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K5 Railway gun)
The Krupp K5 was a heavy railway gun used by Germany through World War II
Description
The Krupp K5 series all were consistent in mounting a 21.5 m long barrel in a box mounting. This mounting was then mounted on a pair of 12-wheel bogies designed to 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.
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.
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.
Anzio Annie
"Anzio Annie" 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 captured on 7 June 1944. Robert was partially destroyed by the gun crew before they surrendered and Leopold was also damaged but not as bad. Both Guns were shipped back to the US to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds where they underwent tests. One complete K5 was made from the two damaged ones, and "Leopold" remains on display to this day.
Specifications
- Calibre: 283 mm (11 in)
- Dimensions:
- Barrel length: 76.1 calibres; 21.539 m (848 in)
- Carriage length: 30 m (travel mode); 32 m (firing mode)
- Weights:
- Action weight: 218 t
- Barrel weight: 85 t
- Elevation: +50°
- Muzzle velocity: 1120 m/s (3675 ft/s)
- Range: 61 km (38 mi)
- Rate of fire: 1 round per 3-5 min.
- Barrel life: 540 rounds
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