M107 175mm SP Gun

The M107 175mm self-propelled gun was part of a family of self-propelled artillery that also included the M110. The M110E2 chassis had a Depot Level upgraded chassis and drive train due to the heavier tube (E2 barrel). The 175 mm gun was used primarily to attack enemy Command, Control and Communication (C3) and Supply Trains, where its 21 mile performance outranged any common Soviet produced weapon. The M110 operated separately from the M107, with about half the effective range (even with Rocket Assisted Projectiles, RAP) but nuclear capable requiring different security, personnel in the Nuclear Personnel Reliability Program (PRP) and nuclear ammunition assembly training (N5). The M107 was the last Self Propelled Gun (high velocity, low trajectory, long range) in the U.S. Army inventory. The M110 was a Howitzer (low velocity, high trajectory, short range). Both weapons have since been replaced by 155 mm weapons like the M109, due to the fall of the Soviet Union and a change of Strategy, Tactics, (no more massive enemy tank and artillery units) and the types of conflicts/wars the United States faces (High Intensity, Guerrilla Warfare, requiring Artillery surgical strikes, not massive destruction)..

The retube from 175mm to 8 inch (short tube or long tube) had to be done above the organizational (field) level of maintenance, since the chassis also had to be upgraded. The lowest level of retube was done at the Battalion Maintenance using an overhead rail crane/winch. Retube normally occurred at Ordnance Depot Support Units. Or Depot Level, Anniston, Picatiny, Miesau. The M578 Recovery Vehicle was only used to lift the powerpack (engine) or final drives (transmission) from the hull, this was done once a month to clean the rubbish from the engine and transmission compartment covered by two aluminum deck plates. The barrels could not be replaced using a single M578 due to weight and the precise placement of the barrel (tube) into the cradle without damaging the barrel brass runners.You had to use two cranes one either end of the tube. The retubing from 175mm to 8 inch was usually accomplished by the Supporting Ordnance Company and required an overhead electric rail winch and chassis modifications for the E2 Barrel. The M578 used the same chassis and drive train components as the M107 and M110.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• M107
• field
• artillery
• guns
• US
• Army
• self-propelled
• gun

[oldsgtjoe]

I love these big guns 175MM, SP spent 4 year at 29 plams MCB. 1970 to 1974, did alot training with the 175 SP, and the M110A2 8 -inch SP , the 8 -inch can fire nuke artillery shells, that what the big brass told us,after 29 plams went to camp pendleton marine corps base, to 155MM, gun battery spent alot of times on these guns in Vietnam 1967 to 1969 but the 175MM was the king of artillery.

[scud4984]

i spent 9 years in the British Artillery firing these guns,, fantastic bit of kit. :)

[redreaper2020]

my dad used to load these.

[TheWhitetailhunter66]

HHB, 36th Arty Group, Babenhausen, Germany. march 67-march68. yes, they were great guns. left Germany for Nam in 68, assigned to HHC, lst Brigade, 25th infantry Division, Tay Ninh Base camp. 2Bn,32nd artillery, had these big guns along with the 8" howitzer. They rained hell on Victor Charlie and the North Vietnamese army. After the 24 hours Christmas cease fire in 68, it was these big guns that were the lst to let charlie know that the game was back on.

[MuskiePat]

I also served with 2nd BN/ 5th FA in Babenhausen when the conversion was made. I was a Mechanic with Charlie Battery. Those were great guns.

[bestamerica]

'

today in america still have a 175mm big gun today

[kqr573v2]

My bro was in the 3rd 175mm gun battery, 11th Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Danang, 1969.

[rokerwarrior]

@PliskinLee

147.8lb (2 square) max range 32.8km.

[BtlGeo]

I served in one of the two last 175mm gun battalions in the US Army. The 2nd Battalion, 5th FA, in Babenhausen, (West) Germany and the 6th Battalion, 9th FA, in Giessen, continued to use these guns until 1980. The V Corps Commander, to whom these battalions belonged, wanted to retain their 32.8 kilometer range because the "long-tube" 8-in howitzer was originally fielded without its muzzle brake and couldn't achieve its max range. When the muzzle brakes were fielded, we converted our guns.

[BtlGeo]

I actually witnessed the changing of 175mm gun tubes for 8 inch howitzer tubes in my battalion motor pool. The tubes were suspended from slings held by two five-ton wreckers. Two large nuts that held the tube to the recoil and counterrecoil cylinders were removed and the chassis was literally driven out from under the tube. Each one took less than an hour. The only other changes that needed to be made were to adjust the nitrogen pressure in the equilibrators and install the new sights.

[BtlGeo]

The 175mm gun used on this chassis was not originally a naval gun. It was specifically developed as an Army weapon. It was specifically designed to be readily interchangeable with the 8 inch howitzer tube. When I was a young lieutenant, my first sergeant told me that the battalion he was assigned to in Vietnam maintained both sets of tubes on hand and interchanged them regularly.

[sitwosaints]

Badaa bdoo whom woom. Nice to make your acquaintance, sir, and bdoom bdoom atcha. Doowop is a sadly neglected American art form, and should be cherished for the folk art that it is. Best wishes for Christmas xx