Vladimir Baranovsky is the founder of rapid-fire artillery. Baranovsky rapid-fire cannon Background to the development of the gun

Fate gave this talented inventor, whose ideas were years ahead of technical thought, an insignificantly short time. But even by his incomplete 33 years, when his life was tragically cut short, Vladimir Baranovsky managed to make a number of outstanding discoveries. A special place among them is occupied by the 2.5-inch cannon, which marked the advent of the era of rapid-fire artillery. And the principles laid down during its creation were subsequently borrowed in many countries around the world and are still considered a classic rapid-fire artillery scheme.

In fact, the life path of Vladimir Stepanovich Baranovsky, born on September 1, 1846, was predetermined with early childhood. He inherited his passion for invention from his father, a professor at the University of Helsingfors, a multi-talented scientist and writer Stepan Ivanovich Baranovsky, also known for a number of his technical inventions. WITH youth Under the mentorship of his father, Vladimir learned with interest the basics of mathematics and mechanics, very soon becoming an active assistant in the work on technical discoveries.

Already at the age of 14, he participated in the creation of the “Baranovsky spirit scooter” - a self-propelled cart powered by compressed air energy.

In 1862, this motor locomotive even transported small trains along Nikolaevskaya railway. Developing the use of compressed air, father and son Baranovsky in the same years invented a pneumatic engine for I.F. Aleksandrovsky’s submarine, which was successfully tested in 1868.

Vladimir Baranovsky received his education by attending public lectures at one of the Parisian institutes, and as a volunteer student at St. Petersburg University.

Later, the young inventor entered the mechanical products plant of A.I. Shpakovsky in St. Petersburg, and then the machine-building plant of Ludwig Nobel, the elder brother of the founder Nobel Prize Alfred Nobel.

Vladimir Baranovsky invented a drainage machine for working in gold mines, a special type of fire pipe, a hydraulic remote control and made a number of other discoveries.

But he entered the history of domestic and world engineering, first of all, with his innovative developments in the field of artillery.

For example, in 1872, having converted a 10-barrel cannon shotgun by the American designer Gatling into a 6-barrel cannon, Vladimir Baranovsky managed to increase its rate of fire from 300 to 600 rounds per minute.

Also, since the early 1870s, the Russian inventor has been working on creating his own artillery systems.

The result was the emergence of a whole family of 2.5-inch (63.5 mm) artillery systems that marked the beginning of rapid-fire artillery: the light horse gun, the mountain gun, and the amphibious assault gun.

In the design of these guns, a piston bolt with a self-cocking striker, a safety lock to prevent accidental firing, and unitary loading with extraction were used for the first time spent cartridges, impact method charge ignition, recoilless carriage, optical sight instead of a conventional front sight, high-speed rotating and lifting mechanisms and other improvements. When firing from Vladimir Baranovsky's cannons, two types of ammunition were used: double-walled ring cast iron grenades and shrapnel.

The rate of fire of such a weapon was 5 rounds per minute, which was the best indicator at that time.

Comparative tests of Vladimir Baranovsky's mountain gun and the German 75-mm Krupp mountain gun carried out in 1878 showed the superiority of the Russian gun. An order was received from the military department for the production of 40 such guns to form four batteries. In the same year, the Navy Department placed an order for 10 landing guns, although they were officially accepted into service with the fleet only four years later.

Subsequently, all ships of the Russian fleet were armed with landing cannons designed by Vladimir Baranovsky - from gunboats to battleships.

In addition, Vladimir Baranovsky invented a machine for assembling unitary cartridges, which was used for many decades, as well as a six-barrel canister cartridge of 10.68 mm caliber.

2.5-inch rapid-fire Baranovsky cannon. Photo: MKFI

Several rapid-fire 2.5-inch horse artillery guns were sent to active army for the Russian-Turkish war. In general, having performed well in battles, these systems revealed one significant drawback of the unitary ammunition used with them. During transportation, some of the shells were dented, which cast doubt on their reliability and practical suitability.

On March 7, 1879, at a training ground near St. Petersburg, Vladimir Baranovsky tested damaged ammunition delivered from the Russian-Turkish war. A premature firing of one of these ammunition ended the life of the creator of rapid-fire guns.

