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Types of artillery fire. Types of artillery barrels and their classification. The main varieties of ancient artillery systems

Do you know what kind of troops respectfully called the "god of war"? Of course, artillery! Despite the development over the past fifty years, the role of high-precision modern barrel systems is still extremely large.

History of development

German Schwartz is considered to be the “father” of cannons, however many historians agree that his merits in this matter are rather doubtful. So, the first mention of the use of barreled artillery on the battlefield dates back to 1354, however, there are many papers in the archives that mention 1324.

There is no reason to believe that some have not been used before. By the way, the most references to such weapons can be found in ancient English manuscripts, and not at all in the German original sources. So, especially noteworthy in this regard is the rather well-known treatise "On the Duties of the Kings", which was written in honor of Edward III.

The author was a teacher of the king, and the book itself was written in 1326 (the time of the murder of Edward). There are no detailed explanations of engravings in the text, and therefore you have to focus only on the subtext. So, one of the illustrations depicts, without a doubt, a real gun resembling a large vase. It is shown how a large arrow flies out of the neck of this “jug”, shrouded in puffs of smoke, and at a distance there is a knight who has just set fire to powder with the help of a hot rod.

First appearance

As for China, in which, most likely, gunpowder was invented (and medieval alchemists discovered it three times, no less), that is, there is every reason to believe that the first artillery guns could even be tested before the beginning of our era. Simply put, artillery, like all firearms, is probably much older than is commonly believed.

In the era of these tools were already massively used, the walls of which by then were no longer such an effective means of protection for the besieged.

Chronic stagnation

So why didn’t the ancient peoples conquer the whole world with the help of the “god of war”? Everything is simple - guns of the early 14th century. and 18 century little different from each other. They were clumsy, overly heavy, and provided very poor accuracy. No wonder the first guns were used to destroy walls (it’s difficult to miss!), And also to shoot at large enemy clusters. In an era when enemy armies marched on each other with colorful columns, this also did not require high precision guns.

Do not forget about the disgusting quality of gunpowder, as well as its unpredictable properties: during the war with Sweden, Russian gunners sometimes had to triple the suspension rate so that the kernels inflict at least some damage on the enemy fortresses. Of course, this fact was frankly badly reflected in the reliability of the guns. There were many cases when nothing was left of the artillery crew as a result of a gun explosion.

Other reasons

Finally, metallurgy. As in the case of steam locomotives, only the invention of rolling mills and deep research in the field of metallurgy gave the necessary knowledge for the production of truly reliable shafts. The creation of artillery shells for a long time provided the troops with "monarchical" privileges on the battlefield.

Do not forget about the calibers of artillery guns: in those years they were calculated, both based on the diameter of the cores used, and taking into account the parameters of the barrel. Incredible confusion reigned, and therefore the armies simply could not accept anything truly unified. All this greatly impeded the development of the industry.

The main varieties of ancient artillery systems

Now consider the main types of artillery guns, which in many cases really helped to change history, refracting the course of the war in favor of a single state. As of 1620, it was customary to distinguish the following types of tools:

  • Guns in caliber from 7 to 12 inches.
  • Feathers.
  • Falconets and minions ("falcons").
  • Wearable guns with breech loading.
  • Robinets.
  • Mortars and bombers.

This list displays only the "true" guns in a more or less modern sense. But at that time in the army there were relatively many ancient cast-iron guns. The most typical of their representatives include coulévins and semi-culevrines. By that time, it had become completely clear that the giant guns, which were to a large extent distributed in earlier periods, were worthless: their accuracy was disgusting, the risk of exploding the barrel was extremely high, and it took a lot of time to reload.

If we again turn to the time of Peter, then the historians of those years note that for each battery of “unicorns” (varieties of coulevrin) hundreds of liters of vinegar were required. It was diluted with water and used to cool trunks overheated from shots.

Rarely found an old artillery gun with a caliber of more than 12 inches. The most commonly used coulevins, the core of which weighed approximately 16 pounds (about 7.3 kg). In the field, falconets were very common, the core of which weighed only 2.5 pounds (about a kilogram). Now let's look at the types of artillery pieces that were common in the past.

