THE WORLD’S WORST WEAPONS FROM EXPLODING GUNS TO MALFUNCTIONING MISSILESn times of war, military scientists and pioneering inventors Jexperiment with strange and new ideas. Some of these Weapons prove to be war winners. Others, however, are less. successful. The World's Worst Weapons is an entertaining and informative guide to the small arms, artillery, tanks, ships, missiles and aircraft that proved to be utter failures in battle. Examples of ill-conceived weapons include WWII Soviet dog ‘mines: dogs carrying explosives which were trained to run ‘under German tanks, which in practise preferred the tanks of their own side, with disastrous results. Or the Douglas X-3 Stiletto aircraft, designed in the 1950s to explore the ‘supersonic flight environment’ but seriously underpowered ‘and incapable of passing the speed of sound in level flight. Each weapon is illustrated with a full-page photograph, ‘annotated to show particularly bad, dangerous or unusual features. The lively text provides an insight into the history ‘and (lack of) development of each weapon, alongside archive images from the weapon's brief heyday, artwork or diagrams. Featuring some of history's weirdest, ugliest and most ‘dangerous (to the user) military equipment, tis is an excellent ‘guide to the weapons that went badly wrong. £12.99 MARTIN J. DOUGHERTY is a freelance writer and editor specializing in military and defence topics. His published works deal with subjects ranging from the history of small arms to naval warfare and private security. Eta and design by ‘Amber Books Ltd Brateys Close 74-77 White Len Street London Nt 9PF Usited Kingdom wo amberbooks.c0 uk ISBN 978-1-84013-955-6 Published by Grange Books ‘An imprint of Grange Books Lid The Grange Kingsnorth Insta Estate Hoo, ne Rochester Kent MES 9ND ‘wo gragabooks co.uk PICTURE CREDIT: Front: Szare-Berwick Armoured Car, 1915 Ust-Tet/Aeroepace) Beck: (to) M-65 atomic howitzer 1951 (At-TechvMars), oto) M4 Sherman ‘DO’ tank, 194 (TRH Pictures) Pris nasserTHE WORLD’S WORST WEAPONS FROM EXPLODING GUNS TO MALFUNCTIONING MISSILESPONS Ss o ARMAMENT: 1 xspartnpeds DISPLACEMENT: 1.8 rons (2 om) uses: ca A pioneer submariner stands proudly withthe hhand-poworod Hucley. The craft proved oad to the crew as wel as the intended Victim ofits fst attack.254 HIMS CAPTAIN 1870 EIN MS Caprain was a steam-powered ship mounting four 12-inch guns in evo armoured turrets and a good armour bel, a setup usually used by coast defence ships. Captain, however, was an ocean-going ship with a full sailing rig. She performed well in her trials and might have begun a revolution in ship design but for a miscalculation in her design. HMS Capeain should have had 4 rather scanty 2.5m (Bf) of freeboard, but due to excess weight her deck was ‘only 2m (fe Gin) above the water level. This was to litle for use inthe open sea. Caprain wok her designer and crew down with her in the Bay of Biscay ‘SPECIFICATIONS 1 (Oc ging inca wastip PROPULSION: —Twinscrew seam, ps fal sag ig SPEED: Ska (4 kaos) ARMOUR: 100-178 (4-7in) amour bit ARMAMENT: 4 12dnch gt in a ce DISPLACEMENT: 7068 tonne (7792 om) Users: ie HS Captain struggling against heavy seas inthe Bay of Biscay. Armoured ships ware considered unseaworthy, It was thought that thoy possossed too litle reoboard to survwe any sort of heavy soa. HMS Captain proved this theory correct.256 NOVGOROD i387: the Noogorod was an attempt 0 create a shallow-draughe coast-defence ship arn 4 with heavy guns for the protection of Russias ports and harbours. Constructed on a circular hull and powered by six engines, Novgorad had good armour and the main bartery of ewo [1-inch guns scemed formidable. However, the vessel was difficult ro control and tended to pitch violently in any sort of sea, Firing the guns made the ship rotate, and the vessel was 0 slow that when operating in a current from ascern her rudders ceased t0 function, causing her to spin ous of control. Two examples were built before the project was wisely abandoned, ‘SPECIFICATIONS vee Com ioncad wach PROPULSION: —Sicshalt ew propalion, sreeD, AMOUR: 225mm in) nour ble ARMAMENT, 2x 1Tich ganvin single moins 2 fp gs DISPLACEMENT: 2259 wonac (291 sons) UseRS: Pas Conceived in an age of innovation, Novgorod was a daring