Devastating Air Land Sea Weapons

The twentieth and twenty first centuries have seen their share of devastating weapons of mass destruction. In fact some of the weaponry described below, were as dangerous to the men firing them as they were to the targets that were being aimed at.

All war has one basic strategy: amassing the most amount of fire power possible to create the maximum destruction of the enemy. All battle tactics, mobility, supply, manpower, maneuverability, and even surprise are subjected to that principle to determine their feasibility. Throughout history ingenious minds have devised ways to create weapons with greater killing power.

Similar ingenious minds are at work in the twenty-first century devising ways to now create the maximum destruction on the internet. Worms, viruses, zombie robots, plus all sorts of other insidious means to gather data unlawfully abound. Part of the work I do for the software development firm I work for is to protect our clients from such attacks. And part of my work is customized Salesforce application development. Salesforce provides on-demand customer relationship management (CRM) software services to help companies with global customer communication. That's right...global communications. Most large companies as well as small ones often ask experts in this powerful platform to help implement and customize it for them. Software developer techies such as myself turn the company's Salesforce org into a workflow powerhouse. All the techs on my team are experienced in all aspects of custom application development and integration on the Force.com platform. We build custom applications, as well as responsive Salesforce employee-facing mobile enterprise apps on Force.com. Ingenious minds can also work for the good of mankind, keeping at bay the darker forces.

SNCASE SE.100
by Mitch on November 13, 2011

The SNCASE SE 100 was a French two-seat, twin-engined fighter which first flew in 1939. Mass production was planned to begin late in 1940 but the Fall of France prevented this.

The origins of the SE.100 predate the creation of the SNCASE (Sud-Est) company in the nationalisations of 1937. It was designed by Pierre Mercier and Jacques Lecarme at Lioré et Olivier, initially designed the LeO 50. Underpowered by two Gnome-Rhône 14M engines, the design was recast to use the more powerful Gnome-Rhône 14N-20 and -21 engines, the same used in the Lioré et Olivier LeO 451 bomber, and renamed the SE.100. The aircraft was of conventional all-metal construction, mid-wing layout. As with most French twin-engined aircraft of the era, the engines were handed, one airscrew rotating clockwise and the other anti-clockwise, to minimise torque. The aircraft had a twin tail. In production models it was planned to ..

 

Skoda 149-mm vz 37 Howitzer (K4)
by Mitch on March 29, 2011

Škoda 149 mm K4 howitzer, also known as 15 cm hruba houfnice vzor 37 in Czechoslovakia and as the 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 37(t) in German service. On display at "King Ferdinand" National Military Museum in Bucharest, Romania.

By the early 1930s the Skoda works at Pilsen in Czechoslovakia were in a position to design, develop and produce entirely new artillery pieces that owed nothing to the old World War I weapons that had hitherto been the company's main output. By 1933 they had produced, among other things, an entirely new 149-mm (5.87-in) range of howitzers known as the 'K' series. The first of these, the Kl, was produced in 1933 and the entire output of these vz 33 weapons went for export to Turkey, Romania and Yugoslavia. The Kl was a thoroughly modern piece with a heavy split trail, and was designed for either horse or ….

Skoda 220-mm Howitzer
by Mitch on March 29, 2011

Skoda 220 mm howitzer, German designation 22 cm Mörser 538(j)/(p).

Whereas the Skoda vz 37 howitzer was a completely new design, the slightly earlier Skoda 220-mm howitzer was very much a product that had its origins in earlier days. In the period up to 1918, when the Skoda works were the largest armament producers for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Pilsen works had been only slightly behind the German Krupp concern in the manufacture of really heavy artillery, and the heavy Skoda howitzers were second to none in overall efficiency. Thus when the Skoda works started production again the 'classic' howitzer was one of its main products.

However, the accent was no longer on heavy calibres alone. Despite their dreadful efficiency in demolishing fortifications, such equipments were ponderous beasts to move and their rate of fire was extremely slow. They were also fearfully expensive, so when some of the ...

