Railroad model, 1916. Marinegeschüss_wird_zum_Schuss_eingestellt

The Canon de 164 mm Modèle 1893 was a medium-caliber

naval gun Naval artillery is artillery mounted on a warship, originally used only for naval warfare and then subsequently used for naval gunfire support, shore bombardment and anti-aircraft roles. The term generally refers to tube-launched projectile-firi ...

used as the secondary armament of a number of French

pre-dreadnoughts Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built between the mid- to late- 1880s and 1905, before the launch of in 1906. The pre-dreadnought ships replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s. Built from steel, prot ...

and armoured cruisers during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. It was used as

railway artillery A railway gun, also called a railroad gun, is a large artillery piece, often surplus naval artillery, mounted on, transported by, and fired from a specially designed railway wagon. Many countries have built railway guns, but the best-known are ...

in both World Wars and as coastal artillery in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Description

The 45

caliber In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge (firearms) , bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the f ...

Canon de 164 mm Modèle 1893 gun was a typical built-up French heavy gun of its period. It used a Welin interrupted-screw breech and bagged propellant with a

de Bange Charles Ragon de Bange (17 October 1833 – 9 July 1914) was a French artillery officer and Polytechnician. He invented the first effective obturator system for breech-loading artillery, which remains in use. He also designed a system of field g ...

obturator to get a good gas seal during firing. It was replaced by the Mle 1893/96 gun which used a plastic seal for the obturator, differed in the construction of the gun, had a slightly longer barrel of 46.6

calibers In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the finished bore matc ...

and the newer gun was able to fire a new HE shell further than that used by the older gun.

Naval mounts

The Mle 1893 and 1893/96 guns were mounted in

casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which artillery, guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to Ancient history, antiquity, th ...

d pivot mounts with the ability to depress to -10° and elevate to +25°. The guns fired shells at a muzzle velocity of to a maximum range of . The guns were also installed in single and twin-gun turrets, although data for the turrets is unavailable.

Naval service

The Mle 1893 was mounted on

armored cruiser The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship and fast eno ...

s and

pre-dreadnought battleship Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built between the mid- to late- 1880s and 1905, before the launch of in 1906. The pre-dreadnought ships replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s. Built from steel, prote ...

s including: * Dupleix-class - The primary armament of this class of three armored cruisers consisted of two, Mle 1893 guns, in double turrets, fore and aft. * Gloire-class - The secondary armament of this class of five armored cruisers consisted of four, Mle 1893 guns, in single casemates, fore and aft. There were also four guns in single turrets in the center of the ship. * Gueydon-class - The secondary armament of this class of three armored cruisers consisted of eight, Mle 1893 guns, in single casemates, along the ships centerline. * Léon Gambetta-class - The secondary armament of this class of three armored cruisers consisted of four, Mle 1893 guns, in single casemates, fore and aft. There were also twelve guns in six double turrets in the center of the ship. * République-class - The secondary armament of this class of two pre-dreadnought battleships consisted of eight, Mle 1893 guns, in single casemates, along each side There were also twelve guns in six double turrets in the center of the ship.

Railroad gun

The French placed a number of spare Mle 1893 guns on four-axle railroad carriages in 1915 to use as mobile heavy artillery under the designation Canon de 164 modèle 1893/96 TAZ. The mount with its gun weighed and was long. It could traverse a full 360° if its outriggers, two per side, were deployed. Photographic evidence shows that some mounts had built-up cargo compartments at both ends of the mount, which limited the gun's firing arc to approximately 90° on each side. It had a circular platform for the crew that had to be folded up for travel. Some guns were fitted with

gun shield A U.S. Marine manning an M240 machine gun equipped with a gun shield A gun shield is a flat (or sometimes curved) piece of armor designed to be mounted on a crew-served weapon such as a machine gun, automatic grenade launcher, or artillery piece ...

s. It shared its railroad carriage with the 164 mm Mle 1893/96 M and the Canon de 19 modèle 1870/93 TAZ.Kosar, p. 213 The gun could elevate to a maximum of 36°, but the minimum firing angle was 10°. It could fire a

high-explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...

shell at a velocity of to a range of or a

armour-piercing Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate either body armour or vehicle armour. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armour carried on many warsh ...

shell at a velocity of to a range of . A number of Mle 1893/96 M guns were fitted to the same railroad carriage as the older model in 1917, although it only weighed . The gun could elevate between +3° and 40°, but retained the same minimum firing elevation of 10°. It could use the same ammunition as the older guns, but could also fire a new

shell fitted with a

ballistic cap Armour-piercing, capped, ballistic capped (APCBC) is a type of configuration for armour-piercing ammunition introduced in the 1930s to improve the armour-piercing capabilities of both naval and anti-tank guns. The configuration consists of an ar ...

at a velocity of to a range of . Eight of these railroad guns remained in French service after the end of World War I and at least four were captured by the Germans and given the designation ''16 cm Kanone (E.) 453(f)'' although what use was made of them, if any, is unknown.

Coastal gun

The Germans used 32 of the Mle 1893/96 in coast-defence batteries in France as the ''KM 93/96(f)'', as well as 18 of the ''Mle 1893'' with the designation of SKL/45(f), although it is unknown how many, if any, were simply taken over from existing French coast-defence positions or were newly emplaced by them.

Notes

References

* * Hogg, Ian V. ''Allied Artillery of World War One''. Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire: Crowood Press, 1998 * Kosar, Franz. ''Eisenbahngeschütz der Welt''. Stuttgart: Motorbook, 1999

External links

PIECES MOYENNES : 120 à 239

* http://octant.u-bourgogne.fr/portail/documentsafb///PLANS/01PL05586/PDF/01PL05586.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Canon De 164 Mm Modele 1893 Naval guns of France 164 mm artillery