experiment that sadly dt not work in practice. The idea of # round ship was not ‘ew = many vessels have had avery {ow lengtv-to-beam rato ovar the centuries. Novgorod, however, look this to an extrome.258 HMS GORGON 1874 ae ith tension rising beeween Britain and France in 1870, and the French possession of ironclad ships, the Royal Navy put into place a number of hurried projects including HMS Gorgon. A turret ship with four Osinch guns, Gorgon, as she entered service in 1874 was a reasonable fighting vessl but a very poor seaboat Realizing that Gorgon could not function in open waters without meeting the fate of HMS Captain, the navy sent her back to the docks in the period 1886-9, from which she emerged somewhat more able to stay afloat. She then served mainly asa tend until being serapped in 1903. SPECIFICATIONS TF: Ino coal warship PROPULSION: Tinscrew team SPEED: 20k (1 os) ARMOUR: 203m (i amon eke aie points ARMAMENT: 4x 10.nch gun in oa res DISPLACEMENT: 5483 ones (3480 wom) USERS: ein |n the 1870s the main problem facing navies was ‘that n order tobe able to fight eftectivly a ship had tobe too heauly armoured to stay afloat. Whoever managed to create a viable warship that could both ‘oat and fight would dominate the seaways, 50 2 rash of experimentation was undertaken, with vory mixed results.260 USS MAINE 89 Azan ironclad turret ship armed with four 10-inch and six G-inch guns, USS Maine was a powerful asset She was sent to protect US interests in Cuba, where she exploded and sank. The incident, claimed t0 be the . sparked a war beew sult of Spanish sabotage United States. pain and the lern investigation has suggested that USS Maine blew up ” fire. She thus not only scuttled herself, but aso caused a needless war, and neously 2s a result of ammunition storage problems or a coal bunker 1g. shor. SPECIFICATIONS ree: (Ocean sing onc ahip PROPULSION: Twintew ple sre: 20.3 (164 kao) ARMOUR: 30m (2a) aeour el a th pois ARMAMENT, 4 10nc gun, DISPLACEMENT 6S13 tonnes (7180 oa users: usa The wreck of USS Maine. Her demise has been _attbuted to 2 spontaneous corcite explosion: an ‘accident tha claimed ether warehies including HS Vanguard HMS Bulwark, Kawachi and Capitan Prat In the same general period. At the time there was reason to suspect Spanish sabotage, so this explanation was accepted.© e .262 HMS INVINCIBLE 1908 ais MS invincible was the world’s frst battlecruiser. She was fast and achieved at the expense of armour protection, but the naval planners had faith that the battlecruiser could outrun a plodding battleship and ourgun an armoured cruiser Av the Bartle of Judand HMS Jnvincible failed to live up to her name when she exploded and sank, aking with her 1026 men. HMS Queen Mary, another battlecruiser, did the same a litle later, causing the British commander to exclaim that ‘there i wrong with our bloody ships today! Fact was, there had always been something badly wrong with them. ‘SPECIFICATIONS TYE: Balen PROPULSION: 4aluf grate wbics ‘SPEED: Aékah (25 kos ARMOUR: 152mm (6s) armour ble ARMAMENT, 8 124nch guns io dal moun, 165 ech ga DISPLACEMENT: 18.24 tonnes (20,00 eas) users: Bin The sleok tines of HIS Invincible and her sisters gave the impression of power and capably, Fast and well armed, these vessels seemed te be an iras dream come tre. 0 reality, however, they were simply t0 fragile forthe rote ‘they were deployed In. and ‘ufferod neawy losses263HMS RENOWN AND REPULSE 1916 TS «wo ships were the final British attempt at producing a boatlecruser design. Like others ofthe type they were fase and well armed, but poorly protect. German battlecruisers tended co carry lighter armament, but be more survivable, British designs artempred co create a barsleship without che armour the class needed. Renown was so lightly buile that she could not withstand the recoil of her ‘own 15-inch guns and needed to be beefed up in rfts. Renown scrved most (of World War Il as a carrier escort or protection for convoys. Repulse was ‘quickly sunk by Japanese aircraft off Singapore ‘SPECIFICATIONS rvres ect PROPULSION: 4s gear whines ‘SPEED, Shes 3 eo ARMOUR: 520 (Gn) armours ARMAMENT: 6% 15 och gn in wpe 17x 4nc une DISPLACEMENT: 27.986 anes (30850 tos) These boautfl ships looked great when ‘showing the