Krupp K5
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| Krupp K5 | |
|---|---|
 Krupp K5 railway gun |
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| Type | Railway Artillery |
| Place of origin | Nazi Germany |
| Service history | |
| Used by | Wehrmacht |
| Wars | World War II |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 218 t |
| Length | 30 m (travel mode); 32 m (firing mode) |
| Barrel length | 76.1 calibres; 21.539 m (848 in) |
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| Caliber | 283 mm (11 in) |
| Elevation | +50° |
| Rate of fire | 1 round per 3-5 min. |
| Muzzle velocity | 1120 m/s (3675 ft/s) |
| Maximum range | 61 km (38 mi) |
The Krupp K5 was a heavy railway gun used by Germany through World War II.
Contents |
[edit] Description
The Krupp K5 series all were consistent in mounting a 21.5 m long gun barrel in a box mounting. This mounting was then mounted on a pair of 12-wheel bogies designed to be operated on commercial and military rails built to German standards. This mounting did not permit full gun traverse, but instead the carriage had to be aligned on the rails first, with only minimal fine levelling capable once halted.
The main barrel of the K5 is 283 mm in calibre, and is rifled with twelve 7 mm grooves. These were originally 10 mm deep, but were shallowed to rectify cracking problems.
[edit] History
The K5 was the result of a crash program launched in the 1930s to develop a force of railway guns to support the Wehrmacht by 1939. K5 development began in 1934 with first testing following in 1936. Initial tests were done with a 150 mm barrel under the designation K5M.
Production led to eight guns being in service for the Invasion of France, although problems were encountered with barrel splitting and rectified with changes to the rifling. The guns were then reliable until the end of the war, under the designation K5 Tiefzug 7 mm. Three of them were installed on the English Channel coast to target British shipping in the Channel, and proved successful at this task.
Towards the end of the war, development was done to allow the K5 to fire rocket-assisted projectiles to increase range. Successful implementation was done for firing these from the K5Vz.
A final experiment was to bore out two of the weapons to 310 mm smoothbore to allow firing of the Peenemünder Pfeilgeschosse arrow shells. The two modified weapons were designated K5 Glatt.
Several other proposals were made to modify or create new models of the K5 which never saw production. In particular, there were a number of plans for a model which could leave the railway by use of specially modified Tiger II tank chassis which would support the mounting box in much the same manner as the railway weapon's two bogies. This project was finally ended by the capitulation of Germany.
[edit] Anzio Annie
"Anzio Annie" and "Anzio Express" was the name used by the Allies for a pair of German K5(E) railroad guns that shelled the Anzio beachhead during World War II. The Germans named them "Robert" and "Leopold".
The guns were discovered on a railroad siding in the town of Civitavecchia, on 7 June 1944, shortly after the allies occupied Rome.[1] Robert had been partially destroyed by the gun crew before they surrendered and Leopold was also damaged but not as badly. Both guns were shipped to the U.S. Aberdeen Proving Ground, (Aberdeen, Maryland) where they underwent tests. One complete K5 was made from the two damaged ones, and Leopold remains on display to this day at the United States Army Ordnance Museum located on the Aberdeen grounds.
A second surviving gun can be seen at the site of Battery Todt in northern France.[citation needed]
[edit] Notes and References
- Notes
- ^ United States Army in World War II; The Ordnance Deparment, On Beachhead and Battlefront; p200; 17 June 1966; Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 67-60000; Available online at http://www.army.mil/CMH/books/wwii/Beachhd_Btlefrnt/
- References
- Engelmann, Joachim (1976). Armor in Action - German Railroad Guns. Squadron/Signal Publications. ISBN 0-89747-048-6.
[edit] External links
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