Tourelle Galopin de 155 mm L modèle 1890

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Gun well in Fort d'Arches

Tourelle Galopin de 155 mm L modèle 1890 was the name of a French armored tank turret, which was equipped with two cannons of the Canon de 155 mm L modèle 1877 cannon . It was part of the equipping of various forts of the Système Séré de Rivières at the end of the 19th century. This tower model was already retractable, the gun well reinforced with concrete.

concept

The idea of ​​the armored turrets went back to the British Commander Cowper Phipps Coles during the Crimean War in 1855 . He had the idea to mount naval artillery in armored rotating towers on warships. His idea was then realized in the Royal Navy . After a test attempt in 1861 with the floating battery HMS Trusty , various ships of the Royal Navy were equipped with it, such as the HMS Prince Albert in 1864 and the Captain in 1869. In the US Navy in 1862 , John Ericsson adopted the concept for the USS Monitor .

In France, the "Commission des cuirassements" carried out tests on the shooting range near Gâvres from 1874 to 1878 . As early as 1876, a model made of steel was accepted which was named after the head of the commission, the Capitaine Henri-Louis-Philippe Mougin, and which was armed with two barrels of the 155 mm L modèle 1877 cannon. As part of the construction of the Système Séré de Rivières , 25 copies were ordered between 1879 and 1887. 21 of the towers were supplied by the Compagnie des forges de Châtillon-Commentry et Neuves-Maisons in Saint-Chamond and four towers by the Schneider company in Creusot . The price per copy was 205,000 francs .

In the 1880s, with the introduction of explosive shells (referred to in France as the “Crise de l'obus-torpille”), the brick fortifications of the “Système Séré de Rivières” suddenly became almost unusable. The solution was to strengthen the walls with concrete coverings and to replace the free-standing turrets "Mougin" with retractable armored turrets. However, the procurement costs for z. For example, the “Tourelle Galopin de 155 mm L modèle 1890” with 850,000 francs four times as high as for the “Mougin” turrets.

First operational and firing tests were carried out with three tower types on the grounds of the Camp de Châlons military training area:

All towers had problems with ventilation, because of the hit resistance, steel was preferred in the future, as cast iron tends to crack when hit directly. The retractable tower proved to be more resistant (the “Compagnie des forges et aciéries” pattern was penetrated by a 29 cm shell). The model from Fives-Lille was extremely prone to failure, there were failures in the area of ​​the hydraulic pistons, the counterweights and the steam engine. In addition, it was very slow in the vertical movement with 14 seconds.

In the end, none of the samples were accepted, after the towers had been repaired, the model of the “Compagnie des forges et aciéries de la marine et d'Homécourt” was built in Fort du Saint-Michel (Toul) , the model of the “Compagnie des forges de Châtillon-Commentry et Neuves-Maisons ”in Fort de Lucey and the model of“ Fives-Lille ”in Fort de Souville .

In 1889, the captain in the technical pioneer section, Alfred Galopin , developed a new tower model, which took into account the findings from the experiments at Camp de Châlons. This system was more resilient and a vertical lift could be completed in 4½ seconds. This design was adopted on July 15, 1890. Because of the high costs, only five copies were initially ordered for the blocking forts in the east from Schneider et Cie in Creusot .

  • Gun turret of the Battery de l'Éperon

  • Inside the gun casemate

  • The two balancing arms

  • One of the counterweights

description

The towers were armed with the tubes of the Canon de 155 mm L modèle 1877 . These were 4.20 m long, the tower had an inner diameter of 5.55 m. The weighing carriage was equipped with a hydraulic return brake, the height adjustment range was between −2 ° 30 ′ and + 22 °. The cannon could fire 40 kg grenades, the maximum range was 7.5 km. The tower walls consisted of four 45 cm thick steel shells that formed a cylinder open at the top. The ceiling consisted of a 38 cm thick plate made of steel. The inside of the tower was lined with a 1.5 cm thick skin made of mild steel to protect against splintering. The gun well had a curved steel armor that was embedded in a concrete socket. The movable mass was 150 tons, which was balanced by two opposing counterweights on lever arms. The lifting movement was carried out with an electric motor via a winch. Manual operation required six men to operate.

The interior of the tower extended over three floors, at the top the gun room with the mounts and two cannons, including two elevators for transporting the ammunition and at the bottom the counterweights with the lever arms, the mechanism for rotating the tower and a depot of ready-to-use ammunition. The tower crew consisted of a total of 17 men.

List of towers

Only 5 copies were installed between 1891 and 1897, 12 more were planned. Only forts in eastern France were equipped with it.

fortress Cont Running name Whereabouts
Luneville Fort de Manonviller
( coordinates )		 A. Destroyed and scrapped in 1914
Luneville Fort de Manonviller B. Destroyed and scrapped in 1914
Nancy Battery de l'Éperon
( coordinates )		 C. still in place
Nancy Fort de Pont-Saint-Vincent
( coordinates )		 D. Scrapped in 1942
Epinal Fort d'Arches
( coordinates )		 E. Scrapped in 1942

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ for example: "Armor Equipment Commission", responsible for the armored parts of the fortifications
  2. ↑ Canon de 155mm L Mle 1877 de tourelle. In: Passion & Compassion 1914–1918
  3. ↑ La tourelle Galopin. Battery de l'Éperon de Frouard. In: Pompey-C-nous
  4. ↑ by the German Wehrmacht