Comparative characteristics of some tools of antiquity

Gun name

Barrel length (in calibers)

Projectile weight, kilogram

Estimated effective firing range (in meters)

Musket

There is no specific standard

Falconet

Sacra

ASP

Standard gun

Half gun

There is no specific standard

Kulevrina (ancient artillery gun with a long barrel)

"Half" coulevrin

Serpentine

No data

Bastard

No data

Stone-thrower

If you carefully looked at this table and saw a musket there, do not be surprised. so called not only those slow and heavy guns that we remember from films about musketeers, but also a full-fledged artillery gun with a long barrel of small caliber. After all, to imagine a “bullet” weighing 400 grams is very problematic!

In addition, do not be surprised at the stone thrower on the list. The fact is that, for example, the Turks, even during the time of Peter the Great, used barrel artillery, firing nuclei carved from stone. They were much less likely to penetrate enemy ships right through, but more often they caused serious damage to the latter from the first salvo.

Finally, all the data shown in our table is approximate. Many types of artillery guns will remain forever forgotten, and ancient historians often did not know much about the characteristics and names of those guns that were massively used in the siege of cities and fortresses.

Innovator inventors

As we have already said, barrel artillery for many centuries has been a weapon that, as it seemed, was forever frozen in its development. However, things quickly changed. As in many cases of innovations in military affairs, the idea belonged to fleet officers.

The main problem of the barrel artillery on ships was the serious limited space, the difficulty of performing any maneuvers. Seeing all this, Mr. Melville and Mr. Gascoigne, who was in charge of his production, managed to create an amazing cannon, which today historians know under the name "Caronade." On its trunk there were absolutely no pins (mounts for the gun carriage). But there was a small eye on it, into which a steel rod could be inserted easily and quickly. He firmly clung to a compact artillery machine tool.

The gun turned out light and short, easy to use. The approximate effective range from it was about 50 meters. In addition, due to some of its design features, it became possible to fire shells with incendiary mixture. The Caronade became so popular that Gascoigne soon moved to Russia, where talented masters of foreign origin were always expected, received the rank of general and the position of one of Catherine’s advisers. It was in those years that the artillery pieces of Russia began to be developed and produced on a hitherto unprecedented scale.

Modern artillery systems

As we already noted at the very beginning of our article, in the modern world of artillery it was necessary to “squeeze” a little under the influence of rocket weapons. But this does not mean at all that the receiver and reactive systems have no place left on the battlefield. Not at all! The invention of high-precision GPS / GLONASS-guided missiles allows us to assert with confidence that the "natives" from the distant 12-13th century will continue to keep the enemy in fear.

Barrel and rocket artillery: who is better?

Unlike traditional barrel systems, multiple launch rocket launchers have virtually no tangible impact. This is what distinguishes them from any self-propelled or towed cannon, which, in the process of putting into a fighting position, needs to be fixed as firmly as possible and dug in the ground, as otherwise even its overturning is possible. Of course, there is no question of any quick change of position here, in principle, even if self-propelled artillery is used.

Jet systems are fast and mobile, can change their fighting position in a few minutes. In principle, such vehicles can fire even when driving, but this affects the accuracy of the shot badly. The disadvantage of such installations is their low accuracy. The same "Hurricane" can literally plow several square kilometers, destroying almost all living things, but this will require a whole battery of installations with pretty expensive shells. These artillery pieces, photos of which you will find in the article, are especially loved by domestic developers (Katyusha).

A volley of one howitzer with a "smart" shell can destroy any one at a time, while a battery of rocket launchers may require more than one volley. In addition, the "Tornado", "Hurricane", "Grad" or "Tornado" at the time of launch will not be able to detect unless a blind soldier, as a cloud of smoke in that place is formed notable. But such installations in one shell can contain up to several hundred kilograms of explosive.

Barrel artillery, by virtue of its accuracy, can be used to fire at the enemy at the moment of his being close to his own positions. In addition, the self-propelled artillery gun is capable of conducting counter-battery fire, doing this for many hours. In multiple launch rocket systems, the trunks are pretty fast wearing out, which does not contribute to their long-term use.

By the way, in the first Chechen campaign, Grads were used, which managed to fight in Afghanistan. The wear of their trunks was such that the shells sometimes flew in unpredictable directions. This often led to the "covering" of their own soldiers.

