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Contributor :
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Location :
USA
Aberdeen, MD
Aberdeen Proving Ground - Ordnance Museum
Coordinates :
Lat : 39.49000 / Long : -76.14120
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General comments on this surviving gun :
This extraordinary weapon used to be part of the rich collections of the Aberdeen Proving Ground Ordnance Museum, MD, in an increasingly poor condition. It has been nicely restored when transferred to Fort Sill
Identical items in the same location :
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Items covered by this file :
1
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Historic context :
With the entry of the USA into the war and the gradual arrival of its large numbers of troops on the Western Front, the Allies devised plans for a future final offensive. Anticipating a resumption of the war of movement after the breakthrough, but also the likely existence of powerful enemy entrenchments, France wanted to equip itself with powerful and highly mobile heavy artillery. The range of the new 155 GPF gun was deemed insufficient for these missions, so in May 1917 Lieutenant-Colonel Filloux of the Puteaux arsenals proposed fitting the heaviest tube it could support to the gun's revolutionary twin-arrow mount. He designed a 194 mm tube with a length of 33.5 calibres, which was to be re-bored to 220 mm after wear and tear.
However, the weight of this piece (16,000 kg) meant that it had to be split into two carriages (8,000 kg and 10,500 kg) for transport, significantly reducing its mobility. None of the 150 pieces of this 194 GPF on tractors that began production in April 1918 at the Puteaux arsenals were produced before the end of the conflict. This weapon was never put into service in this configuration.
However, France, inspired by the more or less convincing demonstration of the relative effectiveness of British tracked vehicles for moving around the battlefields, also wanted to equip itself with heavy artillery capable of moving forward over any terrain. In 1917, it therefore began studying tracked chassis capable of transporting tubes of all calibres.
At the forefront of this research, the colonel Rimailho from Saint Chamond company was able to impose its concept with two separate carriages, the "self-propelled tracked front end" carrying ammunition and a generator set, and providing the power for the movement of the "towed tracked carriage" carrying the tube. The production programme called for 155, 194, 220 and 280 tubes to be fitted to these devices for a total order of 500 weapons, but the end of the war meant that this programme was scaled back, with only 194 GPF and 280 TR Schneider tubes being used.
The first of the 50 pieces of 194 GPF sur affût chenillé St Chamond ordered in 1918 was not ready before June 1919. This equipment, proving a mediocre mobility, was still in service in the French Army in June 1940, with 49 pieces of 194 and 26 of 280mm.
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Technical data :
- Complete description : 194mm Grand Puissance Filloux on Saint Chamond tracks carriage
- Design year : 1918
- Calibre : 194.00 mm
- Weight in firing position : 29 600 kg (tracked towed carriage alone, in position)
- Weight for transportation : 56 000 kg including the self-propelled tracked front end 26 500 kg
- Tube length in calibres : 26.50 (grooved length only = total length 33.5 calibers)
- Grooves : 60 (constant angle 7 degrees)
- Projectile weight : 81 kg / 84 kg selon l'obus
- Initial speed : 700 m/s
- Fire rate : 1 round / min
- Range : 18000 m
- Elevation range : 0 to +36 degrees
- Direction range : 360 degrees (rotation of the tracked carriage)
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