Download Artpaper |
Krupp's K5 series were consistent in mounting a 21.5 metres (71 ft) long gun barrel in a fixed mounting with only vertical elevation of the weapon. This gondola was then mounted on a pair of 12-wheel bogies designed to be operated on commercial and military rails
built to German standards. This mounting permitted only two degrees of
horizontal traverse. The carriage had to be aligned on the rails first,
with only minimal fine leveling capable once halted. Hence the gun could
only fire at targets tangential to an existing railway track.
To track targets needing greater traverse either a curved length of
railway was used with the gun shunted backwards or forwards to aim; a
cross-track was laid with the front bogie turned perpendicular to the
rest of the gun and moved up and down the cross-track to train the
weapon; or for 360 degree traverse, the so-called "Vögele Turntable"
could be constructed, consisting of a raised rail section (the "firing
bed") carrying the gun, running on a circular track with a central jack
to raise the gun during traverse and to take some of the enormous
weight.
No comments:
Post a Comment