Best salvo systems

The leaders inevitably go artillery guns of Russia "Tornado". They shoot 122 mm shells at a distance of up to 100 kilometers. For one volley, up to 40 charges can be released, which cover an area of \u200b\u200bup to 84 thousand square meters. The power reserve is no less than 650 kilometers. Together with the high reliability of the chassis and a speed of up to 60 km / h, this allows you to transfer the Tornado battery to the right place and with minimal time.

The second most effective is the domestic 9K51 Grad MLRS, notorious after the events in the South-East of Ukraine. Caliber - 122 mm, 40 trunks. It shoots at a distance of up to 21 kilometers, in one go it can "process" an area of \u200b\u200bup to 40 square kilometers. Power reserve at a maximum speed of 85 km / h is as much as 1.5 thousand kilometers!

HIMARS artillery from an American manufacturer takes third place. The ammunition has an impressive 227 mm caliber, but only six guides somewhat spoil the impression of the installation. The firing range is up to 85 kilometers, covering an area of \u200b\u200b67 square kilometers at a time. Movement speed - up to 85 km / h, range is 600 kilometers. Well established in the land campaign in Afghanistan.

The fourth position is the Chinese installation of WS-1B. The Chinese did not trifle: the caliber of this awesome gun is 320 mm. In appearance, this MLRS resembles an S-300 air defense system of Russian production and has only four barrels. The range is about 100 kilometers, the affected area is up to 45 square kilometers. At maximum speed, these modern artillery guns have a range of approximately 600 kilometers.

In last place is the Indian MLRS Pinaka. In the design - 12 guides for shells of caliber 122 mm. Firing range - up to 40 km. At a maximum speed of 80 km / h, the car can travel up to 850 kilometers. The affected area is as much as 130 square kilometers. The system was developed with the direct participation of Russian experts, and has proven itself excellently in the course of numerous Indian-Pakistani conflicts.

Guns

This weapon has gone far from its long-standing predecessors, who dominated the fields of the Middle Ages. The caliber of guns used in modern conditions ranges from 100 (Rapier anti-tank artillery) to 155 mm (TR, NATO).

The range of shells they use is also unusually wide: from standard high-explosive rounds to programmable shells that can hit a target at a distance of 45 kilometers with an accuracy of tens of centimeters. True, the cost of one such shot can be up to 55 thousand US dollars! In this regard, Soviet artillery guns are much cheaper.

  the most common guns made in the USSR / RF and Western models

Title

The country of manufacture

Caliber mm

Gun mass, kg

Maximum firing range (depending on the type of projectile), km

BL 5.5 inch (discontinued almost everywhere)

Zoltam M-68 / M-71

WA 021 (actual clone of the Belgian GC 45)

2A36 "Hyacinth-B"

"Rapier"

Soviet artillery pieces S-23

Octopus-B

Mortars

Modern mortar systems trace their ancestry from ancient bombers and mortars, which could release a bomb (up to hundreds of kilograms weighing) at a distance of 200-300 meters. Today, both their design and the maximum range of application have significantly changed.

In most of the armed forces of the world, the combat doctrine for mortars takes them into account as an artillery weapon for mounted fire at a distance of about a kilometer. The effectiveness of the use of these weapons in urban conditions and in the suppression of disparate, mobile enemy groups is noted. In the Russian army, mortars are standard weapons, they are used for every major military operation.

And during the Ukrainian events, both sides of the conflict showed that even outdated 88 mm mortars are an excellent tool for both counteracting it.

Modern mortars, like other barrel artillery, today are developing in the direction of increasing the accuracy of each shot. So, last summer, the famous arms corporation BAE Systems for the first time demonstrated to the world public high-precision mortar rounds of 81 mm caliber, which were tested at one of the English test sites. It is reported that such ammunition can be used with all possible effectiveness in the temperature range from -46 to +71 ° C. In addition, there is information about the planned production of the widest range of such shells.

The military associates special hopes with the development of high-precision mines of 120 mm caliber with increased power. New models developed for the American army (XM395, for example), with a firing range of up to 6.1 km have a deviation of not more than 10 meters. It is reported that such shots were used by the crews of Stryker armored vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan, where new ammunition proved to be the best.