This tragic event significantly slowed down the process of further development of domestic rapid-fire artillery, but it could no longer influence global trends.

The ideas of Vladimir Baranovsky formed the basis for design decisions in the field of rapid-fire artillery systems in many armies around the world.

Years later, they again found themselves in demand in Russia.

Thus, the three-inch rapid-fire gun, created according to Baranovsky’s principles in 1902 at the Putilov plant, surpassed competitors of that time in its characteristics and served for more than 30 years.

And Vladimir Baranovsky himself, in the memory of his compatriots, remained a man who was ahead of the time in which he had the opportunity to live and work.

Vadim Koval

Baranovsky, Vladimir Stepanovich

Baranovsky, Vladimir Stepanovich (1846-1879), the forerunner of modern rapid-fire artillery, who back in 1875 developed the first not only in Russia, but also abroad, a sample of a rapid-fire small-caliber field and mountain gun.

In 1867, Baranovsky served at L. Nobel’s plant in St. Petersburg, where he developed improvements in Gatling guns, adopted in 1873 in Russia in the form of rapid-fire guns; At the same time, he developed his own 2? dm. a rapid-fire cannon, approved in 1817 by both the naval and land artillery departments, which gave him an order for a certain number of these guns with all the materiel and ammunition for them.

Baranovsky's guns in the form of a 6-gun horse battery, with unitary cartridges in the combat kit, were sent in 1878 to the theater of military operations in Turkey. On the way, some cartridges received significant dents on the way, which gave rise to representatives of the artillery department to express doubts about the suitability of this innovation for field artillery and the testing of this system in the land department stopped completely when in 1879, while testing dented cartridges returning from the war, a premature shot occurred, which killed Baranovsky.

Main distinctive features Baranovsky systems: a weapon consisting of steel pipe, fastened with a casing, equipped with a piston (screw) bolt with a self-cocking spring striker when the bolt is opened (repeat mechanism), a safety device against firing when the bolt is not completely locked, and an extractor that automatically ejects the spent cartridge case when the bolt is opened. The sight is rack-mounted, ensuring accuracy and speed of installation; in addition, Baranovsky also proposed optical sighting device(for a horse cannon) in the form of a telescope with two diopters (finder for rough aiming), instead of a front sight and an ordinary sight.

The carriage of the Baranovsky cannon is rotated along the axis using a screw mechanism for accurate and fast lateral aiming. Wooden wheels with conventional (at the end XIX - early XX century) now with a metal (bronze) hub with tightly closed ends of the axle. The hydraulic compressor designed by Baranovsky for pedestal boat machines was located vertically at the bottom of the pedestal; Above was a cylinder with knurled helical springs placed on the outside. The gun was mounted with pins on a slide (upper carriage", sliding during rollback along the guides of the pedestal; the movement of the slide was transmitted to the compressor piston using a pair of chains that compressed the knurled springs. The lifting mechanism of the Baranovsky system is a double screw, according to the inventor's idea, even with a gear drive and flywheel, allowed for angles from -10° to +20°.

The ammunition consisted of: a double-walled ring cast iron grenade and an iron diaphragm shrapnel with a screw-in cast iron bottom, with 88 bullets and a 10-second remote tube. The charge in the cap was placed in a tin rolled sleeve with an iron tray, attached to the walls of the sleeve with a tray screw with a central channel for inserting the capsule.

From the description of Baranovsky’s systems it is clear that they had already outlined and implemented the main elements and principles of modern rapid-fire artillery, which for that time were so new and bold that they caused; there seems to be doubt about their applicability and the possibility of satisfactory implementation in practice. Thus, the premature death of the inventor, the unsatisfactory state of technology, which did not allow one to quickly cope with some design shortcomings (the fabrication of seamless cartridges for guns had not yet been established, smokeless

Fate gave this talented inventor, whose ideas were years ahead of technical thought, an insignificantly short time. But even at the age of less than 33, when his life was tragically cut short, Vladimir Baranovsky managed to make a number of outstanding discoveries. A special place among them is occupied by the 2.5-inch cannon, which marked the advent of the era of rapid-fire artillery. And the principles laid down during its creation were subsequently borrowed in many countries around the world and are still considered a classic rapid-fire artillery scheme.

