What is the London Gun?
The largest gun ever built, by at least a factor of 3, is the V-3 cannon, at least two of which were built by Nazi Germany and put in bunkers in chalk cliffs in Mimoyecques, France. It is a common misconception that these guns were never built, but indeed they were, although the whole complex, which was originally intended to hold five guns, was never completed due to Allied bombing. The V-3 guns, code-named Hochdruckpumpe, “High Pressure Pump,” or Tausendfüßler, meaning “millipede”, used a series of T-junctions filled with charges timed to explode just as the shell was passing along each segment of the the 140 m (460 ft) barrel. This allowed muzzle velocities of over 1500 m/s for a 140 kg shell, giving a range of over 165 km. The V-3s, built at a fixed angle of 30 degrees into the cliff, were intended to hit London, hence their alternate name, the “London Gun.” As of 2007, the London Gun is by far the largest gun yet built. Construction on the London Gun began in September 1943 by s
The largest gun ever built, by at least a factor of 3, is the V-3 cannon, at least two of which were built by Nazi Germany and put in bunkers in chalk cliffs in Mimoyecques, France. It is a common misconception that these guns were never built, but indeed they were, although the whole complex, which was originally intended to hold five guns, was never completed due to Allied bombing. The V-3 guns, code-named Hochdruckpumpe, “High Pressure Pump,” or Tausendfüßler, meaning “millipede”, used a series of T-junctions filled with charges timed to explode just as the shell was passing along each segment of the the 140 m (460 ft) barrel. This allowed muzzle velocities of over 1500 m/s for a 140 kg shell, giving a range of over 165 km. The V-3s, built at a fixed angle of 30 degrees into the cliff, were intended to hit London, hence their alternate name, the “London Gun.” As of 2007, the London Gun is by far the largest gun yet built. Construction on the London Gun began in September 1943 by sla