But the most promising today are the development of guided missiles with active homing. So, domestic Nona artillery can use the Kitolov-2 shell, with which you can hit almost any modern tank at a distance of up to nine kilometers. Given the cheapness of the gun itself, such developments are expected to interest the military around the world.

Thus, the artillery to this day is a formidable argument on the battlefield. New models are constantly being developed, and more and more promising shells are being produced for existing receiver systems.

Artillery gun- part of the artillery complex, designed to produce a shot in order to perform various fire missions.

Artillery guns, launchers of reactive and anti-tank systems, their ammunition, depending on the purpose, nature of the tasks to be solved, conditions of combat use, have a different device and nature of action, different appearance. However, according to the basic principles of construction and operation, each of these primary elements of artillery weapons has much in common with its basic model.

A large number of tasks solved by artillery leads to the need to have in service samples that differ from each other not only in the way the projectile communicates progressive movement, constructive execution of the bore, combat mission, mass and mode of movement, but also in caliber, projectile flight path, degree of automation loading and discharging, etc.

By the method of communicating to a projectile of progressive movement artillery is divided into:

1. The stem.

2. Reactive.

Depending on the design of the barrel, on the nature of the movement of the projectile and its interaction with the barrel and the base on which the barrel is mounted, the barrel   artillery happens:

Threaded;

Smoothbore;

Recoilless;

Universal.

The internal diameter of the barrel (pipe) channel determines the caliber of the artillery gun in millimeters. If the barrel has internal rifling, then the caliber of the gun is determined by the distance between the protrusions of two opposing rifling along the diameter of the bore.

Guns with a caliber of 20 mm or more are called artillery, and a caliber of less than 20 mm - small arms.

Depending on the combat mission of the artillery systems features and the conditions for their combat use, the barrel and rocket artillery is divided into:

1. Ground.

2. Anti-aircraft.

3. Aviation.

4. Marine.

1. Ground artillery, in turn, is divided into combined arms (including artillery of the airborne troops), mountain, casemate (stationary), tank and anti-tank artillery.



Given the appropriate conditions for combat use, combined arms, mountain and casemate artillery is designed primarily to perform the same tasks as the military.

Tank and anti-tank artillery is designed to fight against enemy tanks and anti-tank weapons.

2. Anti-aircraft artillery It is used to combat enemy aircraft and has a variety of anti-aircraft artillery systems in its arsenal, from small-caliber quick-fire to large-caliber automatic anti-aircraft guns.

3. Aircraft artillery  Designed to combat enemy air and ground targets. These are mainly small-caliber high-speed aircraft guns, as well as special rockets.

4. Marine artillery  Designed to combat sea and land targets, it has in its arsenal both small-caliber and large-caliber artillery barrels and rocket systems of various rates of fire.

Depending on the location, naval artillery, in turn, is divided into naval, coastal mobile (railway or mechanical draft) and coastal stationary (tower or open type).



Depending on the mass of artillery systems, the range and power of ammunition, artillery is also divided into:

1. Easy.

2. Severe.

3. Large and special power .

1. Light artillery  (caliber up to 100 mm) has good maneuverability on the battlefield and high rate of fire, accompanies motorized rifle and tank units in the offensive.

2. Heavy artillery  It is an artillery system in caliber up to 200 mm. It includes divisional and brigade artillery, partly regimental. With high firing accuracy, great range and power, this artillery performs missions to defeat enemy targets in its tactical depth.

3. To artillery of great and special power  include artillery systems with a caliber of more than 200 mm. With a large mass and power of ammunition, this artillery ensures the destruction of particularly important, most important and highly fortified enemy targets (objects).

According to from a way of movement  artillery is divided into:

Inpatient (casemate);

Wearable (calculation);

Transportable (in a car body, etc.);

Pack (transported unassembled);

Self-propelled (using an additionally installed engine and a special drive);

Self-propelled (on a self-propelled wheeled or tracked chassis, with an open, half-armored or armored hull);

Railway.

Artillery guns, depending on the purpose and design, as well as the trajectory of the projectile, are divided into:

Howitzers;

Howitzers-guns and gun-howitzers;

Mortars;

Mortars;

As well as recoilless guns and tools with a roll-out.

Such a division has existed for a long time and is due to the diversity of goals and the nature of the terrain in the target area.

