Rapid fire cannon model Baranowski

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rapid fire cannon model Baranowski


63.5 mm cannon model Baranowski

General Information
Military designation: 2,5-дюймовая конная пушка Барановского
Manufacturer country: Russian Empire 1914Russian Empire Russia
Development year: 1874
Start of production: 1875
Number of pieces: 194 (without test sample)
Weapon Category: cannon
Technical specifications
Pipe length: 1,260 m / 18.9 caliber
Caliber :

63.5 mm

Number of trains : 20th
Cadence : 5 rounds / min
Furnishing
Closure Type : Screw lock
Charging principle: Grenade cartridge

The rapid-fire cannon model Baranowski ( Russian Скорострельная пушка Барановского ) is a series of gun types developed by the Russian designer Vladimir Stepanowitsch Baranowski (Владимир Степанович). These cannons were used in various designs by the artillery of the Imperial Russian Army , but also by the Imperial Russian Navy . The caliber of the guns was 2.5 inches or 63.5 mm.

history

Vladimir Stepanovich Baranovsky

In the second half of the 19th century, artillery had developed technically. From around 1850 Giovanni Cavalli in Sweden and William George Armstrong in the United Kingdom developed breech-loading rifled guns. Such constructions promised a longer firing range as well as improved penetration performance and accuracy. The development of slow-burning propellants, which were used instead of black powder , also contributed to an increase in the performance of the guns. At the same time, the development of cartridge ammunition has made it possible to reduce the time for reloading and thus increase the rate. However, many problems had to be solved in the construction of such weapons. One of these problems has been the development of a gas tight seal. The locking constructions were expensive, complicated to operate and the gas tightness could only be ensured by special ammunition, aids and a special tube construction. As developed by Armstrong guns of the RBL Series (English: RBL - Rifle Breech Loading, German: drawn breech-loading ) complex and expensive were in manufacturing and maintenance but hardly showed, compared with the muzzle-loading guns advantages, the Royal Navy was the preparation of such guns from ceased in the 1860s and went back to muzzle-loading guns, but with rifled barrel (English: RML - Rifle Muzzle Loading, German: rifled muzzle-loader ). In other countries, such as Germany, France and Russia, however, they continued to work intensively on the development of usable types of closure. From the mid-1860s onwards, Russia had procured various types of artillery from Krupp that were equipped with the prismatic wedge lock developed by Krupp . Ultimately, however, the screw closure based on the French model also caught on in Russia . It was safe and easier to manufacture. Another problem was pipe return. As long as no usable tube brakes were available, the guns ran or jumped back after each shot due to the recoil. However, given the increased performance of the guns, this was no longer acceptable, as the barrel return reached too high values ​​due to increased muzzle velocity and bullet weights. With the Vavasseur slideway or Elswick mounting , constructions have been developed to solve this problem. However, these constructions were large, heavy and expensive and practically unusable for small-caliber guns such as those used in field artillery .

In 1872, two test samples of a rapid-fire cannon with a caliber of 1.5 inches were manufactured in the Russian plant of the Nobel company in Saint Petersburg . Baranowski, who had been with Nobel since 1867 and was primarily concerned with the further development of the Gatling cannon , developed a version with a caliber of 2 inches with a cylinder lock on his own account. The cannon was designed to fire grenade cartridges . On the basis of this construction, the arsenal in St. Petersburg developed a weapon with a tube made of copper, which was reinforced by a shrunk-on steel jacket. Comparative shooting on January 11, 1875 showed the superiority of the steel tube over the construction with a gun barrel made of copper. In the same year Baranowski ordered a few copies of his design in Karlsruhe , but now with a caliber of 2.5 inches. In the fall of that year, this weapon was compared with the 3-inch cannon developed by the Obukhov works . The tests must have been successful, because the first horse-drawn battery was used in the Russo-Turkish War in September 1877 . On April 15, 1878, the Naval Office of the Imperial Russian Navy ordered a total of ten guns. Officially, however, the cannon was not added to the armament until 1882. From 1908, the weapon was initially taken out of service by the fleet and then also by the artillery of the army.

construction

Tube and cap

63.5 mm cannon model Baranowski, the barrel return spring can be clearly seen under the top mount
63.5 mm cannon, model Baranowski, bolt construction and elevation drive

Baranowski combined a number of elements in its construction that made it the world's first rapid-fire cannon based on the classic (and still used) scheme. So he designed a recoilless mount. The recoil of the gun barrel was absorbed by a hydraulic barrel brake, the return device worked with return springs. A screw lock with a centrally mounted firing pin was used as the lock . The firing pin is cocked when the bolt is closed. The breech had a safety device that prevented firing if the breech was not fully closed. By means of a mechanism, the gun could be quickly moved from the marching position to the firing position and vice versa. Grenade cartridges were fired, and the cartridge case was automatically ejected after the shot. The cannons were equipped with a Kaminski (Каминский) model 1872 optical sight system with a double magnification.

