| Type 90 240 mm railway gun | |
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The Schneider-built gun in France. The gun is in its traveling position. |
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| Type | Railway gun |
| Place of origin | Empire of Japan |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1930-1945 |
| Used by | Imperial Japanese Army |
| Wars | World War II |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | Schneider |
| Produced | 1930 |
| Number built | 1 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 136 tons |
| Barrel length | 12.83 m (42 ft) |
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| Caliber | 240 mm (9.4 in) |
| Carriage | Railcar with 2 × 6 wheeled bogeys |
| Elevation | 0 to +50 degrees |
| Traverse | 360 degrees |
| Muzzle velocity | 1,050 m/s (3,400 ft/s) |
| Effective range | 50 km (31 mi) |
The Type 90 240 mm Railway Gun (九〇式二十四糎列車加農 Kyūrei-shiki nijyūyon-miri Resshahō) was a large caliber railroad gun acquired by the Imperial Japanese Army from the French arms manufacturer Schneider in 1930. It was the only railroad gun in Japanese service.[1]
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The Imperial Japanese army had made extensive use of armoured trains since the Russo-Japanese War, and Japanese military advisors in Europe during World War I had noted the development of railway guns, whereby extremely large caliber weapons, such as previously found only on battleships, could be made mobile and could be rapidly deployed to front-line combat areas.
However, despite this interest, other projects had higher priority, and nothing was done until funding was found to purchase a single sample unit from Schneider in France in 1930. Only the cannon itself was purchased from Schneider, and the railway carriage and auxiliary equipment was all produced locally in Japan. The completed assembly was designated as the Type 90 240mm railway gun.
The Type 90 240mm Railway Gun was initially deployed as a coastal artillery battery at Futtsu, Chiba, as part of the defenses guarding the entrance to Tokyo Bay. It was redeployed to Manchukuo in 1941, and based in the Hulin area of Heilongjiang, as part of the defenses against the Soviet Union, where it remained for the duration of World War II. When the Soviet Union invaded Manchukuo in the closing days of the war, the gun was destroyed by retreating Kwangtung Army forces and abandoned.[2]