14"/50 Caliber Railway Gun - Mark II Navy Railway Mount

Mark II Navy Railway Mount

The new Mark II gun car developed during 1918 carried the same 14"/50 caliber Mk 4 gun but addressed the problem areas : it dispensed with the armoured gun house, with gunners working in the open; the weight was more evenly spread over 20 axles instead of 12; the French system of rolling recoil was adopted, in which the gun was mounted higher to allow full recoil at maximum elevation without striking the ground and the car rolled back 30–40 feet after firing to absorb remaining recoil. This made it possible to fire the gun along any part of its curved track without any prior preparation, with elevation up to 40°. After firing the gun car used a winch mounted at the front, connected to a strong point in the ground in front, to pull itself back to its firing position. World War I ended before Mk II entered service, and it was used for coastal defense in the US.

Read more about this topic:  14"/50 Caliber Railway Gun

Famous quotes containing the words mark, navy, railway and/or mount:

    And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
    Bible: New Testament, Mark 4:4.

    The Navy is the asylum for the perverse, the home of the unfortunate. Here the sons of adversity meet the children of calamity, and here the children of calamity meet the offspring of sin.
    Herman Melville (1819–1891)

    Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.
    Angela Carter (1940–1992)

    Nixon is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump for a speech on conservation.
    Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965)