The steel gun barrel was connected by pins to a jacket barrel , which was shrunk on when hot and was under tension . The gun barrel's trains had a constant gradient. The elevation drive was located between the cheeks of the lower mount and consisted of a threaded rod. For faster and coarse straightening, the threaded rod could be turned using a handwheel, which was connected to the threaded rod via a bevel gear .

Mount

The carriage had a two-part central spar, both parts were connected by hinges and bolts. At the end of the carriage there were cylindrical earth spurs with conical tips on which support plates could be attached if necessary. The limber was similar to that of the Russian 3-pounder cannon.

ammunition

Two types of projectiles were used for the cannon:

  • An explosive grenade made of cast iron with a projectile weight of 0.465 kg and a length of 3.5 calibers. The grenade was filled with 72.5 g of explosives and also had guide rings made of cast iron . A Baranowski impact fuse was used here.
  • A shrapnel grenade with a projectile weight of 0.465 kg and a length of 3.5 calibers. The grenade was filled with 30 g of explosives and 88 balls, each weighing 10.7 g and a diameter of 12.7 mm, made of cast iron and had guide rings made of copper. A simple time fuse with a maximum delay of ten seconds was used here.

Grapeshots were not provided for the cannon. If necessary, shrapnel grenades were used with a delay time of the detonator reduced to 0.1 seconds.

The cartridge consisted of an iron case with a tin coating. The ammunition box held four explosive shells and four shrapnel.

Modifications

Drawn gun

The first battery with two guns was used on the Russian-Turkish front from September 1877. In the same year it was decided to build an experimental battery with six guns. The weapons for this battery were delivered in the spring of 1878, but there was no mass introduction of the gun into the Russian army.

Mountain gun

Baranowski developed a mountain gun based on the drawn cannon . The main features of the construction have been adopted. Baranowski also had this weapon manufactured in Berger's factory at his own expense. On January 20, 1878, he left the weapon, made in Germany, to the Artillery Headquarters for a price of 1200 rubles . In a comparison shooting with the 7.5 cm mountain cannon developed by Krupp, it was found that the accuracy of Baranowski's design was significantly higher. When it came to the effect on the target, both cannons were approximately the same when HE shells were fired, while the effect of the Krupp cannon was slightly better when shrapnel was used. A commission spoke out in favor of the procurement of Baranowski's construction.

On May 9, 1878, a total of forty mountain guns were ordered in Germany. Four batteries should be equipped with it. The weapons were delivered by February 1879 and accepted by the arms office by the middle of the year.

However, there were problems with the development of a suitable carriage. At the beginning of 1878, Baranowski presented a mount that he had designed that could not be dismantled. However, tests showed that it was too long and that the pack animals were too restless when carrying the weapon. However, a shorter mount based on the same design principles tipped over when fired. In November 1878 Baranowski had completed a folding mount made of Bessemerstahl . It was the first foldable carriage construction in Europe. But this design was not completely convincing during testing either. After that, Duchesne and Engelhardt constructed more mounts. At the end of 1879, a cousin Baranowski finally presented a folding construction that successfully passed all tests. The weapons office refused to purchase because of the high production costs and the associated high price. A cheaper variant was developed by the engineer Kröll. At the beginning of 1880, however, the artillery committee changed the requirements for the weapon and demanded a larger elevation range. Kröll then developed three further variants of its design. While the first variant failed during testing, the other two models successfully ran through it.

After the mount was put into production, the mountain gun was introduced into the Russian army. A total of five batteries were equipped with the cannon:

  • 5th battery of the 38th Artillery Brigade (8 guns)
  • 7th Battery of the Turkmen Artillery Brigade (8 guns)
  • 3rd battery of the Far Eastern Siberian Artillery Brigade (8 guns)
  • 1st battery of the Far Eastern Siberian Artillery Brigade (4 guns)
  • 2. Battery of the Far East Siberian Artillery Brigade (4 guns).

Landing gun

After Grand Duke General-Admiral Konstantin Nikolajewitsch Romanov had inspected a horse-drawn cannon on December 28, 1876 , he ordered a cannon to be placed on a naval gun on a trial basis.

