US 30-ton universal heavy gun SPG (1919)

[Charlie_Landships]

Found a description of a vehicle project I haven't heard of before in a 1919 Handbook of Ordnance Data
(https://radionerds.com/images/7/74/1861_HANDBOOK_OF_ORDNANCE_DATA.pdf)
I've never seen a drawing of the proposed vehicle although the text is specific enough to suggest a fair bit of design
work was done. The reference to 220mm howitzers is odd - the US had none of these. Anyone heard of this beast?

Regards,

Charlie

 

[dan_inbox]

The reference to 220mm howitzers is odd - the US had none of these. Anyone heard of this beast?

The French had the Obusier 220mm M1917 Saint Chamond sur affût-chenilles. It was an SPH ready just before the end of ww1 and cancelled then.
Maybe the US Army got some sort of penis envy?

 

[Charlie_Landships]

Saint-Chamond sent the US Army Ordnance Dept a set of plans for the 220mm howitzer armed SPG. The plans have, at least in part, survived in the US Archives. Perhaps the author of the 30-ton SPG text got confused with the 240mm howitzer based on the Schneider 280mm which was under development in the US. The US version of the Saint-Chamond vehicles - the Mark IV and IVA used the US built 240mm howitzer.

The Obusier 220mm had a strange history - the first Saint-Chamond SPG appeared with this howitzer even though it was an experimental weapon. When it was sent for firing trials in the Verdun area the local army commander was so impressed he pushed for the immediate production of the SPG with the 220mm howitzer and 50 (I think) were ordered. Presumably after the usual shit fight that characterised French high command and the end of the war the order was cancelled in part because the 220mm howitzer hadn't been accepted by the French Army. This whole process was probably aggravated by Saint-Chamond testing a modified 220mm Mle 1918 which had a range comparable to the 155mm guns.

 

[Fluff]

upgraded gun carrier?