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If you were able to operate a howitzer and fire a single shell, what would you take out?

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Originally posted by: Red Dawn
Originally posted by: J0hnny
I'd aim right at the San Andreas fault where there is a perfectly mapped out stress point that would cause California to fall into the ocean.
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Why's that?
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Why not? Although half of anandtech is probably from there. I'd miss you guys though.
 
Originally posted by: CraigRT
That would take a long time for me to accurately figure out, wouldn't want to waste my single shell.
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Yeah and I wouldn't want to start something I couldn't finnish with one shell.
 
I think I'm uniquely qualified to answer this question since I am a former Field Artillery Officer. I've fired thousands of rounds from both a M109 Self Propelled Howitzer, but more importantly, an M110A2 eight inch self-propelled howitzer. The 8" was the biggest howitzer ever in NATO's arsenal and I was in an 8" battallion for 6 years. I loved those things, unfortunately, they were taken out of the inventory in the early to mid 90's. They were very accurate and you just could not believe what those rounds sounded, or rather felt like. I practically get wood thinking about it. When you shot a round and it exploded anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes later, depending on the range to the target, it sounded and felt louder than thunder. Imagine 98 pounds of TNT exploding 10 miles away and being able to feel it. It was awesome! I'll have to upload some pictures some day to show you guys. I have a picture of my wife pulling the lanyard on one of those big boys with the tube in full recoil of about six feet.

Thanks for the memories and flashbacks!
 
Someone posted a link to a video here of one being fired... range must've been about a mile or so. Explosion was huge, and you could tell that the camera shook slightly when the shell hit the earth.
 
Originally posted by: EmoHawk
Originally posted by: jemcam
I'll have to upload some pictures some day to show you guys.
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Now!!!!
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I don't think I have them on this computer, I'll have to wait until I get home. I'll make a separate thread of it tonight.
 
Originally posted by: jemcam
I think I'm uniquely qualified to answer this question since I am a former Field Artillery Officer. I've fired thousands of rounds from both a M109 Self Propelled Howitzer, but more importantly, an M110A2 eight inch self-propelled howitzer. The 8" was the biggest howitzer ever in NATO's arsenal and I was in an 8" battallion for 6 years. I loved those things, unfortunately, they were taken out of the inventory in the early to mid 90's. They were very accurate and you just could not believe what those rounds sounded, or rather felt like. I practically get wood thinking about it. When you shot a round and it exploded anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes later, depending on the range to the target, it sounded and felt louder than thunder. Imagine 98 pounds of TNT exploding 10 miles away and being able to feel it. It was awesome! I'll have to upload some pictures some day to show you guys. I have a picture of my wife pulling the lanyard on one of those big boys with the tube in full recoil of about six feet.

Thanks for the memories and flashbacks!
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What is the blast radius. i.e, I assume a single shell could flatten a house, but how about an office building? How about a building about the size of a school? A skyscraper?
 
Erm... since there was no mention of being immune from prosecution what I would take out is the ammunition. If there were no consequences at all, no one knew, etc. then I would probably do my best to blow up the volkswagon dealer here in madison. The one on the west side, when no one was around.
 
Originally posted by: beer
Originally posted by: jemcam
I think I'm uniquely qualified to answer this question since I am a former Field Artillery Officer. I've fired thousands of rounds from both a M109 Self Propelled Howitzer, but more importantly, an M110A2 eight inch self-propelled howitzer. The 8" was the biggest howitzer ever in NATO's arsenal and I was in an 8" battallion for 6 years. I loved those things, unfortunately, they were taken out of the inventory in the early to mid 90's. They were very accurate and you just could not believe what those rounds sounded, or rather felt like. I practically get wood thinking about it. When you shot a round and it exploded anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes later, depending on the range to the target, it sounded and felt louder than thunder. Imagine 98 pounds of TNT exploding 10 miles away and being able to feel it. It was awesome! I'll have to upload some pictures some day to show you guys. I have a picture of my wife pulling the lanyard on one of those big boys with the tube in full recoil of about six feet.

Thanks for the memories and flashbacks!
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What is the blast radius. i.e, I assume a single shell could flatten a house, but how about an office building? How about a building about the size of a school? A skyscraper?
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The kill radius of a 155 mm round is 50 meters. The 8" was 75 meters IIRC.

Edited for accuracy. It's been a long time, but I'm pretty certain those figures are accurate. The kill radius is defined as being a hit or having desired effects on target if you hit within that distance.

A large building would not fall down, but it's safe to assume that any occupants would likely be dead and the building would not be usable.
 
H2 or Nissan Titan dealership (all of them arranged for the domino effect mentioned earlier)
 
Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Originally posted by: K1052
Michael Moore before the Academy votes for the awards.
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No, he'd win something for sure then...
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But I'd at leat feel much better knowing he could never win anything again.
 
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