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Armor/AFV: AA/AT/Artillery
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Big Guns 100ton Armstrong vs. Dora?
HermannB
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Bayern, Germany
Joined: October 14, 2008
KitMaker: 4,099 posts
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Posted: Friday, April 10, 2020 - 03:19 AM UTC
Hi guys,

I recently learned about the exitence of the 100 ton Amstrong guns on Malta and Gibraltar. Weren`t there plans of the Wehrmacht to bring the Dora gun to Spain to shell Gibraltar?
How about a hypothetical duel between dora and the outdated 100 ton gun? I think the Brits would have used to destroy the Dora. Of course air attacks would have been more efficient.
MikePowell
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United States
Joined: March 19, 2010
KitMaker: 22 posts
Armorama: 17 posts
Posted: Friday, April 10, 2020 - 07:27 AM UTC
I was unaware of the 100 ton Armstrongs until your post. I see from Wikipedia those equipments were 19th Century muzzleloaders with a range of about 6,000 meters and a HE shell with a bursting charge of 35 kilo (this is hard to imagine with a total projectile weight of 910 kilo so someone wiser may want to comment here). At any rate, compared to Schwerer Gustav's 39,000 meter effective range and HE projectile's 700 kilo bursting charge, the Armstrongs were somewhat overpowered.
RobinNilsson
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Stockholm, Sweden
Joined: November 29, 2006
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Posted: Friday, April 10, 2020 - 07:38 AM UTC
"The careers of the guns were unspectacular, as no Italian battleship threatened Malta after their installation. The Malta guns were phased out in 1906, as was the remaining gun at Gibraltar. All had fired their last shots a few years before, in 1903 and 1904."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100-ton_gun
HermannB
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Bayern, Germany
Joined: October 14, 2008
KitMaker: 4,099 posts
Armorama: 4,067 posts
Posted: Friday, April 10, 2020 - 08:07 AM UTC
Video of the Malta gun here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKmi0PN7LxM
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