In fact, the life path of Vladimir Stepanovich Baranovsky, born on September 1, 1846, was predetermined from early childhood. He inherited his passion for invention from his father, a professor at the University of Helsingfors, a multi-talented scientist and writer Stepan Ivanovich Baranovsky, also known for a number of his technical inventions. From a young age, under the mentorship of his father, Vladimir learned with interest the basics of mathematics and mechanics, very soon becoming an active assistant in the work on technical discoveries.

Already at the age of 14, he participated in the creation of the “Baranovsky spirit scooter” - a self-propelled cart powered by compressed air energy.

In 1862, this motor locomotive even carried small trains along the Nikolaev Railway. Developing the use of compressed air, father and son Baranovsky in the same years invented a pneumatic engine for the submarine of I.F. Aleksandrovsky, which was successfully tested in 1868.

Vladimir Baranovsky received his education by attending public lectures at one of the Parisian institutes, and as a volunteer student at St. Petersburg University.

Later, the young inventor entered the mechanical products plant of A.I. Shpakovsky in St. Petersburg, and then the machine-building plant of Ludwig Nobel, the elder brother of the founder of the Nobel Prize, Alfred Nobel.

Vladimir Baranovsky invented a drainage machine for working in gold mines, a special type of fire pipe, a hydraulic remote control and made a number of other discoveries.

But he entered the history of domestic and world engineering, first of all, with his innovative developments in the field of artillery.

For example, in 1872, having converted a 10-barrel cannon shotgun by the American designer Gatling into a 6-barrel cannon, Vladimir Baranovsky managed to increase its rate of fire from 300 to 600 rounds per minute.

Also, since the early 1870s, the Russian inventor has been working on creating his own artillery systems.

The result was a whole family of 2.5-inch (63.5 mm) artillery systems that marked the beginning of rapid-fire artillery: the light horse gun, the mountain gun, and the amphibious assault gun.

In the design of these guns, a piston breech with a self-cocking firing pin, a safety catch to prevent an accidental shot, unitary loading with extraction of spent cartridges, an impact method of igniting the charge, a recoilless carriage, an optical sight instead of a conventional front sight, high-speed rotating and lifting mechanisms and other improvements were used for the first time. When firing from Vladimir Baranovsky's cannons, two types of ammunition were used: double-walled ring cast iron grenades and shrapnel.

The rate of fire of such a weapon was 5 rounds per minute, which was the best indicator at that time.

Comparative tests of Vladimir Baranovsky's mountain gun and the German 75-mm Krupp mountain gun carried out in 1878 showed the superiority of the Russian gun. An order was received from the military department for the production of 40 such guns to form four batteries. In the same year, the Navy Department placed an order for 10 landing guns, although they were officially accepted into service with the fleet only four years later.

Subsequently, all ships of the Russian fleet were armed with landing cannons designed by Vladimir Baranovsky - from gunboats to battleships.

In addition, Vladimir Baranovsky invented a machine for assembling unitary cartridges, which was used for many decades, as well as a six-barrel canister cartridge of 10.68 mm caliber.

2.5-inch rapid-fire Baranovsky cannon. Photo: MKFI

Several fast-firing 2.5-inch horse artillery guns were sent to the active army in the Russo-Turkish War. In general, having performed well in battles, these systems revealed one significant drawback of the unitary ammunition used with them. During transportation, some of the shells were dented, which cast doubt on their reliability and practical suitability.

On March 7, 1879, at a training ground near St. Petersburg, Vladimir Baranovsky tested damaged ammunition delivered from the Russian-Turkish war. A premature firing of one of these ammunition ended the life of the creator of rapid-fire guns.

This tragic event significantly slowed down the process of further development of domestic rapid-fire artillery, but it could no longer influence global trends.

The ideas of Vladimir Baranovsky formed the basis for design decisions in the field of rapid-fire artillery systems in many armies around the world.

Years later, they again found themselves in demand in Russia.

Thus, the three-inch rapid-fire gun, created according to Baranovsky’s principles in 1902 at the Putilov plant, surpassed its competitors in its characteristics of that time and served for more than 30 years.

And Vladimir Baranovsky himself, in the memory of his compatriots, remained a man who was ahead of the time in which he had the opportunity to live and work.

