Big Artillery Cannon

I just had a friend call me astounded at a huge cannon that he just saw rolling down the US Missouri interstate. In his words " the %$#*(%$ muzzle break was bigger than the hood of my truck and the barrel is about 60ft long and about 3ft thick at the base".

He told me that it appeared to be mounted directly to the trailer and was pulled by a military road tractor. He said it made the howitzers that he has seen look tiny.
I asked him what color it was and he said it was green and camo painted and appeared to be brand new was pulled by what looked like a military road tractor.

Unless he was exaggerating greatly this thing dwarfs the m777.
I am aware the the US army had developed the "atomic cannon" in the 50s but I did not think that they were equipped with a muzzle break.
I thought perhaps it is a military display ornament of some kind?

Any idea what it could have been?

reply to post by Heckman


Sounds like a movie prop, or as you said some kind of ornament.

The atomic cannon the US made is mounted on a rail car at Aberdeen Proving Grounds outdoor museum. It ain't going on the highway. (And has no muzzle brake.)

reply to post by Heckman


Where in Missouri was this? There's no place to test the thing, so it almost has to be a static display being moved.

hi - if the dimensions are correct - this movment would have required a special movement order - both for overall length AND weight if it was a steel barrel , not a prop

the barrel of a typical naval rifle wrights 100 to 150 tons

the local press would have covered it

and local police would have had to provide an escort / traffic management

you cannot simply tow a 60 foot pluss load around on a whim

look in your local paper

When did they put Atomic Annie on a railroad car? Last time I checked, the one at Aberdeen was displayed on her carriage, with her prime mover units attached.

As for what that was going down a Missouri highway, I think your friend might have been exaggerating the dimensions a bit...as was pointed out above, a 60' load would require outriders to travel on the highway, and most guns of that length don't have muzzle brakes (for a variety of reasons)

Originally posted by kaiheitain
Sounds like a movie prop, or as you said some kind of ornament.
The atomic cannon the US made is mounted on a rail car at Aberdeen Proving Grounds outdoor museum. It ain't going on the highway. (And has no muzzle brake.)

They did make a truck / trailer mounted version as well. atomic cannon

I questioned him some more about what he saw. He said that it was traveling alone without convoy on I70 east of Columbia and that the barrel starting toward the back of the trailer stuck up and over the truck pulling it.

Originally posted by Brother Stormhammer
As for what that was going down a Missouri highway, I think your friend might have been exaggerating the dimensions a bit...as was pointed out above, a 60' load would require outriders to travel on the highway, and most guns of that length don't have muzzle brakes (for a variety of reasons)

This guy is not prone to exaggeration and knows his measurements very well by laying phone line measured in footage daily so I doubt his estimates are far off. Normal tractor trailers here in the US often are well over 70ft in length with the normal 53ft trailer and tractor combined.

Due to the lack of a convoy I am guessing that it is a ornament or movie prop as kaiheitain mentioned.

[edit on 7-3-2008 by Heckman]

There's weird # on America's highways and roadways. I once had to stop for a train in Wilkes-Barre, PA, while the train hauled (at no more than 4 mph) what I can only describe as one of the shuttle's SRBs wrapped in plastic. Except that was the only time I'd ever had to stop for a train during the day, and there's no rocket manufacturer anywhere in that part of the country... Heaven knows what it really was.

And as for the atomic cannon - it may have been on some kind of proprietary truck. I saw it ten years ago and am recalling from memory to that might have been it.

reply to post by Heckman


Actually, they never made a rail carriage version of "Atomic Annie"...all of the ones that were built used a prime mover unit on each end of the carriage for transport.

As for trucking regulations in the US, I'm depressingly familiar with them. My father was a professional driver for a couple of decades, and I've driven everything from four wheels to eighteen working on farms.

Originally posted by Brother Stormhammer

Actually, they never made a rail carriage version of "Atomic Annie"...all of the ones that were built used a prime mover unit on each end of the carriage for transport.

Ahh I had only seen pictures of the M65 on the transport carriage that you mentioned however I have never seen one in person and did not know if they did or did not have a rail mounted version.

As for trucking regulations in the US, I'm depressingly familiar with them. My father was a professional driver for a couple of decades, and I've driven everything from four wheels to eighteen working on farms.

Im not following what you are trying to say. Are you saying road tractor and trailer lengths do not exceed 70ft as I mentioned? Or are you just agreeing and letting me know that you already knew what I had said?

Btw no hostility intended here im just wondering what you are trying to say.

I doubt it was a cannon barrel it would ,as someone mentioned earlier, weigh in the realm of 150 tons.
It would require a very specialized trailer.
We dont make cannon barrels that large anymore and they dont have muzzle breaks either.
It was likely a well casing the part that looked like a muzzle break could have been a backflow preventer, or some other piece of pipe construction.