GUNScalled long-barreled guns designed for flat shooting. They serve to destroy vertical and fast-moving targets (tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles), as well as for firing at long ranges. They have a longer barrel than other types of guns, reaching 27-45 calibers and a greater initial velocity of the projectile due to the barrel length (about 1000 m / s).

Due to this, the firing persistence, the projectile range and armor penetration are increased.

The flight of the projectile is carried out along a lay trajectory (at elevation angles of up to 20 0 - for hitting armored targets, destroying the vertical walls of defensive structures, shooting at ricochets) and along a mounted trajectory (at elevation angles of 20 to 45 0 - for hitting targets remote from the firing range positions more than 2/3 of the longest range).

For firing from guns, unitary and separate-shell loading shots are used (for large-caliber guns).

These include:

85 mm divisional gun D-44;

100 mm PTP MT-12 (T-12).

Howitzerscalled guns designed for mounted shooting (firing with a steeper projectile flight path than guns).

Howitzers are used to destroy the enemy’s manpower and firepower located behind shelters and in shelters, to destroy wood-earthen and concrete structures. They have a barrel length of 12-27 calibers, a smaller projectile mass and an initial projectile speed of about 500 m / s.

To defeat targets located behind the crests of shelters, and to destroy the combat coverings of defensive structures, mortar shooting is used (elevation angles of more than 45 0).

They have a variable charge, allowing the compilation of various mass charges. This achieves a change in the steepness of the trajectory and the firing range at a constant elevation angle.

For firing from howitzers, shots of a separately-shell and cartridge (for large caliber) loading are used. These include: 152 mm howitzer 2A65.

Howitzer Cannon- an artillery gun capable of performing the functions of both a howitzer, firing mainly along a mounted trajectory, and a gun, firing mainly along a lay trajectory.

With a howitzer, this gun brings a large elevation angle (about 60-70 °) and the use of separate loading with a variable charge; with a gun - a significant barrel length (at least 30 calibers) and, accordingly, a high initial speed. Usually (but not always) has a large caliber - 120 mm or more.

The term was used primarily in the USSR in the 1930s - 1960s. In fact, he was introduced into the classification for one gun - the 152-mm howitzer-gun model 1937 (ML-20).

Currently, the term howitzer-gun has exclusively historical meaning, since almost all modern howitzers have a significant trunk length and, therefore, are howitzer-guns. So, for example, the modern 152 mm towed howitzer 2A65 Msta-B has a 53-gauge barrel and a maximum elevation angle of 70 °.

GUN MOWBOW- an artillery gun, which combines the properties of a gun and howitzer with a predominance of the former. These include the 152-mm D-20 howitzer gun, which is designed for direct and mounted firing. Compared to a cannon, a howitzer cannon has a slightly shorter barrel length, large elevation angles for the barrel and projectile drops. Compared to a howitzer, a howitzer gun has a longer range.

The barrel length of the gun is 25 calibers. D-20 became the first 152-mm gun system with a semi-automatic wedge bolt with vertical movement of the wedge. Also, this weapon in the modification was used for the ACS 2C3 "Acacia".

Mortarsfiring at a steeper trajectory. The length of the barrel of the mortar does not exceed 10-12 calibers. Mortars are firing at an angle of 45 degrees.

After the end of World War II, mortars were finally discontinued. In modern armies, mortar functions are performed by a howitzer, mortar, and multiple launch rocket systems.

In this section you can get acquainted with various types of artillery both domestic and created in other countries. We have prepared materials on the history of creation and characteristics of various guns, their combat use. You can get acquainted with the main trends in the development of modern world artillery.

Artillery is a branch of the army that uses firearms of a relatively large caliber to destroy the enemy’s manpower, its technical equipment and material objects. Artillery troops appeared in Europe in the 13th century. The first artillery guns were distinguished by their large weight, size and were used to storm the enemy cities. Only a few centuries later, military artillery began to be used during ground battles.

Around the same period, artillery began to be used in naval battles; soon guns became the main weapon of warships. Only in the last century the role of guns in naval battles began to decrease, they were replaced by torpedo and missile weapons. However, even today artillery weapons are in service with almost any warship.

