Guest Posted 3 November , 2013 Share Posted 3 November , 2013 Hello - I was at Fort Nelson near Portsmouth where part of the Royal Armouries' collection is held. I couldn't help noticing a rather large piece of Artillery. Allegedy it was the largest British land based artillery piece used in the Great War. [Edit. I am reliably informed it was never fired in anger. Interesting nonetheless] . Here are a few photos. ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 3 November , 2013 Share Posted 3 November , 2013 .. .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 3 November , 2013 Share Posted 3 November , 2013 Hello Martin It may have been test-fired but it was not actually used in action during the Great War. The piece was recently lent to a railway museum in Holland for an exhibition, and Channel 5 showed a documentary about the process of moving it there. Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 3 November , 2013 Share Posted 3 November , 2013 ...As I said, 'allegedly'....I may well have been mistaken but I thought the blurb intimated it was used in the Great War. Regardless it is an impressive piece of equipment. MG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 3 November , 2013 Share Posted 3 November , 2013 I wonder how accurate a projectile fired from one of these would have been?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seany Posted 3 November , 2013 Share Posted 3 November , 2013 http://www.timarchive2.freeuk.com/assets/images/Scot_Big_Gun_1916.jpg Is this it after comletion at he WG Armstrong works n Newcastle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 3 November , 2013 Share Posted 3 November , 2013 Hello seany It may be the carriage, but the gun itself seems to be marked EOC, for the Elswick Ordnance Company of Coventry, I think. See the bottom photo in post #2. Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ss002d6252 Posted 3 November , 2013 Share Posted 3 November , 2013 The Elswick Ordnance Company was headquartered at Newcastle - later Vickers-Armstrong and lately a BAE systems factory before it closed. I can just about see it in the distance from the end of the street http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elswick_Ordnance_Company Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 3 November , 2013 Share Posted 3 November , 2013 The piece was recently lent to a railway museum in Holland for an exhibition, and Channel 5 showed a documentary about the process of moving it there. http://www.channel5.com/shows/monster-moves/episodes/gigantic-gun-monster-moves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 3 November , 2013 Share Posted 3 November , 2013 Elswick is certainly a ward of Newcastle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockdoc Posted 3 November , 2013 Share Posted 3 November , 2013 It isn't on its original carriage. That is, apparently, a proofing carriage which is very much smaller. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianjonesncl Posted 3 November , 2013 Share Posted 3 November , 2013 Hello seany It may be the carriage, but the gun itself seems to be marked EOC, for the Elswick Ordnance Company of Coventry, I think. See the bottom photo in post #2. Ron Ron The Elswick Ordnance Company was based at Elswick on Scotswood Road, Newcastle upon Tyne. Ian . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelS Posted 3 November , 2013 Share Posted 3 November , 2013 Today's (3rd November) Sunday Telegraph Ashcroft First World War supplement features a painting by Anna Airy (Shop for Machining 15-Inch Shells: Singer Manufacturing Company, Clydebank, Glasgow) made as a part of a series commissioned in June 1918 by the Munitions sub-Committee of the IWM. One of the other paintings in the series is The 'L' Press: Forging the Jacket of an 18-Inch Gun, Armstrong-Whitworth Works, Openshaw. Wikipedia indicates that the Elswick Ordnance Company (part of Armstrong-Whitworth) were the only British company capable of making such large calibre guns, and as (again according to Wikipedia) the 18" guns it manufactured for the Navy had been completed by 1917, and the paintings weren't commissioned until June 1918, it appears likely that the painting shows the forging of one of the barrels intended for railway mounts, possibly even the one at the museum, although that would be a real 'long-shot' if you'll pardon the pun! More of the IWM Commissioned paintings (An Aircraft Assembly Shop, Hendon; Women Working in a Gas Retort House: South Metropolitan Gas Company, London & A Shell Forge at a National Projectile Factory, Hackney Marshes, London, and other peace-time Anna Airy paintings can be viewed in this slide show Click Not GW, but the last time I visited Fort Nelson - some years ago - it had a section of the barrel of the controversial Saddam Hussein commissioned Iraqi 'super-gun' - made here in the UK but impounded on export (I seem to remember the export documentation was said to refer to it vaguely as a 'machine part' or similar) - just lying around in the grounds. Is it still there, and if it is, is it now displayed to better advantage? NigelS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockdoc Posted 3 November , 2013 Share Posted 3 November , 2013 There are two or three sections of the super-gun on display in the entrance hall, with explanatory boards. