B.L. 15inch Siege Howitzer Mk.1

[David]

This, the heaviest gun of the British Artillery during WW1, was privately developed by the Coventry Ordnance Works in 1914-15. It was, essentially, a scaled­up version of the then very successful 9.2inch Siege Howitzer. Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admirality, became interested in the project, sent the first gun to France to be used by the Naval Brigade. He also gave the order to build eleven more of these howitzers, with the intention of sending these to the Marines contingent over there. And of the 12 guns built, at least 10 were sent to France (one was sent to Gallipoli but could not be landed). In 1916 the guns were handed over to the Army, which were less than enthusiastic over these behemoths: "In view of the poor range achieved it is considered that these weapons are a waste of money and material". The range was the big problem: the gun could throw a 635kg heavy shell (muzzle velocity 341m/sec) only 9.87km, and often it was not considered worth all the labour and time it took to move and emplace these very heavy guns, that were transported in nine separate loads, and that weighed no less than 94 tons emplaced! (Also, the lack of shield, and the fact that it had to be used fairly close to the front line, made it vulnerable to counter-battery fire.) But the effect of these huge shells were of course devastating, and 25.332 of them were fired throughout the war, and it was used in all the big Battles from the Loos, over the Somme and Paschendaele to the final attacks of 1918. The 15inch Siege Howitzer were declared obsolete shortly after the war.