kempf wrote:

I will check with my material later, and get back to you. My opinion, off the top of my head, is that it looks like one of these Naval Guns taken ashore and used in Land Warfare. All countries did this: they were all in desperate need of guns, and the navies did surprisingly little with them during this war. /PK

that sounds right, looking at it it obviously was not designed for land warfare judging from the poorly designed travel wheels, infact it looks like they ripped the wheels off a carriage and slapped them on the gun.

SASH155 · Major

I can tell you exactly what this was. One of you said it was a naval gun. You would be correct. To be precise it is a Mat�riel (Canon) de 138.6mm de Marine mle. 1910 sur aff�t Schneider. These mle. 1910 138.6mm guns were the latest secondary armament on board French capital ships, cruisers etc... The mount was actually purpose built by Schneider for this ordnance; I disagree that the wheels look flimsy; they are the same type used on the 155mm C15S and C17S howitzers, with the distinctive taper to the wheel rim (better weight distribution than if simply vertical) and a fairly wide track for a wooden artillery wheel of the period; there are also what look like fairly substantial spokes. We tend to forget nowadays that people did the best they could with the technology on hand. This weapon, which appeared in 1915, was less than five years away from the increasing use of disk wheels and pneumatic tires on both cars and trucks and the ensuing use of this technology on artillery from the mid-1930s. Many of these guns were subsequently rebored, after the barrels wore out, to 145mm. There was also a St. Chamond weapon in this 138.6mm caliber designated Mat�riel de 138.6mm de Marine mle. 1891 (using the older mle. 1891 naval gun), of which I will provide a photo. I would love to get a clear copy of this photo however to add to my collection. Wesley Thomas

SASH155 · Major

RE: link to mystery gun down

Ironsides · Legend

RE: mystery gun