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SURVIVING GUN FILE (# 871)

Canon de 155mm L Mle 1918

USA
Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD
Ordnance Museum

Coordinates : Lat : 39.49150 / Long : -76.14220

General comments on this surviving gun :

The collections of the Aberdeen Proving Ground have been spread on different US locations. I do not know where this gun currently is

Identical items in the same location : 1
Items covered by this file : 1

This gun has been heavily modified by the US army for experiments with special shells

Particulalrly, the tube has been elongated and its extremitu equipped with sensors, the caliber set back to 105 mm, and the breech drilled with vents !

This gun has been built in 1918 in USA, by Bethlehem Steel

Historic and technical information



France	Canon de 155mm L Mle 1918				Heavy artillery

Contributor : Bernard Plumier http://www.passioncompassion1418.com Lien vers post du blog		Location : USA Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD Ordnance Museum Coordinates : Lat : 39.49150 / Long : -76.14220		General comments on this surviving gun : The collections of the Aberdeen Proving Ground have been spread on different US locations. I do not know where this gun currently is Identical items in the same location : 1 Items covered by this file : 1


This gun has been heavily modified by the US army for experiments with special shells		Particulalrly, the tube has been elongated and its extremitu equipped with sensors, the caliber set back to 105 mm, and the breech drilled with vents !		This gun has been built in 1918 in USA, by Bethlehem Steel

Historic and technical information
Denomination : 155 L Mle 1918 Schneider			Origin : ( Schneider)
Historic context : The very good 155 Long Mle 1917 Schneider heavy field gun suffered from an important issue : its big 8700 kg weight. This characteristic made it unable to be transported in one single load by horses, and its transport in two separate loads limited the speed of its setting up in position. Its tranport by mechanical towing, for which it was not optimised, also had to be done in two separate loads, or exceptionally in one single load but only for very short distances. On its side, the modern 155 GPF, although even heavier, could be towed mechanically in one single load, but its fabrication was almost entirely dedicated to the US Army. Therefore, the Creusot plants developped a new version of the 155 mm long gun, considerably lightened (5100 kg !), based on the old 155 de Bange Mle 1877 shortened of 11 cm and equipped with a Schneider breech with a heavy counter-weight, mounted on a 155 C Mle 1917 carriage without shield. The weight loss and the better mobility were unhopefully obtained to the detriment of the range that was set back to the one of the 155 L Mle 1877/1914 Schneider. The result named 'canon de 155 L Mle 1918 Schneider, that could be towed in one single load by a 10 horses group, was presented in April 1918 and the order was made to Schneider immediately. The fisrt 4 guns just had been delivered to the armies when the armistice came in November 1918, so that nons of these guns participated to the operations.			Technical data : Complete description : *155mm Mle 1918 Long gun Schneider* Design year : 1918 Calibre : 155.00 mm Weight in firing position : 5100 kg Weight for transportation : 5565 kg, one single load Tube length in calibres : 19.74 (rifled part only), 26.3 total length Grooves : 48 to the right, progressive angle (end at 7 degrees) for tube 1877, constant angle 7 degrees for tube 1877/1916 Projectile weight : 40.8 kg à 43.5 kg Initial speed : 561 m/s at full charge Fire rate : 2 rounds / minute Range : 13600 m Elevation range : +1.15 à +43.35 degrees Direction range : 6 degrees range
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