Russian artillery appeared a little later, the first memories of it date back to the XIV century. The first information about the manufacture of artillery pieces in Russia dates back to the 15th century. Regular Russian artillery units appeared already in the era of Peter the Great.

In the middle of the XIX century, a real revolution took place in artillery - rifled and breech-loading guns appeared, which increased the efficiency of using artillery and turned this type of troops into one of the main on the battlefield. A little later, a unitary ammunition was developed for artillery guns, which significantly increased their rate of fire.

The "finest hour" of artillery was the First World War. Most of the losses in this conflict were caused precisely by artillery fire. Particularly widely opponents used the artillery of large conflicts. During this war, new types of guns were widely used: mortars, bombs, the first samples of anti-aircraft artillery appeared.

The importance of artillery grew even more during the Second World War. The role of mortars and anti-tank artillery increased significantly, new types of artillery weapons appeared: rocket artillery and self-propelled artillery mounts (self-propelled guns). On our site you will find information about the most famous examples of Soviet and German artillery of that time.

We collected information about the best self-propelled guns of that period, including Soviet and German self-propelled guns.

In the same period, rocket weapons began to rapidly develop, including anti-aircraft systems. The development of such weapons continued after the end of the conflict. Today it is the air defense systems that are the basis of the air defense of any country in the world. Russia has enormous achievements in this area, which it inherited from the Soviet period.

Our country can develop and produce anti-aircraft missile systems of any modifications, designed to destroy air targets at different distances. Russian air defense systems are the most famous brand in the global arms market. Modern anti-aircraft missile systems are capable of destroying air targets at distances of hundreds of kilometers, they can even shoot down ballistic warheads and satellites. In this section you can learn about the latest SAMs both domestic and created by designers of other countries, as well as about the latest development trends of this type of weapon.

Artilleryfrom (fr. artiller  - "position") or (lat. arcus  - "onion" and lat. tellum  - "arrow") or (lat. ars  - "art" and lat. tollendi  - "throwing") or (ital. arte  - "art" and ital. tirare  - “shoot”) - a type of firearm with a caliber of more than 20 mm, unsuitable for hand carrying by one person during a battle, as well as a type of army whose armaments are artillery and science, studying artillery equipment and tactics of its use.

History

Arabic modfa

The first references to firearms relate to China, where in 1132 the use of the “fire spear” (Chinese 火槍) was recorded - a primitive hand-made squeaker consisting of a bamboo barrel closed on one side, into which gunpowder was poured, and then small stones were added as shells. Later appeared in the Arab armies modfs  (Arab. مدفع‏‎ ), which had a metal barrel attached to a wooden butt. In the XII-XIII centuries, this weapon came to Europe, where it was divided into handguns and artillery. The first artillery guns had trunks of forged sheets rolled into tubes, so their manufacture was associated with significant difficulties, and the guns had a small caliber. However, with the development of technology, by the end of the 13th century, artillery pieces appeared with shells weighing one pound. In Russian cities, serfs were used as mattresses  (tour. tüfäk  - tube), the first field siege guns were called armats  (lat. arma  - weapons) and unicorns.

As metallurgy and metalworking improved, the tactical and technical characteristics of artillery increased, but its use was limited for a long time by the siege of fortifications. In the fourteenth century, thunder tubes were installed on the ships of Aragon (Italian cannuncole), which were used against the fleet of Anjou, and began to be used on Hanseatic ships cooler  (fr. couleuvre  - serpentine) and scorers  (fr. bombarde  - buzzing). Subsequently, the coulins were transformed into light guns, and bombers into heavy howitzers. The main difference between the cooler and the bombers was the presence of trunnions, which made it possible to mount these guns on carriages or pin stops. Bombards were placed in wooden decks with an emphasis in the breech and had no guidance.

Unification and systematization of early artillery

16th Century Ship Cooler

With the development of artillery with the introduction of fine-grained gunpowder and the improvement of metal casting methods, it became necessary to standardize artillery guns and their charges. First of all, this concerned small guns of mass production. In the Navy, the need for standardization was most acute, since the use of piece-made shells for each of the guns reduced the combat effectiveness of naval artillery and the carrying capacity of ships. The appearance in the 15th century of iron casting of guns, and in the 16th mobile artillery also required the introduction of unification to reduce wagons and simplify repair and transportation. Cast iron cores had a significant advantage over stone, but their production should have had a limited nomenclature. For convenience, weight standards for cast iron cores were adopted, which also regulated the parameters of the propellant charge and the inner diameter of the barrel.