 

LVT 4
by Mitch on November 4, 2011

LVT-4 Water Buffalo, British designation Buffalo IV (1943)

LVT 4: A disadvantage of the original LVT 1 and 2 designs had been the rear mounted engine and central cargo space which meant that troops and stores were loaded over the side of the vehicle and that there were thus limitations on the sort of item which could be loaded. The LVT 4 was basically the LVT(A) 2 modified by having its engine moved forward and resited immediately behind the driving compartment. The transom was then replaced by a ramp operated by a hand winch. This now allowed troops and stores to be loaded through the stern of the vehicle. It could carry 30 troops (compared to 18 in the LVT 2) and light vehicles (eg, Jeep, Universal Carrier) or field guns. This type was first used at Saipan in mid-1944, and was also used in Italy and NW Europe ...
 

Electronic Battle
by Mitch on November 4, 2011

Knickebein transmitter ground station. Many were built along the coast of occupied Europe.

LORENZ

A prewar, civilian radio beam navigation system adapted as a bomber aid by both the RAF and Luftwaffe. It comprised a radio signal broadcast by the airfield and received passively by approaching aircraft. It had a limited range of about 20 miles. Its main importance was to aid wartime development of the Knickebein and X-Gerät beam systems.

KNICKEBEIN

A Luftwaffe electronic navigation aid for night bombers in which two directional radio beams were broadcast to intersect over a target in Britain. The bombers followed one beam—guided by Morse dots and dashes—until it met the second, then released their bomb load. It was an advance in both range and accuracy on the prewar Lorenz blind-landing system used by civil aviation. By July 1940, the RAF developed a counter, code-named “Aspirin,” which imposed a British beam.

 

P2V Neptunes Part I
by Mitch on October 30, 2011

The Lockheed P-2 Neptune (originally designated P2V until September 1962) was a Maritime patrol and ASW aircraft. It was developed for the United States Navy by Lockheed to replace the Lockheed PV-1 Ventura and PV-2 Harpoon, and being replaced in turn with the Lockheed P-3 Orion. Designed as a land-based aircraft, the Neptune never made a carrier landing, although a small number of aircraft were converted and deployed as carrier launched stop-gap nuclear bombers which would have to ditch or recover at land bases. The type was successful in export and saw service with several armed forces.

Development began early in World War II, but compared to other aircraft in development at the time, it was considered a low priority. It was not until 1944 that the program went into full swing. A major factor in the design was ease of manufacture and maintenance, and this may have been a

 

P2V Neptunes Part II
by Mitch on October 30, 2011

The third production P2V-1 was chosen for a record-setting mission, ostensibly to test crew endurance and long-range navigation but also for publicity purposes: to display the capabilities of the Navy's latest patrol bomber. Its nickname was "The Turtle," which was painted on the aircraft's nose (along with a cartoon of a turtle smoking a pipe pedaling a device attached to a propeller). However, in press releases immediately before the flight, the Navy referred to it as "The Truculent Turtle".

Loaded with fuel in extra tanks fitted in practically every spare space in the aircraft, "The Turtle" set out from Perth, Australia to the United States. With a crew of four (and a nine-month-old gray kangaroo, a gift from Australia for the Washington, D.C. zoo) the aircraft set off on 9 September 1946, with a RATO (rocket-assisted takeoff). Two and a half days (55h, 18m ...

Breda Type 102 - Semovente Ruotato da 90/53 Breda 501
by Mitch on March 4, 2011

Mounted on the Semovente Tipo-102, a six-wheeled armoured Tank Destroyer. The vehicle may have been based on the Dovunque truck, it had a well sloped front and an open fighting compartment. A variant of the same vehicle mounted the 90/53 gun, but it is not certain that either of them were used in combat.