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelS Posted 3 November , 2013 Share Posted 3 November , 2013 Thanks Keith, I really ought to pay another visit! I remember thinking at the time that it was rather bizarre that something that had made headlines in quite a big way at the time, had been left lying around with little attention being drawn to it. NigelS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scalyback Posted 3 November , 2013 Share Posted 3 November , 2013 Possible what the hell to do with it time? What is a proofing carriage? How does that differ to one that would be used operationally? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 4 November , 2013 Share Posted 4 November , 2013 Hello all I stand corrected as to the location of Elswick! Scalyback - a proofing carriage is a temporary carriage to enable the gun to be test-fired. I have seen photos in which the barrel of a gun was actually supported on a pile of bricks during proof firing. Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockdoc Posted 4 November , 2013 Share Posted 4 November , 2013 Proofing as in prove or test. It was a carriage used to test-fire guns before they were accepted into service. The service carriage was absolutely enormous, from a picture in Hogg and Thurston, and something like twice as long as the piece itself and far wider than this one. The info boards say that the carriage was fitted to the gun while it was in use at a range. I can't remember what it was used for except that it wasn't to fire 18" shells. Although it doesn't show photos of this one, there are photos of railway guns on this Wiki page and it describes the proofing carriage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BL_18_inch_railway_howitzer Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scalyback Posted 5 November , 2013 Share Posted 5 November , 2013 Cheers chaps. Test fire on the proof carriage then if it fires ok build the proper carriage? Money saving move or standard practice. The ways of gunners are a big black hole to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockdoc Posted 5 November , 2013 Share Posted 5 November , 2013 Even if armament manufacturers had their own ranges I can't imagine any would have had one that could cope with such a big beast. I have no idea of the practices used in the WW1 era but I would expect that only one would be tested. If it passed then all the remaining order would be made to the same specification. If it didn't pass it would be modified until it did - or was rejected - and the remainder made to the modified spec. I'm basing this guess on my first-hand experience with testing pre-production prototypes of underground machinery for the NCB. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 5 November , 2013 Share Posted 5 November , 2013 If I remember correctly, this barrel (No 1) spent most of its working life at Shoeburyness, where live firing presumably took place out to sea. As the two service carriages constructed were later used with smaller but longer range guns in WW2, I would speculate that this one was mounted on its present carriage during its time at Shoeburyness, where the full elevation and traverse capabilities of the service carriage were not required for the kind of testing the barrel was employed on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayessex Posted 5 November , 2013 Share Posted 5 November , 2013 Is this the same Gun that spent many many years outside the Gunnery Wing/Rapier compound at Woolwich Barracks? Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scalyback Posted 5 November , 2013 Share Posted 5 November , 2013 Cheers Rockdoc, got it now. Plus why your a rock doc! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seany Posted 14 December , 2013 Share Posted 14 December , 2013 http://www.timarchive2.freeuk.com/assets/images/Scot_Big_Gun_1916.jpg Is this it after comletion at he WG Armstrong works n Newcastle? The Armstrong works were of course at Elswick on the Scotswood road. My GF was a stoker there before becoming part of RGA in 1916 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelfe Posted 15 December , 2013 Share Posted 15 December , 2013 Actually its an 18-inch Howitzer not an 18-inch Gun. Being a howitzer it had lower muzzle velocity than a gun, and hence shorter range (eg 18-in H had 22300 yds whereas 14 in G had 36400 yds and 12 in G 32700 or 31550 depending on Mk). The 18-in H entered service during 1919, 4 were built, having been designed to go on the rail mounting of the 14-inch Gun (another example of smaller calibre Gun & larger calibre How pairing). In the event only one was ever mounted on the rail mounting, it occasionally fired at Larkhill in the interwar period. It was planned for deployment to NWE post invasion (as part of a super-heavy railway regiment), but in the event was not required and never fire operationally in WW2 (range too short to cross the channel, totally unsuitable for coast defence). One barrel went to Shoeburyness between the wars it was mounted on the proof mounting (which had presumably been used to proof fire all four barrels built), it was used for trials with various projectiles, including bombs. The existing equipment belongs at Larkhill, but they've taken to loaning it out. A long range 18-inch Gun was developed at army instigation in WW1, however by 1918 the army had lost interest and the three guns built were transferred to RN who fitted them to the General Wolfe class monitors. Incidently there's never been a Rapier compound at Woolwich. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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