Quick-firing cannon of McClean's 37 calibre
Other known but incorrect name variants: McLean, MacLean, Maklina, Puska-Maklen, пушка Малена.
Brief history - in progress - please bear with me for a moment.
Development ...
Russia ...
Legion and BM Rcs ...
According to surviving documents, 7 McClean cannons arrived from Siberia. The Czechoslovak military administration took them into their armament and used two names for their designation:
- the distorted name: Maklina cannon
- or the corrupted American name: Mclean
I assume that the McClean guns were used for training in the 1920s and then were transferred to the "reserve". Five pieces were retained by the VS in its deposits and two pieces went into the collections of the newly established Liberation Memorial in Žižkov.
In 1938, the Czechoslovak Armed Forces used 5 McClean guns to arm a company of escort guns of Frontier Battalion No. 50. The guns were to be used until the American ammunition was used up. Then they were to be replaced by more modern ones. Border Battalion No. 50 was established on 15 July 1938 in Bratislava and was intended to fight in the fortified area of Petržalka. The further fate of these five guns is unknown.
The same interesting fate befell the exhibits of the Liberation Memorial. Both survived the war unscathed in the depositories of the museum closed by the Germans and after the war became part of the collections of the military museum. At present, the Military History Institute owns only one incomplete piece - exhibit 5791. The second cannon is said to have been scrapped in an unspecified year.
ZTD
- gun calibre: 37 mm
- weight of the weapon: 303,837 kg (18 poods, 22 lbs)
- barrel length: 1850 mm, d/50
- Barrel length with threaded barrel: 1565 mm
- barrel weight: 44,597 kg (2 poods, 29 lbs)
- weight of gun body (upper receiver ?): 81,896 kg (5 poods)
- Sight: 9° (± 4° 30')
- Bearing: -5° to +15°
- barrel height: 762 mm
Lafette
- weight of the baton: 139,607 kg (8 poods, 21 lb)
- Shield weight: 34,78 kg (2 poods, 27 lbs)
- Wheel diameter: 1041 mm
- Wheel hoop width: ~41 mm
- Wheel base: 1207 mm
Ammunition:
- 37x137R mm
- muzzle velocity: 650 m/sec.
- 152 MPa (1500 atm.)
- Target range: 3200 m (3 versts)
- Max. range at 15° elevation: 5334 m (5 versts)
- rate of fire: 50 to 100 rounds per minute
Sights
- single with manually adjustable sight (crosshairs) and reticle
Sources
Samuel N. McClean of Cleveland, Ohio: Gun-Carriage, US Patent No. 862 502, 1907
J. Jedlička, Lt.: 37 mm Maklina rapid-fire gun, maintenance and service manuscript, edition Military Library of the 2nd Rifle Regiment of George of Poděbrady, year of writing ca. 1920
George M. Chinn: The Machine Gun, vol. 1, Bureau of Ordnance, Department of the Navy, USA 1951
Aljeksandr B. Shirokorad: Enciklopjedija otječjestjestvjennoj artilljerii, ed. Charvjest, Minsk 2000, ISBN 985-1337030
Ian V. Hogg: Machine Guns - 14th Century to Present, Krause Publications, USA 2002, ISBN 978-0873492881
James H. Willbanks: Machine Guns, ed. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara 2004, ISBN 1-85109-485-7
Jiří Fidler, Václav Sluka: Encyklopedie branné moci Republiky československé 1920-1938 (Encyclopaedia of the Defence Forces of the Czechoslovak Republic 1920-1938), publisher. Libri, Prague 2006, ISBN 978-8072772568
Jiří Janoušek: Notes on the armament of legionary trains, manuscript from about 2008
Internet
http://armada.vojenstvi.cz/predvalecna/cisla/6.htm
http://artilleria.net.ru/03/37_1916/index.html
brannamoc1938garda.webnode.cz
http://ww1.milua.org/R37Macleana.htm
www.archivingindustry.com
http://www.converter.cz/prevody/hmotnost.htm
www.greatwardifferent.com
http://www.municion.org/37x137R/37x137R.htm
www.network54.com-
http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/ammotable5.htm
Other known but incorrect name variants: McLean, MacLean, Maklina, Puska-Maklen, пушка Малена.
Brief history - in progress - please bear with me for a moment.
Development ...
Russia ...