The first attempts to standardize artillery date back to the 16th century. In France, King Henry II tried to introduce "six French calibers." On September 26, 1526, King Francis I issued a decree on royal artillery, which began to be introduced in 1552. According to the standard, all guns were divided into 6 groups: gun (fr. cannon), a large coulevrin (fr. grande couleuvrine), side coulevrin (fr. couleuvrine bâtarde), semi-coulevrin (fr. couleuvrine moyenne), falcon (fr. faucon) and falconet (fr. fauconneau) Similar standards existed in other countries, for example, Spain was provided for the division into 12 types, and in England - 16.

As artillery developed, changes also took place in the design of the guns, depending on their purpose. Spanish military engineer Luis Collado (Spanish Luis collado) in 1592 distinguished three types of artillery, which had three main tasks: the destruction of enemy forces, the destruction of fortress walls and the sinking of the enemy fleet. Thus, there was a division into relatively light cannons for firing shotguns, heavy siege guns for firing shots and universal naval guns.

Gradually, for each type of artillery, its own classification system was formed. In the Navy, depending on the purpose, the division into the following main types of guns was used: half-gun, kulevrin, half-cooler, carronade and bomb weapon. Additionally, a weight classification of the core used in pounds was introduced, which most often amounted to 68, 42, 36, 32, 24, 18, 12, 9, 8, and 6 pounds. In some cases, non-standard, increased or reduced by weight shells were used, as well as classification by the weight of the gun itself, which was important for organizing their movement. Since the weight of the cast iron core determined the inner diameter of the barrel, it became possible to establish universal calibers (fr. caliber), that is, the diameters of the barrel of the guns. In Europe, the term "caliber" with respect to artillery appeared in 1546 thanks to the mathematician Georg Hartmann (German Georg Hartmann), who developed a prismatic tetrahedral ruler, on which face units of measure were applied, on the other three - sizes depending on the weight in pounds of iron, lead and stone cores. Thanks to the Hartmann scale, it became possible to easily complete and manufacture both shells of various types and gun barrels. By translating the standard weights of cast iron cores into their diameters, a tool designation standard appeared, expressed in terms of length.

Since many parameters of the guns depend not only on the caliber of the shells, but also on the length of the barrel, an additional characteristic has appeared that characterizes the ratio of the length of the barrel to its caliber. Thus a standard designation of the caliber of the gun, expressed in mm or inches, and indicated through a slash as the ratio of barrel length to caliber, for example, the designation 16 "/ 50 Mark 7  stands for 16 inch (406 mm) gun with a barrel length of 20320/406 \u003d 50.0, the seventh model.

The development of artillery in the XVII-XIX centuries

Basilisk

With the advent of regular armies and the growing combat role of artillery, the formation of this kind of troops went at a faster pace. In the XVII century, separate artillery regiments were formed, and in the fortresses of the garrison artillery unit. Corresponding changes also occur in the Navy, where artillery becomes a determining factor in the design of warships. In the XVIII century, the Prussian king Frederick the Great began the formation of equestrian artillery, which was highly mobile and served as a prototype for the creation of field artillery. Napoleon in his army altogether abandoned the artillery assigned to the infantry regiments, completely separating it into separate batteries. Thanks to this, it was possible to achieve effective control on the battlefield and to simplify the supply and movement.

In the XIX century, there was a division of artillery into foot, horse, siege, serf and sea. The armament of each type began to receive special types of guns, ammunition and ammunition. In addition, depending on the specialization, the structure of the units and the methods of their formation, as well as the peculiarities of the training of officers, changed. With the advent of rifled and muzzle-loading guns, the existing caliber limitations virtually disappeared, and the firing range reached such values \u200b\u200bthat visual observation and adjustment became difficult. The last two factors necessitated the development of technical means that allow both to expand the boundaries of the review and to obtain accurate data on the necessary correction and in a short time to make calculations for shooting.

