this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2024
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Confederate railway gun captured by Union forces, US Civil War, 1864 (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 months ago by PugJesus@lemmy.world to c/historyporn@lemmy.world
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[–] waigl@lemmy.world 20 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Does that thing have a big turntable under there somewhere? Because from the photo, it looks like it can shoot in exactly or almost exactly the direction the rails happen to be pointing, and if you need to shoot somewhere more than two or three degrees to either side, you're SOL…

[–] sanpedropeddler@sh.itjust.works 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It doesn't look like it. They did sometimes use a kind of turntable to allow regular cannons to easily change direction, but I don't think the same was done with these.

[–] raoul@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 3 months ago

Maybe it's because of the recoil?

Having the canon alligned with the track allows it to move with the recoil while having it slightly angled may make it derail 🤷‍♂️

[–] Davel23@fedia.io 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'm guessing it was used almost exclusively to destroy trains.

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago

Siege of Petersburg, I believe, so trading fire between two relatively static lines.

[–] pacmondo@sh.itjust.works 9 points 3 months ago

We're huntin trains today, Billy.

[–] thesporkeffect@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago

Id expect it was intended to be operated on a curved section of tracks to allow it to aim and function as artillery. Similar concept as the https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwerer_Gustav