Legion and BM Rcs ...
According to surviving documents, 7 McClean cannons arrived from Siberia. The Czechoslovak military administration took them into their armament and used two names for their designation:
- the distorted name: Maklina cannon
- or the corrupted American name: Mclean
I assume that the McClean guns were used for training in the 1920s and then were transferred to the "reserve". Five pieces were retained by the VS in its deposits and two pieces went into the collections of the newly established Liberation Memorial in Žižkov.
In 1938, the Czechoslovak Armed Forces used 5 McClean guns to arm a company of escort guns of Frontier Battalion No. 50. The guns were to be used until the American ammunition was used up. Then they were to be replaced by more modern ones. Border Battalion No. 50 was established on 15 July 1938 in Bratislava and was intended to fight in the fortified area of Petržalka. The further fate of these five guns is unknown.
The same interesting fate befell the exhibits of the Liberation Memorial. Both survived the war unscathed in the depositories of the museum closed by the Germans and after the war became part of the collections of the military museum. At present, the Military History Institute owns only one incomplete piece - exhibit 5791. The second cannon is said to have been scrapped in an unspecified year.
ZTD
- gun calibre: 37 mm
- weight of the weapon: 303,837 kg (18 poods, 22 lbs)
- barrel length: 1850 mm, d/50
- Barrel length with threaded barrel: 1565 mm
- barrel weight: 44,597 kg (2 poods, 29 lbs)
- weight of gun body (upper receiver ?): 81,896 kg (5 poods)
- Sight: 9° (± 4° 30')
- Bearing: -5° to +15°
- barrel height: 762 mm
Lafette
- weight of the baton: 139,607 kg (8 poods, 21 lb)
- Shield weight: 34,78 kg (2 poods, 27 lbs)
- Wheel diameter: 1041 mm
- Wheel hoop width: ~41 mm
- Wheel base: 1207 mm
Ammunition:
- 37x137R mm
- muzzle velocity: 650 m/sec.
- 152 MPa (1500 atm.)
- Target range: 3200 m (3 versts)
- Max. range at 15° elevation: 5334 m (5 versts)
- rate of fire: 50 to 100 rounds per minute
Sights
- single with manually adjustable sight (crosshairs) and reticle
Sources
Samuel N. McClean of Cleveland, Ohio: Gun-Carriage, US Patent No. 862 502, 1907
J. Jedlička, Lt.: 37 mm Maklina rapid-fire gun, maintenance and service manuscript, edition Military Library of the 2nd Rifle Regiment of George of Poděbrady, year of writing ca. 1920
George M. Chinn: The Machine Gun, vol. 1, Bureau of Ordnance, Department of the Navy, USA 1951
Aljeksandr B. Shirokorad: Enciklopjedija otječjestjestvjennoj artilljerii, ed. Charvjest, Minsk 2000, ISBN 985-1337030
Ian V. Hogg: Machine Guns - 14th Century to Present, Krause Publications, USA 2002, ISBN 978-0873492881
James H. Willbanks: Machine Guns, ed. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara 2004, ISBN 1-85109-485-7
Jiří Fidler, Václav Sluka: Encyklopedie branné moci Republiky československé 1920-1938 (Encyclopaedia of the Defence Forces of the Czechoslovak Republic 1920-1938), publisher. Libri, Prague 2006, ISBN 978-8072772568
Jiří Janoušek: Notes on the armament of legionary trains, manuscript from about 2008
Internet
http://armada.vojenstvi.cz/predvalecna/cisla/6.htm
http://artilleria.net.ru/03/37_1916/index.html
brannamoc1938garda.webnode.cz
http://ww1.milua.org/R37Macleana.htm
www.archivingindustry.com
http://www.converter.cz/prevody/hmotnost.htm
www.greatwardifferent.com
http://www.municion.org/37x137R/37x137R.htm
www.network54.com-
http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/ammotable5.htm
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Print size / 300 DPI | - |
Published with authors permit | - |
Author Website | - |
Period | - |
Type | - |
Camouflage | - |
Country | - |
Production No. | - |
Poznávací značka / evidenční číslo | - |
Tactical marking | - |
Name | - |
Unit | - |
Date (DD.MM.RRRR) | - |
Author | - |
Print size / 300 DPI | - |
Published with authors permit | - |
Author Website | - |