fag, and their massive 15-ch guns wore certainly improssive. Indeed, those guns doterrod several convoy raids. British batlecruisers. howover, wore something ofa paper tir ~ eggshells armed with hammers, and labo to crack thelr own shels if thoy usod ther.eo ny SnK-BOATS 1916 the British steam-powered K-class submarines were fast but vietwally ‘uncontrollable, and pitched so violently when diving thar the bows could pass crush depth with the stern out of the water, K26 almos¢ killed King George VI when it dived too steeply and pushed its bows into the seabed — fortunately in shallow wacer. Five K-boats were lost, all of them to accidents. The most nocorious incidene was the "Bartle of May Island’ when the flotilla was forced to make a course change and the uncontrollable boats rammed one another during the ‘evasive manoeuvres of when turning back to help. Tivo boats were lost ‘without any enemy involvement ‘SPECIFICATIONS re. sealant PROPULSION; Twins seam mobile SPEED: {43k (23 kno) sure 7k (oe beg ARMAMENT, 10% 21-inch spo beat ad pe COMPLEMENT: 50-60 DISPLACEMENT: 191 tonnes (2140 cons) USERS: Bai ‘The K-boats wore an appealing idea ~ submarines that could steam at eet spe0d and oporate with tho battlecrusors - which prosonted serious enginooring challonges. As a result of steam propulsion the class ha ‘too many darn holes to close before diving and was prone to malfunction.al Fai te legge ees ele The Kites wre de ages hares inthe oid a he ie. TheyHMS FURIOUS, COURAGEOUS AND GLORIOUS 1:7 hese three ships were conceived by ‘Jacky’ Fisher in his quest for ever greater speed at the expense of protection of common sense. Laid down as “large light cruisers! with heavy guns, these vessels had extremely poor protection and afer some design changes were eventually built as area carters. Their lek of protection proved their dovenfll ~ Courageous was sunk by eo torpedoes and Glorows by shellfie. Although Lotd Fisher believed in the concept, many’of his contemporates did not. These dec vesels were sometimes known as 'Spuriows, Cariow and (Oumaeous, i parody oftheir names, and ic is hard to see what they might have achieved in combat. SPECIFICATIONS TF arg ghee, PROPULSION: omen sical caier shal eines sree: tha (3 ee) ARMOUR: 76mm (Sin armour ble ARMAMENT; 4 15inch ane in do mounts, 18 4nd pune DISPLACEMENT: 20,28 tones (22.960, uses: iin ‘As conceived, those ships wore to uso thoir shallow draught and high speed on Batic ‘operations. They would probably not have sured long. Finally comploted as acrat carriers, they were altogether more useful the ar effort during Workd War I. although two of the class were sunk eary inthe confit.| The elas igh deck was secs problem fo the sical of the ' ay HMS Furious operated uns Teele ; \ foun can be cle see t sch de eet as Cenmenion perce on tp Ata vl fib eer the sip sce ‘thea specs TisM-CLASS SUBMARINES 1917 the Royal Navy’ experiment with big gun-armed submarines was also unsuccessful, Wisely choosing to divert some K-boats that were then building into something more useful (ie anything but a K-boat), the hulls ‘were armed with a single-mount 12-inch gun that could be fired quickly upon surfacing or even from periscope depth. “The M-boats were not a success. The gun had to be reloaded on the surface, negating the stealth advancages of a submarine. In one test an M-boat blew off the front of her gun. The watertight eampion had not been removed from the barrel. Thrce M-boats were completed, but they never saw combat. ais SPECIFICATIONS rr Sahmarine moniter PROPULSION: Twintewdiselictc SPEED: 7h (15 ks) sufi, 166 ah (9 ko) ube ARMAMENT: 1 12nch gun. COMPLEMENT: 60-70 DISPLACEMENT: 1446 anne (159 som) saci, 1765 anne (0946 000 bere uses: iia The huge gun on tis M (Monitor) class submarine certainly looks imoressive, but its performance was limited by the tact that i had to be reloaded while the boat vas surfaced. At one time plans existed to make a stealthy approach to an enenry ‘ceastine and conduct a hesiy-gun“The hl form wasHAMS HOOD is D= the unimpressive performance of battlecrusers in World War T, naval planners liked them so new classes were laid down, Firscin anew SPECIFICATIONS «lass of four ships (and in the event, the only one built) was HMS Hood. She Tete