Dora Railway gun question

[K-9]

Hi,
I have a rather odd question:
While I was searching the web I come across this picture of the Dora Railway gun. You can notice that the gun barell is covered. My question is how they take off the cover lid before fireing it? From the picture i see that the lid has some kind of handles on it? Can a man climb there and take it down? I attached a picture of the Dora ammo to get an ideea of how big was the gun compared to a man ...

Thanks.

[Rommel8]

I **assume* the cover was taken off by attaching hooks with chaings to the handles, and a crane takes it out.

That is just my guess though

[K-9]

Yes, but a service crane do do this work might be as big as the gun itself and I have never seen pictures of the Dora with such piece of equipment near it. And also, how did they conected the crane hooks with the lid handles? -IF those are realy handles...
If they used a crane does anybody have any pictures of it?

[Xavier]

yes, the dora gun had a couple cranes bigger than the gun itself.

in the squadron signal book "german railway guns" there is a set of pictures showing the actual assembly of the gun.

gantry type, double leg.

the cranes travelled on single rails just outside the maingun's rails

regards

Xavier
Instandsetzungtruppfuhrer

[Xavier]

from http://www.cix.co.uk/~nrobinson/railgun ... 0index.htm

dora assembly cranes:


this good page lists all german railways gun produced during WWII
http://www.cix.co.uk/~nrobinson/railgun ... _guns.html


regards

Xavier
Instandsetzungtruppfuhrer

[K-9]

Thanks, Xavier, great link and photos. The Dora with its assembly cranes sure was an impressive sight, and in my opinion, this gun is by far one of the most fascinating pieces of military equipment.
I would apreciate if anyone can post some links to high-resolution blueprints of Dora (or others giant railway guns). Thank you.

[Sander D]

The Dora with its assembly cranes sure was an impressive sight, and in my opinion, this gun is by far one of the most fascinating pieces of military equipment.

Than you have to got this book,it's only in german but the picture are incredible.
It shows the assembly of the dora railway gun and many more.

I have scand the frond page of the book for you.

from :http://www.jjfpub.mb.ca/newstuff.htm

Deutche eisenbahn geschutze by Gerhard Taube (Motorbuch verlag)
Large format, hard cover, German text, 182 pages, 308 black and white photographs, 24 drawings, 5 maps, several documents.
Major coverage of the German 80cm "Dora" railway gun together with several other of its smaller siblings. Price $34 USD / 25 euro ISBN:3-613-01352-5.

Regards

Sander D

[K-9]

Thanks, Sander D, this looks like a great book (about a great engineering wonder, too)

[gabriel pagliarani]

Watching accurately Xavier's photo, the crane is partially visible close to the mouth of Dora. But the real surprise is in the rail of the same kind used on lifter-trains (as usual in Lisboa) In italian this arrangement is called "..a cremagliera" and I cannot find the english equivalent term. Obviously a special "operative" rail had to be displaced when Dora was ready to fire, substituting some kms of the std. rails suitable for far displacements thru ordinary rail-roads.

[Xavier]

the small cranes on the back of the gun were integral with the gun, and used to hoist ammo components and personel, one on each side of the gun

the "cremallera" rail was used because normal rail would "split" (apart) on firing the gun. this used to even more the load, but I have read the rail would suffer damage anyway on each firing.

regards

Xavier
Instandsetzungtruppfuhrer

[ChristopherPerrien]

Technically that should be called the Carl Gustav railway gun. 80cm.

I believe the Dora's were smaller guns, 30cm, of which some were even self-propelled over short distances and not "railway cannons"at all except for being transported by rail.

[Witch-King of Angmar]

Technically that should be called the Carl Gustav railway gun. 80cm.

I believe the Dora's were smaller guns, 30cm, of which some were even self-propelled over short distances and not "railway cannons"at all except for being transported by rail.

"schwere Gustav" = "heavy Gustav", after Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. No connection with the King of Sweden. The other example of the gun was "Dora".

No German-buit railway gun of WWII came in 30cm/12in calibre, they ranged from 15cm to 28cm(most common), the only exception was the 38cm Siegfried.

~The Witch-King of Angmar

[AvD]

Here is the answer!!

http://www.e94114.de/V188/D311.01.jpg

[Dora]

Xavier,
Your correct about the rail damage when these giant guns fired. The "Dora", the other being the "Gustav", when prepared for firing, usually had their barrels set in a high elevation, giving a longer range for the shot fired. The high elevation setting caused the recoil force to be directed down, or in the opposite direction of which the shell was fired. This steep dowanward recoil was directed toward the transport rails and this is what caused the damage. Lower elevations, rarely used due to the muzzel blast damage it would have caused, focused the recoil to be directed to the rear of the gun. This was usually releaved by letting the giant gun to move in a controlled roll until the recoil force was expended.
Dora
800mm

[KraniX]

what was the firing time of the dora?