Canon de 194 GPF

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Canon de 194 GPF
US Army Artillery Museum - 121.jpg
Saint Chamond 194mm GPF affut-chenille at the US Army Artillery Museum at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.
TypeSelf-propelled artillery
Place of originFrance
Service history
In service1920-1942
Used byFrance
Nazi Germany
Italy
WarsWorld War II
Production history
DesignerLouis Filloux
 [fr]
Designed1918
ManufacturerSaint-Chamond
Puteaux
Produced1918-1919
No. built50
Variants19,4 cm Kanone 485/585 (f)
Specifications
Mass29,600 kg (65,300 lb)[1][2]
Barrel length6.57 m (21 ft 7 in) L/42.2[2]
Width2.54 m (8 ft 4 in)[1]
Height7.775 m (25 ft 6 in)[1]
Shell80.86 kg (200 lb)
Caliber194 mm (7.63 in)
Elevation0° to 40°[1]
Traverse55°[2]
Muzzle velocity640 m/s (2,100 ft/s)[2]
725 m/s (2,380 ft/s)[1] (from 1921)
Maximum firing range18,300 m (20,000 yd)[2]
20,800 m (22,700 yd)[1] (from 1921)
Main
armament
194 mm (7.6 in) gun
EnginePanhard SUK4 M2
120 hp (89 kW)
Maximum speed 8-10 km/h (5-6 mp/h)

The Canon de 194 GPF (Grande Puissance Filloux - "High-Power" Filloux) - was the first French tracked self-propelled gun (SPG). Designed at the end of World War I, it was a pioneering weapon with many modern features.

Design[]

The vehicle was designed by colonel  [fr], deputy chief executive officer of the compagnie des forges et aciéries de la marine (Saint-Chamond).[3] The 194 mm gun was a derivative of the 155 mm GPF[4][2] and was designed at Atelier de Construction de Puteaux by Louis Filloux.[1] A prototype was manufactured with a 155 mm gun but a weapon of 194 mm calibre was eventually chosen since tracked self-propelled guns were heavy and expensive vehicles and only the more powerful guns were to be used. Saint-Chamond also designed the Mortier 280 mm TR de Schneider sur affût-chenilles St Chamond. Both SPGs used the same two tracked vehicles, avant-train (lead vehicle) and affut-chenille (gun chassis).[5][4] The lead vehicle carried ammunition and a 120 horsepower (89 kW) Panhard[1][6] SUK4 M2[7][better source needed] electrical generator. Both vehicles were powered by two electric motors,[8] energy being sent to the affut by a flexible electric cable. The gun barrel was displaced at the rear of the chassis when the vehicle had to move.[9] Compared to a contemporary British vehicle, the Gun Carrier Mark I which was a tracked vehicle upon which a field gun was sat, the Canon de 194 was much more advanced; it was driven by only one person,[citation needed] had hydraulic brakes and the gun had automatically adjusting recoil mechanisms[1] and pneumatic recuperators.[citation needed]

Service[]

Production began in April 1918. Two days before the armistice, the vehicle, without its Puteaux gun, was tested at Saint-Chamont plant.[1] By June 1919, Saint-Chamond was still waiting for the delivery of the oscillating mass,[10] a key component manufactured by Puteaux.[11]

During the interwar, they served in an artillery regiment in Valence, alongside the 280 mm SPGs.[9]

36 were still in service at the outbreak of World War II[12] and some were captured by the invading German forces.[9] Surviving vehicles were pressed into Wehrmacht service as the 19.4 cm Kanone 485 (f) auf Selbstfahrlafette.[13][better source needed] At least three of them were used by the Germans in Russia in about 1942.[8] Two were used by the Italians as coastal guns near Rome under the designation Cannone da 194/32.[14]

Germans also reused the guns on new fixed carriages. The 19,4 cm Kanone 485/585 (f) were used for coastal defense in Denmark.[13][better source needed]

The only surviving example can be found at the U.S. Army Artillery Museum at Fort Sill, OK.

Related designs[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j Vauvillier 2007, p. 71.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Hogg 2000, p. 76.
  3. ^ Vauvillier 2006, p. 27.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Vauvillier 2007, p. 70.
  5. ^ Vauvillier 2006, p. 30.
  6. ^ Vauvillier 2006, p. 32.
  7. ^ "Allemagne Heer et l'Héritage Francais I° partie les Blindés :Maquetland.com:: Le monde de la maquette". www.maquetland.com (in French). Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b "Le canon automouvant 194 GPF". artillerie.asso.fr (in French). Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c Vauvillier 2007, p. 75.
  10. ^ Vauvillier 2007, p. 73.
  11. ^ Vauvillier 2007, p. 74.
  12. ^ "L'artillerie automotrice 1914-1918". artillerie.asso.fr (in French). Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b "Automouvant Saint-Chamond 194mm Aberdeen :Maquetland.com:: Le monde de la maquette". www.maquetland.com. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  14. ^ Clerici, Carlo Alfredo (1996). Le difese costiere italiane nelle due guerre mondiali (in Italian). Parma: Albertelli Edizioni Speciali. p. 25.

Sources[]

  • Hogg, Ian V. (2000). Twentieth-century artillery. New York: Barnes & Noble Books. ISBN 0-7607-1994-2. OCLC 44779672.
  • Chant, Chris (2005), Artillery, Amber Books, ISBN 1-904687-41-5
  • Vauvillier, François (November 2006). "La formidable artillerie à chenilles du colonel Rimailho - I. Les pièces courtes". Guerre, Blindés & Matériel (in French). No. 74. p. 26-35.
  • Vauvillier, François (February 2007). "La formidable artillerie à chenilles du colonel Rimailho - II. Les pièces longues". Guerre, Blindés & Matériel (in French). No. 75. pp. 68–75.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""