In late 1941, the Breda Tipo 102 Autocannone Blindato 76/48 was created by mounting a 76/48 mod 41 anti-tank gun on a modified Camion Protetto 41 chassis. The major drawback, as with many self-propelled gun types of World War II, was the open top and sides of the gun compartment (the side panels could be folded down to allow the gun to traverse), which left the gun crew exposed to shrapnel and small arms fire.

 

Z SPECIAL UNIT ‘SNAKE’ Boats
by Mitch on October 26, 2011

HMA Ships Kuru, Tiger Snake, River Snake, Black Snake, Sea Snake, Grass Snake, Diamond Snake, Mother Snake, Taipan, Krait, Kuru, Alatna, Karina, Nyanie, Misima, Motor Work Boats (AM) 1830, 1629, 1983, 1985, 2003, 2004.

The activities of "Z" special Forces and the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD) have become as much part of Australia's military history as Gallipoli and Tobruk. "Z" special Force were Australian Army Commandos; SRD was a grab-bag of boats of all shapes and sizes crewed by the RAN, and it was their task to assist "Z" Special Forces with transport, reconnaissance, supply, insertion and so on. Operations saw various parts of the force involved in raids into Singapore Harbour, the Celebes, Timor and Borneo, the pace of operations increasing steadily towards the end of the war.

In the hard times of 1942 and 1943, when the Australians, British and Americans were struggling to contain Japanese

 

Soviet Union – WWII Machine Guns
by Mitch on October 24, 2011

The SG43 was designed by P.M. Goryunovin 1942 to provide a wartime replacement for the elderly Maxim Model 1910, and even used the old Maxim’s wheeled carriage.

The Degtyerev DP Model 1928 was a major Soviet light machine-gun during World War II. Simple and robust, the DP could stand rough treatment and extremes of weather. It can still be found in the hands of guerrilla groups all over the world.

The Soviets entered the war with a mix of medium Maxims and light Degtyarevs, with the DShK being produced to replace the Maxims. However, when the Red Army attacked Finland in the 1939 Winter War, its DP and DT machine guns did not operate as well as hoped in the cold environment. They experienced major problems, especially the failure of return springs. Several quick fixes were tried but proved unsatisfactory. Eventually, the spring design and placement were radically redesigned.

 

Multiple Launch Rocket System (227-MM MLRS) – The Gridsmasher
by Mitch on September 19, 2011

About 90 MLRS launchers were committed to Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, with more than 10,000 rockets fired during battle. The military report Desert Score summarizes of this system, “The MLRS is also identified as the M270 Armored Vehicle Mounted Rocket Launcher (AVMRL). It consists of an M269 Launcher Loader Module (LLM) with two 6-cell rocket Launch Pods/Containers (LP/c) mounted on an M993 carrier vehicle. Its role is to bombard enemy formations from as far as 20 miles (32 km) away. A full salvo of twelve 227 mm ripple-fired rockets with the Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM) submunition warhead will saturate a 60-acre (24 hectare) area with 8,256 anti-personnel bomblets in less than one minute.” The editors of Jane’s Weapons Systems, 1989–89 write, “The multiple launch rocket system is a highly mobile automatic rocket system developed to enable a firing crew with a minimum….

 

Skoda 149-mm vz 37 Howitzer (K4)
by Mitch on March 29, 2011

Škoda 149 mm K4 howitzer, also known as 15 cm hruba houfnice vzor 37 in Czechoslovakia and as the 15 cm schwere Feldhaubitze 37(t) in German service. On display at "King Ferdinand" National Military Museum in Bucharest, Romania.

By the early 1930s the Skoda works at Pilsen in Czechoslovakia were in a position to design, develop and produce entirely new artillery pieces that owed nothing to the old World War I weapons that had hitherto been the company's main output. By 1933 they had produced, among other things, an entirely new 149-mm (5.87-in) range of howitzers known as the 'K' series. The first of these, the Kl, was produced in 1933 and the entire output of these vz 33 weapons went for export to Turkey, Romania and Yugoslavia. The Kl was a thoroughly modern piece with a heavy split trail, and was designed for either horse or ….