The 95 mm howitzer M1753, called secret howitzer or Shuvalov's secret howitzer, was an 18th-century
Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
cannon
A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...
, a type of
muzzle-loading
A muzzleloader is any firearm in which the user loads the projectile and the propellant charge into the muzzle end of the gun (i.e., from the forward, open end of the gun's barrel). This is distinct from the modern designs of breech-loading fire ...
howitzer
The howitzer () is an artillery weapon that falls between a cannon (or field gun) and a mortar. It is capable of both low angle fire like a field gun and high angle fire like a mortar, given the distinction between low and high angle fire break ...
, devised and introduced into service by artillery commander, General
Peter Ivanovich Shuvalov.
Shuvalov's gun had an unusual, oval bore, which was designed to facilitate shot dispersal while firing
canisters and therefore to increase the
beaten zone. A special canister round produced for the cannon contained 168 balls; a
grapeshot
In artillery, a grapeshot is a type of ammunition that consists of a collection of smaller-caliber round shots packed tightly in a canvas bag and separated from the gunpowder charge by a metal wadding, rather than being a single solid projectile ...
version, with 48 larger balls, was also provided for shooting at 300–600 yards distance.
The name of the gun comes from the great secrecy which surrounded it. While not in use, the muzzle was covered with a lid to hide its unusual shape.
The
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
was set as the punishment for revealing the secret of the weapon.
History
The first guns built used
quoins
Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th-century encyclopedia, ...
for changing the elevation, but in 1753–1758
turnscrews were introduced. Originally they had cylindrical powder chambers like howitzers, but guns produced after 1758 had conical chambers like
licornes.
The guns proved quite effective in action during
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...
, especially at
Gross-Jägersdorf, but some were lost to Prussians at
Zorndorf (thus revealing their secret).
Originally used by the Observation Corps and howitzer units, in 1759 they were attached to the infantry regiments; however, next year the decision was reversed.
Secret howitzers were withdrawn from service soon after the death of their inventor,
in the 1780s.
Usage
In practice the shot dispersal was hardly better than of ordinary guns, reloading was slower, and the inability of the cannon to fire any other projectiles hampered its effectiveness.
Slow reloading was the reason given for the loss of 17 of these guns at Zorndorf, where they were overrun by cavalry before they could fire a second shot.
There were some
shot and
shells produced for it, looking like
rugby ball
A rugby ball is an elongated ellipsoidal ball used in both codes of rugby football. Its measurements and weight are specified by World Rugby and the Rugby League International Federation, the governing bodies for both codes, rugby union and rugby ...
s, but they found no practical use. Adding yet another type of ammunition created an additional burden for logistics.
See also
*
Licorne
References
{{Reflist
Cannon
Artillery of the Russian Empire