The first artillery guns had extremely low accuracy, and the rate of fire for heavy guns was several shots per day. In addition, the longevity of the barrel did not allow for more than a few dozen shots without the threat of its destruction. Charging was carried out from the muzzle side, which took a lot of time. Experiments with breech loading, which allows increasing the rate of fire, began in the 16th century. This loading option allowed the use of internal cutting in the barrel, which gave the projectile rotation during firing, which increased its stability in flight and increased accuracy and firing range due to the gyroscopic effect. However, due to a number of problems that were unavoidable at that time, such weapons did not receive distribution.

Feldshlang in the city of Golub-Dobrzyń

The transition to rifled and muzzle-loading guns occurred in the 19th century. To a certain extent, this was a necessary measure, since the appearance of rifled handguns, which had an aimed firing range of more than 500 m, allowed the shooters to destroy gun crews during reloading. The main problem when creating rifled implements was the reduced durability of rifling. Whereas handguns used soft lead bullets that crumpled against rifling during firing and did not damage the barrel, the cannonballs were cast from cast iron or steel, so rifling was destroyed in a few shots. In 1845, the Italian Army Major Cavalli designed and built a breech-loading cannon, which had two grooves along the entire length of the barrel. Cavalli's cannon shell was equipped with two copper protrusions that went into the rifling. This design made it possible to achieve the required obturation and to spin the projectile during its movement along the barrel. Already the first tests showed unattainable results for smooth-bore artillery: at a distance of 5 km the projectile deflection was only 5 meters. Later, more advanced barrel cutting systems were developed, which used a different shape and number of rifling. The transition to threaded trunks served as the reason for the rejection of round cores in favor of elongated shells, which could be equipped with guiding protrusions.

Gun 178 mm / 14 RBL 7 inch 110 pounder Armstrong

The main drawback of the guns with breech loading was the lack of a simple and reliable shutter, which allowed for quick reloading and sufficient obturation during firing. Because of this, rifled guns with muzzle loading became widespread for some time. Their use as naval artillery was hindered by the need to roll away the guns from the embrasures for reloading, which took a lot of time, required considerable effort and forced to re-aim after each reload. The use of special carriages and mechanized platforms slightly improved the situation, but radical improvements could be achieved only with the transition to loading from the breech.

The simplest screw lock, which was a screw that was wrapped from the breech of the barrel, first appeared in the 17th century, but was not widely used. Later, the design of the screw shutter was finalized and it began to be widely used on medium and large caliber guns. An alternative to the screw was a wedge shutter, which allowed to obtain a higher rate of fire. The use of loading from the breech, covering the shells with lead solder to preserve the rifling of the barrel served as the starting point of the next revolution in artillery. Its next stage was the appearance of unitary shots, recoil devices and smokeless gunpowder.

Once upon a time there was a woman and her son was stupid and speech impaired. Down, in short. Every morning, she escorted him to the bus stop to send him to school.
   But she was tired of it once and she told him:
   “Son, it’s time for you to go to school yourself.” You are still 18 years old.
   - Hmm, mmm. Hodofsho.
   “So you go to the bus stop alone.” When you see the bus, you wave your hand so that it stops, you sit in it and go to school.
   - Hodofo, mmm.
   And here comes the bus and down waving and shouting "Aftobush, aftobush!", But .. the bus passes by. Do not stop.
   A tearful down goes home to complain. Mother:
   - Nothing, I will write a note to the teacher, and tomorrow you will go to school. Just get closer to the road so that the bus sees you. And then he probably didn’t notice you and drove by.
   Well, the next morning, he does just that: he goes to the road, waves his hand, shouts "Aftobush! Aftobuf!" but the Aftobush flies past him at full speed, without even thinking of stopping. Down - in a trance. Going home to complain.
   Mother to him:
   - Do not be upset, son, I will write a note to the teacher and she will understand. But tomorrow - you must definitely go to school! And so that he sees you, as you notice him, go out onto the road so that he will definitely stop.
   Well, Down does it: sees - there is a bus. He jumps out onto the road, waves with two hands and shouts "Aftobush! Aftobush!" But "aftobush" is not going to slow down, but on the contrary he adds gas and knocks a guy at full speed ....
   ... police, ambulance. Standing at the bus stop yelling to the bus driver:
   - What have you done?!! You completely killed the guy !!!
   Then the door of the bus opens and the driver says:
   - And what is he talking about?

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