was the largest warship afloa: fast, elegant and well armed, PEED: Although supposedly better ARMOUR: protected than her predecessors, HMS-—_ ARMAMENT Hood shated the fate of Invincible Engaged with the Bismarck and Prine nina, 2 53h ps DISPLACEMENT: 41,004 tonne (i Eugen she was hit by a shell that mo aa penetrared co her magazines, The resulting huge explosion sank her instantly, with only three survivors of het 1477-serong erew 1th eight 15:inch guns, HMS Hood was able to sink any warship afloat, she could survive the retun fr. She was wel iked anc reapected, and her lass toa single salvo from the Bismarck (some have oven said that t was an &inoh shel from Prinz Eigen that ‘2ank her was a shock o the entire nation.t wv } : a od he Bin eves treads = aaa es ae Jats Ha ba em and Se guccand pws Hokage proce feral oe cent be | agin plunging hel. bading © ‘Sie Weld War pi + | Fenctaton ober oor Sip een hgh thy wee i i iene nth bec created 0 yea ber |USS LEXINGTON 927 he general obsession with battlecruisers resulted in the US Navy SPECIFICATION: mre anders, converted ordering the Levington clas. These were designed as bigger and beteer cruisers rather than cut-down battleships, but they were still horribly PROPULSION: — sf ib csi dive There were ro have been six of these ‘fast battle scouts, but by 1921 it was spe, vulnerable to enemy fire. Stem (35:2 kes) becoming apparent that lightly procected bactlecruisers were a liability, so the ARMOUR: 1780 (Tn) amour ok class was cancelled under the Washington Treaty and «wo hulls were ARMAMENT: 8% 8inch rm ia dal mount 12. Siac puns ered as rather more useful aircraft carters. Had the design gone ahead, Z DISPLACEMENT: 45, USERS: usa the US Navy would have had to find something to co with a class that was ven more lightly protected than HMS Hood. LUSS Lexington under construction, ater the decision to complete er as an arerat carr. The decision was a good one; it allowed the United States to bo 122en 10 give something up under the Washington Treaty and also turned 2 white elephant into a use ‘gnting vessrnce and trike acral, Number varied depending om them ciel fe sandoned and satedSURCOUE 1929 il the French navy had always liked ‘cruiser warfare’ or commerce raiding and designed the Surcouf'as essentially a submarine cruiser, She was SEECTICADIONS armed with two 8-inch guns, which could quickly come into action afcer an seen ae surfacing The idea sems sound, especially since the low-lying submarine pias beg ess would be hatd to locate, let alone hit sei tah However after joining the Fee French forces with highly inexperienced 060) sabre ARMAMENT: 2x inch guns 8x 217 ‘rev, she was accidentally rammed by’a freighter under mysterious «circumstances in the Caribbean. This fascinating ship had no chance to show anaes what she could do in actual combat conditions each oe sured, 3901 ones (430610) submerged uses: ance ‘Surcout mn port One of just a hana of big-gun submarines, 8 commerce raiser or even boon able to take on enemy crusors. Hor guns were designed to be brought quicky inte action, rooul might have made a potentconn big bose he pv ge has a afloat att The guns wee backed sires coop aes for moe Grea 330-11 Girne 36 ‘pena $0306 ‘wt USS 288-9 Gain 91156 202 ‘Gyje piel 789 Doug 32 tetas 367 Bae Hef 1745, 184 Hill toge Vicor 226-7 tery ey 108 136, 186-9 chia He 11 1889 Hee e162 Sande? 212-13 Herne e177 Gia 13 ihe Ads 908312 Howe Gan 3032-9306, Yhd HM 272-5 mate USS 252 ek (3S 207, 380-5 lofty gums omerd 12-8 niyesapns 87inccqons 204, 212.214 218,282 By ioe pikes 52-3 ‘oma His 0-3 eine bhp emnesiane 282-5 te a aly 40,92, 120,280 Fel cis 2 aie 140 ebip coves 282 ‘eatin 8 igre 280 ‘nr egos 42. 60,106 Sunn ke J 8 Sake 76-7 Sad Bae of 262 Keto 266-7. 270 wes Kantor 68 ‘iota USS 248-9 nce mona 106? owe dara 26 Kowpbey 166 Neon 6.7 RVI hemp ak 14-8 135/86 ancank machine gan 126-8 Liners a 3 lee enonerent 8280 1s rer 22-3 Tectnd Eigen USS 2725 igre Rae be ‘anks 110-18. 192 Tee Bae of 300 Ll Big Horm 24 ke Wie 101 Techs F108 Sefigher 230-1 M65 Avie Hower 146-7 Mi Skomn DO" 1-3 MU media ak 20-1 MiG ey senions 72-8 Mab acne ga 743 MGA? main Se a 160-1 PS machine gan 80-1 M3 umount caer 10-1 M219 machine pn 60-1 Ms! 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