Vadim Koval

Baranovsky gun- In the 1870s, Russian engineer Vladimir Stepanovich Baranovsky designed several examples of 2.5-inch (63.5 mm) rapid-fire guns for horse and mountain artillery and for arming landing ships.

History of creation

• 1872 - Two 1.5-inch rapid-fire cannons were manufactured at the Nobel factory.
• 1873 - Baranovsky, at his own expense, manufactured and tested a 2-inch rapid-fire cannon with a lifting mechanism and a bolt-action bolt firing a unitary cartridge
• 1874 - A copper 2.5-inch Baranovsky cannon, secured with a steel casing, is cast in the St. Petersburg Arsenal.
• January 11, 1875 - comparative tests of Baranovsky's steel and copper cannons showed the advantage of the steel cannon.
• 1875 - Baranovsky orders several steel 2.5-inch cannons from Karlsruhe.
• Autumn 1875 - parallel tests of the 2.5-inch Baranovsky horse gun and the 3-inch gun of the Obukhov plant.
• April 25, 1878 - the first order of the Maritime Department for 10 Baranovsky guns.
• 1882 - Baranovsky's cannon was officially adopted for service.
• 1908 - fleet and then Main artillery department abandoned the Baranovsky gun.

Gun design

In the rapid-firing guns of his system, V. S. Baranovsky has a number of innovations, thanks to which his gun became the first rapid-firing weapon of the classical design in the world:

• Recoilless carriage with hydraulic (oil) recoil brake and spring knurl
• Piston valve with self-cocking axial spring striker
• Safety lock to prevent firing when the bolt is not completely closed
• Rotating and lifting mechanisms
• Unitary loading with extraction of spent cartridges
• Optical sight Kaminsky mod. 1872 with a power of 2 diopters

The steel barrel is fastened with a casing with trunnions put on while hot. The steepness of the rifling is constant - otherwise the channel corresponds to the 1877 model. The lifting mechanism was a single screw located between the frames. To give large declination angles, a cap was put on the lifting screw.

On September 1 (13), Vladimir Stepanovich Baranovsky (1846-1879) was born - a talented Russian inventor, designer of the first rapid-fire artillery systems. The main invention of his life was the rapid-fire 2.5-inch (63.5 mm) Baranovsky cannon, designed and tested in combat conditions in the 1870s. and was officially in service until 1908. There were the following modifications of this gun: horse, mountain, and airborne.

In the guns of his system, Baranovsky introduced a number of innovations, thanks to which his gun became the world's first rapid-firing weapon of the classical design. These innovations were as follows:

Recoilless carriage with a hydraulic (oil) recoil brake and a spring knurl;
- piston bolt with self-cocking axial spring striker;
- a fuse to prevent a shot if the bolt is not tightly closed;
- rotating and lifting mechanism (with screw and gear drives to move the barrel in vertical and horizontal directions);
- unitary loading with extraction of spent cartridges;
- optical sight Kaminsky mod. 1872 with a power of 2 diopters, replacing the classic front and rear sights.





Baranovsky's guns were used during Russian-Turkish War 1877-1878 (2 guns), during the suppression of the Yihetuan uprising in China 1900-1901. and in Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905 (landing version of the gun).

Unfortunately, the life of a talented engineer was cut short very early: Vladimir Stepanovich Baranovsky died on March 7 (19), 1879 on the Volkovo Field in St. Petersburg while testing new unitary cartridges for a rapid-fire cannon returned from the war, which had misfired.

Baranovsky's invention was ahead of its time. In the 1880s. the design principles of Baranovsky's guns were borrowed by all countries. And in Russian Empire The design of the famous “three-inch” (3-inch field rapid-fire gun of the 1902 model) was entirely based on the principles developed by V.S. Baranovsky.

Tactical and technical characteristics of the 2.5-inch gun:

Caliber - 2.5 inches (63.5 mm)
Barrel length - 1260/19.8 mm/club
Barrel length - 1070/16.8 mm/club
Length of the threaded part - 778 mm
Number of grooves - 20
Rifling steepness - 30 calibers
Rifling depth - 0.635 mm
Initial projectile speed - 427 m/s
Table firing range - 1830 m
Maximum firing range - 2800 m
Lock weight - 8.4 kg
Barrel weight with lock - 106 kg
Weight of the gun in firing position - 272 kg,
Rate of fire - 5 shots/min.