V2.00˙˙ŒBMobile 80cm Siege Howitzer HOWITZ-80Ç jÔL§ŽDDBBBGH 005 2 3 3— 2TŒ (˛Rheinmetall Arms 'Big Bertha'°Ž Since its construction in 3015, the 800mm (80cm) howitzer has become the most famous artillery piece in Royalist space, equalling the fame that the Long Tom enjoys in the rest of the Inner Sphere. Though it is an incredibly bulky system, it has approximately double the Long Tom's firepower, and is fully capable of reducing Star League era armoured bunkers to little more than heaps of rubble. Even though new self-propelled carrier vehicles have been developed for offensive operations, ones that do away with the need for a caravan of support trailers, Rheinmetall Arms original mobile seige howitzer is now the Royalist Alliance's primary garrison defence weapon. The mighty 80cm gun (code-named "Big Bertha", in honour of the weapon designers wife) is not only a potent anti-fortification weapon, but has been proven deadly to targets like grounded fighters and helicopters, mechs, vehicles, road tunnels, buried bunkers, armoured hangars, fuel depots, firebases and last, but not least, assault dropships. The actual howitzer is mounted on a 70 ton tracked artillery vehicle, and this vehicle tows behind it two wheeled support trailers. The one directly behind the tractor/howitzer is the ammo carriage, which carries 30 mammoth 500kg shells for the main weapon. A series of pneumatic manipulators assist the loaders with getting the shell from the ammo store to the howitzers open breech, but there is still a lot of hard work involved for the loading crew. The final element of the caravan is the support trailer. This contains the fire control computers and facilites for the crew (bunks, supplies, chem-toilet, etc). The computers are highly sophisticated, and monitor wind direction, gun elevation, etc, which is used to contantly recompute and plot the projected hit-zone onto a real-time satellite map. This aids the gunner up in the lead vehicle immensely. The mobile howitzer has a nine man crew, the commander/communications officer, gunner/driver, engineer/chief loader, four loaders (two on the howitzer vehicle, two on the ammo carriage) and two fire control officers. Despite being seperated by the sheer size of the whole system, the crew is in constant communication with each other via an intercom and are as well an oiled machine as the howitzer itself. As the mobile howitzer serves only in garrison forces nowadays, it is not uncommon for the crew to have grown up together and joined up as a "chum squad". Despite the crew being so much smaller than that which mans the mobile Armstrong Long Tom cannon, the howitzer actually requires less time to set up. This is because it is much more self-contained, and what little "unfolding" which needs to be done is automated. őA report from a member of the Fife Brigadiers stated this in his report on the new 800mm siege cannon: - "In its first use against a stationary DropShip, the actual impact of the massive shell caused the Union to fall onto its side, achieving the objective in a unique way..." The commander of the crew responsible for firing the huge gun, reported that: - "The rounds the Union's AMS fired, although they hit the shell, were unable to alter the flight path of the mammoth 500 kg projectile."   yRheinmetall Arms "Big Bertha" 800mm Mobile Howitzer System - Gun and Tractor. Designed by James Taplin (BigglesMKIII).<800mm Rifle-HowitzerAmmo (Howitz.)35((40/10bcc4B#Ŕ' €>48544138230922014708830818‡800mm HowitzerAmmo (Howitz.)35((40/10  (4B#Ŕ' €>23519615711808205303830818‡800mm HowitzerAmmo (Howitz.)35((40/10bcc4B#Ŕ' €>51448544138230922014730818‡800mm HowitzerAmmo (Howitz.)35((40/10bcc4B#Ŕ' €>51448544138230922014730158‡Rheinmetall ArmsBlitzenWarhammer Star-TechRheinmetall Meta-FibrousWarhammer TechnologiesRheinmetall Artillery Tracker[ none ]