8 inch M1885 cannon

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8 inch M1885 cannon


8-inch M1885 cannon of Admiral Nakhimov , recovered from the Japanese and exhibited in the museum

General Information
Military designation: 8-дюймовая пушка обр. 1885 г
Manufacturer country: Russian Empire 1914Russian Empire Russia
Developer / Manufacturer: Obukhov works
Development year: 1885
Production time: 1886 to 1887
Number of pieces: 29
Weapon Category: cannon
Technical specifications
Pipe length: 7.112 m
Caliber :

203 mm

Number of trains : 48
Elevation range: -5 / + 15 degrees
Side straightening area: 200
Furnishing
Closure Type : hydraulic wedge lock
Charging principle: Grenade and propellant bag

The 8-inch M1885 cannon (Russian: 8-дюймовая пушка обр. 1885 г, after switching to the metric system : 203-мм орудие обр. 1885 г.) was a naval gun of the Imperial Russian Navy . It was also used as a coastal gun.

history

The guns were designed by Brink , the leading Russian designer of heavy naval guns at the time. They were primarily used on protected cruisers and armored cruisers as well as gunboats of the Imperial Russian Navy . The first cannons were produced in 1886. A total of 29 guns had been ordered by 1887. In 1904/05, most of these weapons on the ships of the Russian fleet were replaced or the obsolete ships were decommissioned. In 1914 the Russian Navy no longer had an 8-inch M1885 cannon on ships or boats. The decommissioned guns were handed over to the army and used in various coastal fortifications. There they remained in service until the First World War . In 1904/05 two of the cannons were placed in the Vladivostok fortifications . At the end of 1916 / beginning of 1917 two more cannons reached Sevastopol and were positioned in the Kola Bay.

In the Russian fleet, the following ships and boats were armed with the 8-inch M1887 cannon:

  • Cruiser Admiral Nachimow (1885-1904, eight guns in four twin towers)
  • Cruiser Pamjat Asowa (1890, armament removed in 1909, two guns)
  • Cruiser Rurik (1890-1904, four guns)
  • Gunboats of the Korejez class (from 1886 until decommissioning or sinking, two guns for seven boats each)

From 1892 the gun was replaced by the 45 caliber version of the same caliber for new builds.

construction

The cannon consisted of a one-piece tube that was reinforced by three rows of shrunk rings. The prismatic wedge lock was operated hydraulically. The tube had 48 trains and a length of 35 calibers.

At that time, bullets were not yet standardized. Therefore, the weight, mass of explosives and length of the individual manufactured lots differed. Were fired explosive - and armor-piercing shells in two versions. The light grenade weighed 80–90 kg, the heavy 133 kg. The light version was only available as a high explosive grenade, it was filled with 3.86 to 4.14 kg of explosives. The heavy version as a high explosive grenade was filled with 6.5 kg of explosives, as an armor-piercing grenade the explosive mass was 2.66 kg.

A propellant charge of 51 kg of brown black powder was loaded for all types of shell . A muzzle velocity of 633 m / s was achieved with the light shell and 583 m / s with the heavy shell.

With a tube elevation of 6 °, the range with the light shell was 5,310 m. With the tube elevation 16 °, the light grenade could be fired 9,150 m, but the installed turrets did not allow this tube elevation.

On the Admiral Nachimow , the cannon was used in twin towers, on all other ships and boats in individual installation in open barbeds. A barbette weighed 21.4 t. The elevation range for all towers was between −5 ° and + 15 °, the lateral alignment range theoretically at 200 ° in the open barbeds, if it was not limited by the superstructure of the ships. The pipe return was 96.5 cm. Since effective tube brakes were not available at the time, the guns were mounted on a Vavasseur slide . The guns in the open barbeds were stored in a sub- carriage named after the designer Dubrow . This differed from the construction of Vavasseurs only in the attachment of some pieces of equipment. This lower mount weighed 7650 kg. In both cases the lower mount was designed as a central pivot mount.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Barbed setup

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