Gustav Gun - The Largest Gun Ever Built, page 1
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ATS Members have flagged this thread 10 times
Topic started on 28-7-2010 @ 02:44 PM by TortoiseKweek
I did a search on ATS and found nothing about the Gustav Gun. This was 1 "Big Bad Boy"!

The largest gun ever built was the "Gustav Gun" built in Essen, Germany in 1941 by the firm of Friedrich Krupp A.G. Upholding a tradition of naming heavy cannon after family members, the Gustav Gun was named after the invalid head of the Krupp family - Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. The strategic weapon of its day, the Gustav Gun was built at the direct order of Adolf Hitler for the express purpose of crushing Maginot Line forts protecting the French frontier. To accomplish this, Krupp designed a giant railway gun weighing 1344 tons with a bore diameter of 800 mm (31.5") and served by a 500 man crew commanded by a major-general.


I'm amazed that I've never heard of this before. I'm also amazed that it basically had not been put to use at all. Something with this much firepower and mobility (using railway lines), one would think the Germans would have been itching to use it.















Look at the size of these shells!





Having a weapon with this much firepower and not using it, begs the question: "What were the Germans thinking?"

Two types of projectiles were fired using a 3000lb. charge of smokeless powder: a 10,584 lb. high explosive (HE) shell and a 16,540 lb. concrete-piercing projectile. Craters from the HE shells measured 30-ft. wide and 30-ft. deep while the concrete piercing projectile proved capable of penetrating 264-ft. of reinforced concrete before exploding! Maximum range was 23 miles with HE shells and 29 miles with concrete piercing projectiles. Muzzle velocity was approximately 2700 f.p.s.


They built 2 of them, and had a 3rd in production at the end of the war. 1 was destroyed by the Germans so the Russians could get it. The other was cut up and used for scrap metal.

So ATS members, any thoughts?

Link to original source: www.worldsbiggests.com...

Credits: Printed in the American Rifleman, February 1998. Page 26.


reply posted on 28-7-2010 @ 02:51 PM by TortoiseKweek
reply to post by thedarktower


Exactly. This thing could do some serious damage, but as you said thank God they didn't use it. Why they didn't, remains a mystery to me



reply posted on 28-7-2010 @ 02:53 PM by Doc Holiday
reply to post by TortoiseKweek


I'm digging ..but I'm affraid I'll have the same results as the last time I looked ....so ty for the post star for you...

I have to ask, if anyone else can point me in the direction of the other gun they "Germans" had in progress that was underground....non-mobile...much much bigger than Gustav...but I read this 15 years ago and have never been able to find the source again...
The diagram I remember seeing looked not unlike a tunnel, but was a bit too steap to drive in or out of.
There was many many stories or levels to this gun, going really deep underground.


reply posted on 28-7-2010 @ 02:55 PM by TortoiseKweek
reply to post by jokei


I have no idea, but could you imagine the fear and terror this thing would strike into the enemies hearts when they see this thing over the horizon. Never mind seeing on of those shells heading your way

[edit on 28-7-2010 by TortoiseKweek]


reply posted on 28-7-2010 @ 03:02 PM by thisguyrighthere
reply to post by Doc Holiday


Was this it?

To all intents their target appeared to be a railway tunnel. In fact, inside the hill itself was an emplacement that would have fired the V3 if the chance had been there for it to do so - part of the firing mechanism is in the photo above.#

However, the Lancasters attacked the hill with 35 tons of high explosive bombs. Their target were the concrete and steel-lined covers of the massive gun barrels that were meant to attack London with the intention of reducing the inner city to rubble. The V3 was not a rocket like to V2 nor a pilot-less plane like the V1. It was a dart-shaped shell nine feet long and the 416 feet gun barrels targeted by the Lancasters were, on paper, capable of firing 600 of these shells every hour. However, one of the 'Tallboy' bombs (12,000 lbs of explosives) developed by Dr Barnes Wallis penetrated one of the five gun barrel shafts and did so much damage to the 'guts' of the project that it was eventually abandoned.
www.historylearningsite.co.uk...


reply posted on 28-7-2010 @ 03:04 PM by Doc Holiday
reply to post by thisguyrighthere


I'm looking and yes I think that is it...It has been awhile ty so much...I've looked for this for a while now...


reply posted on 28-7-2010 @ 03:10 PM by facelift
reply to post by jokei


What's the difference?


A cannon fires a solid cannon ball...this uses a shell (propellant is built in) - which explodes on or near the target.

There's also velocity, trajectory and range differences that allowed the round to get over walls, but that wouldn't help my simple generalization.





reply posted on 28-7-2010 @ 03:16 PM by TortoiseKweek
reply to post by altered_states


Thanks for the Youtube link. I didn't think there would be any footage of either Gustav or Dora in action, so I didn't even search for it

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