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wingsofwrath — FNG Fortified Line - Plate II


FNG Fortified Line - Plate II
#armor #armour #book #fng #fortification #fortress #galati #gun #illustration #military #romania #turret #focsani #fortifiedcamp #namoloasa #sereth_line
Published: 2015-04-08 02:39:39 +0000 UTC; Views: 14399; Favourites: 162; Downloads: 135
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Description This is part of a series of nine drawings made for the non-fiction book "The Fortified Region Focsani-Namoloasa-Galati" published by the Romanian Military Museum about the eponymous Fortified Line (also known in English as the "Sereth Line" and by it's abbreviation "FNG") built by Romania for defence against a presumptive Russian invasion during 1888-90.

Making full use of the natural barriers of the Carpathian Mountains to the west and the River Danube to the east in order to protect its flanks, the line was constructed along the bank of the Siret (Sereth) River in southern Moldova and consisted of three distinct fortified areas, each protecting the main river crossings. Around the town of Focsani in the west, in the foothills of  the Carpathian Mountains; in the middle around the village of Namoloasa and finally around the port town of Galati, on the bank of the Danube.

The drawing represents the gun and ammunition of the 3.7cm Schumann-Gruson Fahrpanzer from Plate I.

The gun is a quick fire falling breech piece with a calibre of 3.7cm and a barrel length of 23 calibres, or 87cm. The barrel is rifled with 12 left twisting grooves.
The breech block is manually actuated  via a lever on the right side of the gun which also doubles a a grip.
This gives the gun a theoretical rate of fire of almost 30 rounds per minute, which means that the turret's entire internal ammunition supply of 100 rounds would be exhausted by a mere three and a half minutes of continuous firing. 

The ammunition is comprised of brass cartridges filled with around 80 grams black powder and a projectile, which can be either an explosive shell or case shot.

The 67.7 gram "common" or "ordinary" bursting shell is made of cast iron, filled with black powder, fitted with a brass impact fuze. Both the cast iron body and the copper driving bands are left unpainted.

The 72 gram zinc canister shot is filled with eighteen 15mm lead balls stabilised with molten sodium acetate. There is also an aerodynamic nose cone made out of lead quarters, and the Romanian Army adopted the French fashion of painting the case shot red to distinguish it from the other type of shell, despite the fact that the country of manufacture is Germany.

The cartridge also comprises a felt disk to act as wadding behind the projectile.
Muzzle velocity is 405m/s, which gives the gun a range of 2,400m with the shell and of about 400m with the case shot.

The other drawing in this series can be found here:

Cover, showing cutaway through 5.3cm mobile gun turret
Plate I, the 3.7cm mobile gun turret and transport carriage.
Plate II, the 3.7cm gun and ammunition.

Plate III, the 5.3cm mobile gun turret in its concrete emplacement .
Plate IV, the 5.3cm mobile gun turret in transport configuration.

Plate V, the 5.3cm disappearing cupola.

Plate VI, the 5.3cm gun and ammunition.

Plate VII, the 12cm gun and mortar armoured battery.

Plate VIII, the 12cm gun and mortar and their ammunition.
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