Krupp K5

Infobox Weapon


caption= Krupp K5 railway gun
origin= Nazi Germany
type= Railway Artillery
is_ranged=
is_bladed=
is_explosive=
is_artillery=yes
is_vehicle=
is_missile=
is_UK=
service=
used_by= Wehrmacht
wars= World War II
designer=
design_date=
manufacturer=Krupp
unit_cost=
production_date=
number=25
variants=
spec_label=
weight= 218 t
length= 30 m (98 ft) travel mode
32 m (105 ft) firing mode
part_length= 76.1 calibres; 21.539 m (70.66 ft)
width=
height=
diameter=
crew=
cartridge=255 kg (562 lbs)
caliber= 283 mm (11 in)
action=
rate= 15 rounds per hour
velocity= 1,120 m/s (3,675 ft/s)
range=
max_range= 61 km (38 mi)
feed=
sights=
breech=
recoil=
carriage=
elevation= +50°
traverse=1°

The Krupp K5 was a heavy railway gun used by Germany through World War II.

Description

The Krupp K5 series all were consistent in mounting a 21.5 m long gun barrel in a box mounting. This mounting 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 did not permit full gun traverse, but instead the carriage had to be aligned on the rails first, with only minimal fine levelling capable once halted.

The main barrel of the K5 is 283 mm in calibre, and is rifled with twelve 7 mm grooves. These were originally 10 mm deep, but were shallowed to rectify cracking problems.

History

The K5 was the result of a crash program launched in the 1930s to develop a force of railway guns to support the Wehrmacht by 1939. K5 development began in 1934 with first testing following in 1936. Initial tests were done with a 150 mm barrel under the designation K5M.

Production led to eight guns being in service for the Invasion of France, although problems were encountered with barrel splitting and rectified with changes to the rifling. The guns were then reliable until the end of the war, under the designation K5 Tiefzug 7 mm. Three of them were installed on the English Channel coast to target British shipping in the Channel, and proved successful at this task.

Towards the end of the war, development was done to allow the K5 to fire rocket-assisted projectiles to increase range. Successful implementation was done for firing these from the K5Vz.

A final experiment was to bore out two of the weapons to 310 mm smoothbore to allow firing of the Peenemünder Pfeilgeschosse arrow shells. The two modified weapons were designated K5 Glatt.

Several other proposals were made to modify or create new models of the K5 which never saw production. In particular, there were a number of plans for a model which could leave the railway by use of specially modified Tiger II tank chassis which would support the mounting box in much the same manner as the railway weapon's two bogies. This project was finally ended by the capitulation of Germany.

Anzio Annie

"Anzio Annie" and "Anzio Express" was the name used by the Allies for a pair of German K5(E) railroad guns that shelled the Anzio beachhead during World War II. The Germans named them "Robert" and "Leopold".

The guns were discovered on a railroad siding in the town of Civitavecchia, on 7 June 1944, shortly after the allies occupied Rome. [United States Army in World War II; The Ordnance Department, On Beachhead and Battlefront; p200; 17 June 1966; Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 67-60000; Available online at http://www.army.mil/CMH/books/wwii/Beachhd_Btlefrnt/] "Robert" had been partially destroyed by the gun crew before they surrendered and "Leopold" was also damaged but not as badly. Both guns were shipped to the U.S. Aberdeen Proving Ground, (Aberdeen, Maryland) where they underwent tests. One complete K5 was made from the two damaged ones, and "Leopold" remains on display to this day at the United States Army Ordnance Museum located on the Aberdeen grounds.

A second surviving gun can be seen at the site of Battery Todt in northern France.Fact|date=January 2008

Notes and References

;Notes;References
*

External links

* [http://www.ordmusfound.org/leopold.html US Army Ordnance Museum info]
* [http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-weapons/anzio_annie.htm Anzio Annie info at Digger History]
* [http://sonicbomb.com/dmv.php?vid=x41cir&id=498&ttitle=Anzio%20Annie Krupp K5 Video]

See also

* Big Bertha (Howitzer)
* Paris Gun