The Bragging Rights Showdown

The military bragging rights showdown ---- it doesn’t always have to make sense:

            Demonstrated at the November of 1957 parade in Moscow, this monster made “an indelible impression on the audience” The sheer size and the length of the barrel sparked awes and amazement amongst the crowds. It was something monumentally big, something never seen before.

            This monster, however, isn’t able to support its own weight. In the limited number of obscure Russian documents and field tests, it demonstrated the reason that artillery of this caliber mounted on a mobile chassis isn’t attempted before. It is simply impractical. After the trials, it was noted that after firing, the recoil of the gun was so great that it cracked the hull of the chassis, damaged the drive sprockets, and ripped the gearbox off its mountings. After the shot, the 55-ton heavy tank chassis rolled back about 5 meters due to the recoil. The full length of 28 meters (which is equivalent to a seven-story building) also meant it was a logistical nightmare to be carried on a train. It was not an effective weapon in terms of reliability and usability.

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A 2B1 Oka in the Red Square parade of 1957

            Honestly, this mortar isn’t meant to fight but is used as another demonstration of the power of the Soviet Union. It’s propaganda, a confidence booster over a weapon. It was noted in a few articles as the Red Square Parade as the main achievement of the weapon. It is an “I have what you have but better” mentality that fueled the rest of the cold war. This project met its fate in 1960 when on the basis of the government decision, this project is officially closed, merely three years after its appearance at the parade.

            The US “Atomic Annie” didn’t fare any better either, with only 20 guns produced, in which most of the complete unites left at proving grounds for its entire period of service, the whole nuclear mortar/artillery idea was a complete dud and was immediately outdated by another Soviet creation that needs no introduction: The ICBM.