15 Largest Military Artillery Vehicles

Ever since the invention of gunpowder and explosives, military scientists have been in a race to design larger and more powerful weapons that are capable of causing devastating destruction to their target. Other than nuclear devices and bombs dropped from aircraft, artillery is the most destructive and effective device on a battlefield, and some that have been built are truly frightening. From self-propelled designs, to ship-based launchers and cannons from hundreds of years ago… it's time to explore some of the most extreme weapons ever made as we take a look at the 15 largest military artillery vehicles.

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[johnschmitt]

I've toured the U.S.S. New Jersey and I can tell you no matter what numbers are spit out about the size of those massive 16" guns you have no idea how big they are until you're standing near them. Incredible!

[jpmtlhead]

The Schwerer Gustav is a truely amazing feat of military engineering.
An Amazing weapon.

[BGunBunny]

While I was in the military I drove the M548 cargo carrier for my gun (artillery piece). I hauled all of the ammo, camo netting and other supplies. The gun was a M110A1 8" self-propelled howitzer. My unit consistently dropped 350 lb shells into 55 gal barrels from 22 miles out. Also, we was one of only 4 other batterys that was capable of firing a low yield nuke. US Army Artillery B Btry 4th BN 4th FA '84-'86

[RandomAndy]

Your voice and information I did'nt know I needed right on time for wake and bake!

[AkihikoTakeba]

No mention of the German Paris Gun, biggest gun of WWI.. A shame, it's an awesome gun.

[wadepenley]

I am so glad that the narrator used inches and feet as well as metrics. Not all of us especially here in America know metrics. Thank you.

[nevermindmeijustinjectedaw]

sooo... the pion is the largest artillery still in use to this day in reasonable numbers? wow

[cliffbonds]

Nice video! I appreciate the amount of time it took you to do research for something like this as well! Keep up the great work!

[joostprins]

M110 was the piece we used as an artillery piece, 203 mm long John. In case of a real emergency we had a nasty surprise which made you glow.

[cesaravegah]

Amazing how even with the arrival of drones artillery hasnt been made obsoleta by air power and remains the battlefields king

[gnikmed]

its Schwerer gustav not sphere gustav*

[jeffreydoujon]

I wonder why Charlie Chaplin wanted to fire a "Big Bertha"

[gnosticbrian]

No room for what the Guinness Book of Records describes as the largest bombard by calibre in the world? The "Tsar" cannon weighs 40 tons and has a 35 inch diameter barrel.

[laernulienlaernulienlaernu]

I find it hard to comprehend something so large and heavy travelling such long distances simply from the initial propellant and no additional rocket motor. It really does blow my mind when I compare the distance between where I live and whichever town or city is the same distance as the one stated.

[BigHarryBalzac]

I saw Anzio Annie, AKA Leopold, a German World War II 280 mm Krupp K5 railway gun at Aberdeen Proving Ground when I went to school there in 1980. The United States Army Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Aberdeen, Maryland closed in September 2010. The Krupp K5 and and other pieces were relocated to the United States Army Ordnance Training Support Facility at Fort Gregg-Adams, outside Petersburg, Virginia. The 280 mm M65 Atomic Cannon made the move 30 years after I saw it, too. On May 25, 1953, the atomic cannon was tested at the Nevada Test Site where it fired a 15 kiloton shell (W9 warhead) at a range of 7 miles (11 km). You can see a video of the shot and the mushroom cloud forming on Wikipedia.

The museum at Aberdeen was open to the public. Prior to 9-11, anyone could go on post and visit, but the U.S. Army Ordnance TSF is exclusively for training Soldiers and supporting research and development. It is not open to the public.. The U.S. Army Ordnance Training Support Facility (TSF) is the first Training Support Facility of the U.S. Army. It houses collections from Aberdeen Proving Ground, Redstone Arsenal, Picatinny Arsenal, and Watervliet Arsenal. These collections were moved and consolidated as a result of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 2005 decisions.

[warpdriveby]

@3:45 that cannon may have some forge welds, but it's construction reveals why we call gun tubes "barrels"! They were made of tightly fitted strips of iron or bronze and then bound with hoops of more metal. They were notorious for failing after relatives few shots and could easily do more damage to their own side as a bomb than a cannon.

[domenicozagari]

You fail to mention the Italian railway cannons.

[alexanderleach]

THe 16 inch guns are the best in the navy!

[keesvanwely]

One Schwerer Gustav was used at Sevastopol, and was named Dora.

GOT to be some serious barrel droop on some of those monsters! Thanjavur cannon 'hasn't vid of horiffically rusty iron tube...Always amazes me the vast amounts of gunpowder that some of these things used for each shot! 15kg is a hell of a lot of powder!