These weapons might not do the most damage, but they are the largest ever made in history. These are the biggest of the big weapons. All of them pack a punch.
Schwerer Gustav - The Largest Gun Ever Built
The largest gun ever built was the "Schwerer Gustav" (English: Heavy Gustaf) built in Essen, Germany in 1941 by the firm of Friedrich Krupp A.G. Upholding a tradition of naming heavy cannon after family members, the Schwerer Gustav was named after the invalid head of the Krupp family - Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. The strategic weapon of its day, the Schwerer Gustav was built at the direct order of Adolf Hitler for the express purpose of crushing Maginot Line forts protecting the French frontier. To accomplish this, Krupp designed a giant railway gun weighing 1344 tons with a bore diameter of 800 mm (31.5") and served by a 500 man crew commanded by a major-general.
Two types of projectiles were fired using a 3000lb. charge of smokeless powder: a 10,584 lb. high explosive (HE) shell and a 16,540 lb. concrete-piercing projectile. Craters from the HE shells measured 30-ft. wide and 30-ft. deep while the concrete piercing projectile proved capable of penetrating 264-ft. of reinforced concrete before exploding! Maximum range was 23 miles with HE shells and 29 miles with concrete piercing projectiles. Muzzle velocity was approximately 2700 f.p.s
FCM Char 2C - The Largest Operational Tank Ever Made
The FCM Char 2C was a French super-heavy tank developed by the Forges & Chantiers de la Méditerranée shipyard during World War I. The French's answer to the British Mark V Landship, the Char 2C was a massive and extremely heavy tank designed to break through enemy fortifications and cross directly over trenches. However, due to development issues and the much cheaper FT-17 tank already being in French service, the Char 2C was not completed until after the war in 1921 and only 10 units were created. The Char 2C was armed with a 75mm main gun and 4 secondary Hotchkiss 8mm machine gun ports.
Heavy, slow, and vulnerable to advancements in anti-tank weapons, the Char 2C quickly became obsolete during the 1930s, and the few units created saw use only as propaganda tools for the French during World War II before being destroyed or captured by Germany during the Battle of France. Weighing 69 tons fully loaded, the Char 2C is notable as the first super-heavy tank created, and the only one to ever see operational use in any capacity. [link]
Panzer VIII Maus - The Heaviest Fully Enclosed Armored Fighting Vehicle Ever Built
Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus ("Mouse") was a German World War II super-heavy tank completed in late 1944. It is the heaviest fully enclosed armoured fighting vehicle ever built. Five were ordered, but only two hulls and one turret were completed before the testing grounds were captured by the advancing Soviet forces.
These two prototypes – one with, and the other without a turret – underwent trials in late 1944. The complete vehicle was 10.2 metres (33 ft 6 in) long, 3.71 metres (12 ft 2 in) wide and 3.63 metres (11.9 ft) high. Weighing 188 metric tons, the Maus's main armament was the Krupp-designed 128 mm KwK 44 L/55 gun, based on the 12.8 cm Pak 44 anti-tank field artillery piece also used in the casemate-type Jagdtiger tank destroyer, with a coaxial 75 mm KwK 44 L/36.5 gun. The 128 mm gun was powerful enough to destroy all Allied armoured fighting vehicles then in service, some at ranges exceeding 3,500 metres (2.2 mi) [link]
Tsar Cannon - The World's Largest Bombard By Caliber
Cast in bronze in Moscow, Russia, in 1586, this artillery piece was manufactured by prominent cannon and bell caster Andrey Chokhov. With a barrel diameter of 35.04 inches (890 mm), it is classed as the largest cannon by caliber by Guinness World Records. The 17.5-foot-long (5.34 meter) weapon weighs 86,668 lbs. (39,331 kg) and is now a major tourist attraction in the Russian capital. [link]
Mallet's Mortar – The Biggest Siege Mortar
Designed by Irish engineer Robert Mallet in 1854 for the Crimean War, this gigantic siege mortar weighed 42 long tons (43,000 kg) and was 11 feet (3.4 meters) long. While it was theoretically capable of launching a shell 2,759 yards (2,523 meters) with a flight time of 23 seconds, each test ended with damage to the mortar itself. One model is currently loaned out to the Royal Artillery in London, U.K., while the other (pictured) is kept on display at Fort Nelson, Hampshire, in Portchester, U.K. [link]
Father of All Bombs - The Most Powerful Conventional (non-nuclear) Weapon In The World
Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power (ATBIP), nicknamed "Father of All Bombs" (FOAB) is a Russian-designed, bomber-delivered thermobaric weapon. In describing the destructive power of "FOAB", deputy chief of the Russian general staff Alexander Rukshin was quoted as saying, "all that is alive merely evaporates."
The bomb is reportedly similar to the US military's GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast which is often unofficially called "Mother of All Bombs" derived from its official military acronym "MOAB". This weapon would therefore be the most powerful conventional (non-nuclear) weapon in the world. However, the veracity of Russia's claims concerning the weapon's size and power have been questioned by US defense analysts.
The thermobaric device yields the equivalent of 44 tons of TNT using about seven tons of a new type of high explosive. Because of this, the bomb's blast and pressure wave have a similar effect to a small tactical nuclear weapon, although on a smaller scale. The bomb works by detonating in mid-air. Most damage is inflicted by a supersonic shockwave and extremely high temperatures. Thermobaric weapons differ from conventional explosive weapons in that they generate a longer, more sustained blast wave with greater temperatures. In doing so, they produce more damage over a larger area than a conventional weapon of similar mass. [link]
Tsar Bomb - The Most Powerful Thermonuclear Weapon Ever Detonated
Tsar Bomba was the Western nickname for the Soviet RDS-220 hydrogen bomb, the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated. Its test on 30 October 1961 remains the most powerful man-made explosion in history. It was also referred to as Kuzkina mat, possibly referring to Nikita Khrushchev's promise to show the United States a Kuzkina mat (an idiom roughly translating to "We'll show you!") at a 1960 session of United Nations General Assembly.
The bomb had a yield of 57 megaton TNT (210 PJ). In theory, it had a maximum yield of 100 megatons if it were to have included a U-238 tamper, but because only one bomb was built, this was never demonstrated. The single bomb was detonated at the Sukhoy Nos cape of Severny Island, part of Novaya Zemlya.
The remaining bomb casings are located at the Russian Atomic Weapon Museum in Sarov and the Museum of Nuclear Weapons, All-Russian Research Institute of Technical Physics, at Snezhinsk. [link]
Yamato - The Heaviest Battleships Ever Created
The heaviest battleships ever created, these Imperial Japanese Navy World War II vessels were first commissioned on Dec. 16, 1941, and had a displacement of 64,000 long tons (65,027,002 kg).
Named after the Japanese province, the Yamato class was created specifically to outgun the American naval fleet. Fitted with nine 18.1 inch (46 cm) 45 Caliber Type 94 guns as the main armament, the ships (two were launched) played an important role in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944. Both were sunk in the closing months of the war. [link]
