The Cannon That Built a Truck

Developing an artillery piece that could out-shoot and out-range those of the enemy has always been the dream of modern military men. The advantage of such a gun would be tremendous. Enemy units could be safely engaged without fear of counter-battery artillery fire, and no enemy artillery would open fire for fear of being devastated by the opponent's long-range artillery pieces.

In the late 1960s, the Rock Island Arsenal began work on a revolutionary new artillery piece that would realize many of these dreams. The new gun, christened the XM-198, was a 155mm towed howitzer.

The gun was revolutionary in that the barrel did not recoil when fired but rather was pushed forward when the shell left the barrel, thus increasing the range and accuracy The gun was extremely successful in trials and, by mid- 1970s, was being deployed operationally with both the Army and the Marine Corps.

The new gun was 37' 1" long in its firing position, was 9' 2" wide, and stood 9'9" high, when locked in the traveling position. The M-198, as it was officially christened, weighed 15,795 pounds and required a crew of ten. Howevei; in action it was an awesome cannon. It could shoot conventional artillery rounds out to a range of 22,400 yards and rocket- assisted rounds out to 32,808 yards. The power and accuracy of the new 155mm towed piece put it in the same league with the self-propelled 8- inch (203mm) cannon, which could fire out to a maximum of 26,575 yards with conventional rounds.

Unfortunately the gun had some unforseen drawbacks. The heavy weight of the gun put a great strain on its prime mover, the M-54 5-ton truck. As long as the gun was on a hard surface, the truck could tow the cannon. However, in mud or wet sand the truck bogged down and often destroyed its transmission trying to move the cannon.

The government contracted for a new 5ton prime mover, at least in part to move the new cannon. The new truck, called the M923, began to appear in the late 1970s. It, too, bogged down when the gun got in deep mud or wet sand, and the transportation people were forced to increase the mobility of the truck by replacing the conventional tires with the new super single radial tires. These huge tires (500 pounds) gave increased traction and mobility across country and alleviated many of the problems.

By 1985 the new fleet of trucks was on hand and all seemed well when the artillerymen announced that the next generation of cannon, which was already on the drawing board, would be smaller and lighter than the M-198. Sometimes the cost of success can be very expensive.

Battle Briefs

USN SEALs
The Prettiest Uniform
The M-198
The Armed Transport
The Great Scud Hunt