The carriage consisted of a platform that was attached to the deck of the ship with three bolts. The trunnions were 1068 mm above the deck. In order to be able to place the cannon on a wheel carriage for use on land, only one bolt had to be loosened. When using the wheel carriage, the trunnion was 864 mm above the surface. The cannon with the wheel mount was used on sloops . To do this, the wheels were removed from the axles and the axle stumps were placed in a holder that was attached to the railing on both sides . The rear end of the carriage was fixed with a rope. The cannon fired in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the boat.

On board, the gun crew consisted of four men; when deployed on land, one non-commissioned officer, two gunners and 16 auxiliaries. Eight men were needed to move the cannon on the carriage or a single-axle cart and to transport the ammunition. Each landing group should have two guns and a cart.

The first ten cannons were ordered by the Naval Office on April 25, 1878, although the weapon was not officially introduced until 1882. In 1889, 60 cannons were introduced into the Navy, and in 1901 a total of 125 of 148 weapons were still in use. The cannons used in the navy all came from Russian production, the mounts from the works of the Baranowski brothers and the metal works in St. Petersburg.

The weapon was used on many warships built at the time, from gunboats to armored ships :

commitment

Drawn gun and mountain gun

In the 1880s, the leadership of the Russian artillery was dominated by largely conservative ideas and was skeptical of innovations. In particular, the barrel brake, which worked parallel to the barrel axis and thereby enabled constant compensation of the recoil forces regardless of the barrel elevation, and the use of grenade cartridges aroused the distrust of the responsible authorities. However, precisely these two innovations were essential elements of modern rapid-fire cannons and have been preserved up to the present day. As early as 1885, the installed batteries were converted to the 2.5-inch model 1883 cannon (2.5-дюймовыми пушками образца 1883 г.) and the rapid-fire cannons model Baranowski were stored. In 1891 the equipping of the river steamers operating on the Amur and Amur-Darja was considered, but ultimately rejected. As of November 28, 1897, six drawn cannons were stored in Saint Petersburg, plus forty mountain guns. A total of 72 mounts were available for the mountain guns. In November 1897, the artillery committee classified the cannons as unsuitable equipment and suggested that they be retired . One copy of the drawn and one of the mountain cannons was to be preserved for museum purposes. Apparently, however, not all weapons were discarded. Some cannons were used as anti-aircraft guns in the sea ​​fortress of Emperor Peter the Great . Some weapons were still available in the camps after the civil war. On August 31, 1923, the remaining weapons were finally classified in the 3rd category ("without any combat value").

Landing gun

Until the Russo-Japanese War, the guns were practically not used. Only during the Boxer Rebellion did a company of sailors use the cannon to successfully defend the Russian embassy in Beijing . In 1904/05 the cannons were used both on land and on ships, as well as in the coastal defense of the commanders' islands . However, the use showed the poor effectiveness of the weapon. In 1907 the fleet began to be retired. The Naval Office suggested handing over the weapons to the army, but the Artillery Headquarters firmly rejected this suggestion. Therefore the cannons were melted down.

Influence on the development of artillery

Baranowski's development was ahead of its time. It was not until the 1880s that the design principles he applied became common knowledge in the development of rapid-fire cannons. However, since similar constructive developments were also pursued in other countries at that time and, in addition, many armies also procured weapons from foreign companies, a direct influence of Baranowski's construction on the development of artillery cannot be proven.

The 3-inch rapid-fire cannon Model 1902 (76-мм дивизионная пушка образца 1902 года) from the Putilov works was entirely based on the principles developed by Baranowski. The weapon was superior to the French Canon de 75 mle 1897 and the German 7.7 cm field cannon 96 and remained in service for over 30 years.

However, Baranowski's cannons were obsolete by the 1880s. Together with the suspicious attitude of the Russian military leadership, this meant that only a few guns were built that were only used for a short time.

literature

  • В. Г. Маликов: Скорострелки Барановского , "Техника-Молодежи" №2 / 1986 (Russian)

Web links

Commons : Armata Baranowskiego  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ in the following the place names customary in Russia at the time or their transcription are used
  2. ↑ see Malikow
  3. ↑ Historically correct designation for the period described. In military parlance in Germany, handguns traditionally have a barrel, guns have a barrel. This terminology was abandoned from 1945 and only in the Bundeswehr, where the barrel of a gun is also referred to as a barrel.
  4. ↑ a b see Schirokorad
  5. ↑ see Malikow and Schirokorad