i was wondering what is today's equilivent of this gun? Does the U.S. Military have an equilivent or counterpart, as it were?
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We would have to guess that the largest gun ever fired by U.S. military was
the 16'' guns on the U.S.S. Missouri/Iowa/Wisconsin class battleships.
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/weaps/mk-7.htm
The atomic cannon was only about 11'' but got he biggest bang.
http://www.vce.com/grable.html
equivalent
shareActually, I believe the U.S. at one time had some gigantic shore rifle batteries to defend America's harbours. I saw the ones at Fortress Monroe guarding the entrance to Hampton Roads, MANY years ago, and I believe they were on the order of 30". I was in the artillery, and got to see the Atomic Cannon, but the biggest thing still in service was the 8" howitzer. The 175mm gun had the longest range.
shareDuring the War of Northern Aggression in the mid 1800's both sides had HUGE mortars. Very short barreled and very large.
During the Civil War, Horatio Ames who owned the largest forge in the US developed a way to forge cannon barrels, and built up a successful business with this product. His method using the giant Nasmyth forge was the first successful forging of cannon barrels in the world although it had been unsuccessfully tried in Europe. Some of his more successful cannon were the Dictator, and the Petersburg Express used in the siege of Petersburg, VA. He also forged many other cannon including 26 that were 14 feet long with a 7 inch rifled bore.
A favorite dream of Horatio Ames who owned the largest forge in the US was to develop a way to forge cannon barrels so he could make the biggest cannon in the world for the Union Forces; this was a behemoth with a 34 inch bore. Needless to say, it weighed several tons. It was about three-quarters complete when the Civil War ended. One of these famous mortars of Civil War fame, made at the Amesville factory, now graces the front of the Connecticut Capitol building.
Ref: http://geology.com/articles/connecticut-iron-nation-at-war.shtml
The largest "modern" guns would probably be the German railroad guns of WWII. I don't recall the caliber, but the shells weighed more than a ton. The largest was named "Leopold" and used against the Russians. A slightly smaller version was used against the Western Allies in Italy. The Americans nick-named it "Anzio Annie".
shareIn terms of effectiveness, an ordinary small 105 mm howitzer would be massively more devastating than the very crude, slow-firing muzzle loader in the movie.
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