Interesting.
The Russian SP Howitzer looks like a cross of a German WW2 Elefant and Tiger II!
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
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That’s a GUN, not a howitzer.
Very long in range, and thus good for Naval use.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand it is CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP!!!!
An old argument in the USN was the that ship guns should be eliminated as outdated, compared to modern technology rockets, missiles, and aircraft. So the last active battleships were stricken in 2006.
However, while one of the arguments for modern weapons is that they minimize collateral damage, this is only true if you care about collateral damage. If you want to level destruction that your enemy will talk about for generations, nothing quite speaks like 16 inch naval guns.
No nation attacked by one of our battleships has ever forgotten it. I saw a great video of a 16 inch round hitting the side of a mountain with four widely spaced artillery guns on it. It picked up that side of that mountain and shook it, knocking out all four positions.
While a 152mm (about 6 inch) gun is no small potatoes, if the Russians plan on engaging in “gunboat diplomacy” in smaller conflicts like Syria, after trying this out I would not be surprised if they build a ship that would be a modern version of a battleship.
Maybe the US could buy a couple to upgrade the Zumwalt by giving it a usable gun.
Interestingly, the US is also looking to upgrade their 5in/54’s to 6 inch guns like this one.
What was old is new again.
The Russians have always made good guns and this one looks like a doozy.