Obukhovskii 12"/52 Pattern 1907 gun

Obukhovskii 12"/52 Pattern 1907 gun
Type Naval gun
Place of origin Russian Empire
Service history
Used by Russian Empire
USSR
Production history
Designer Obukhov State Plant
Specifications
Calibre 12"
Rate of fire 2-3 rounds per minute
"MK-3-12" on the Soviet battleship Parizhskaya Kommuna (formerly Sevastopol), 1925

The Obukhovskii 12"/52 Pattern 1907 gun was a Russian and Soviet 305 mm (12 inch) naval gun. It was the most powerful gun to be mounted aboard battleships of the Imperial Russian Navy, and was also employed by both nations in shore batteries and railway guns.

They followed the 12"/40 (30.5 cm) Pattern 1895 guns as used on the Andrei Pervozvanny-class battleships

History

The guns were developed by the Obukhovskii Works, with the first prototype being completed in 1907. Allowable barrel life for pieces mounted aboard Black Sea Fleet units was 400 rounds per gun. The guns were considered excellent pieces, and were deployed aboard the Gangut and Imperatritsa Mariya-class dreadnoughts in triple turret mountings constructed by the Metallicheskii Works. These triple-gun turrets were designated "MK-3-12".

General characteristics

Coastal artillery

Coast defence turret today at Kuivasaari, Finland

In addition to being deployed aboard the Gangut class and Imperatritsa Mariya-class battleships, these pieces were also emplaced as coastal artillery in the Peter the Great Naval Fortress along the Tallinn-Porkkala defensive line in 1917, as well as being mounted as railway guns.

Between wars in Soviet Union were placed four four-gun batteries around the Baltic, two four-gun batteries in Sevastopol and two six-gun batteries in Vladivostok. Some of these guns were captured by the Germans in World War II and used in the Mirius battery in Guernsey during their occupation of the Channel Islands.

1938 Railway gun TM-3-12

A TM-3-12 at the Central Museum of Railway Transport, Russian Federation, at Varshavsky Rail Terminal, St.Petersburg

Three railway guns were built, using guns from the sunken battleship Imperatritsa Mariya, which had been lost to a magazine explosion in Sevastopol harbor in October 1916. They were used in the Soviet-Finnish war in 1939-1940. In June–December 1941 they took part in the defense of the Soviet naval base on Finland's Hanko peninsula (Rus. Gangut/ Гангут). They were disabled by Soviet seamen when the base was evacuated, and were later restored by Finnish specialists using guns from the withdrawn Russian battleship Imperator Aleksandr III. After the war these were handed over to the Soviet Union, which maintained in operational condition until 1991. Withdrawn from service in 1999, they were the last battleship-caliber Obukhov pieces still operational in the world.

Railway gun TMK-3-12 at the Moscow Victory park

See also

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

Notes

    References

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