280MM ATOMIC ANNIE

M-65 280mm "Atomic Annie" Nuclear Field Artillery

The M-65 280mm "Atomic Annie" Nuclear Field Artillery traveled suspended between the front and rear custom transporter tractors at a road speed of up to 35 miles per hour. The combination of gun and tractors could make a right angle turn at a street intersection 28 feet wide. Each of the transporters had its own 375 hp engine.

The tremendous recoil shock of firing was absorbed by a double recoil system. Both the gun tube and the heavy carriage move separately with the recoil, reducing the overall recoil distance to a minimum.

The Army deployed the 280mm atomic cannons to Europe and the Far East in the early 1950s. The units were difficult to maneuver because of their length and heavy weight, and could only be driven on paved roadways or packed ground. The twin transporters were driven much like those of an aerial ladder fire truck, with the drivers communicating using a telephone system. The atomic cannon weapon system appeared in the Inagural Parade for Gen. Dwight Eisenhower when he became President of the United States in January 1953. The gun had difficulty maneuvering the parade route in downtown Washington, DC.

The name "Atomic Annie" was probably chosen with reference to "Anzio Annie" a German K5 railroad gun that bedeviled the Anzio, Italy beachhead during 1944.

The "Atomic Annie" cannons were a creature of the Cold War, used only for testing and deterrance. On 25 May 1953, one of the "Atomic Annie" guns fired a Mark 9 nuclear artillery shell seven miles downrange at Frenchman Flat, NV, generating the first tactical nuclear explosion. The shell exploded with a yield of 15 kilotons, the first and last nuclear device to ever be fired from a cannon. Hundreds of high ranking Armed Forces officers and members of Congress were present for the test. Two battalion combat teams maneuvered after the shot. The public demonstration of the devestating weapon had an impact on the negotiations for an end to the Korean War, leading to an armistice signed 27 July 1953.

It is believed that eight of the original twenty atomic cannons survived, including two in military base museums at Ft. Sill, OK and Kirtland Air Force Base, NM.

The M-65 280mm "Atomic Annie" cannon on permanent display at Fort Sill, near Lawton, OK (without its prime movers). This gun is the one that fired the test atomic munition at Frenchman Flat, NV, May 1953.

M-65 atomic artillery system with one tractor at the National Atomic Museum, Kirtland Air Force Base, NM.

M-65 atomic artillery system with one tractor at the National Atomic Museum, Kirtland Air Force Base, NM.

Full M-65 atomic artillery system with tractors.

The fireball ascending at Frenchman's Flat, NV from the Atomic Cannon Test, history's first atomic artillery shell fired from the M65 280mm artillery gun, 23 May 1953.

280mm Atomic Annie Artillery

The first atomic artillery, nicknamed "Atomic Annie" is a 280mm cannon capable of firing artillery shells with tactical nuclear warheads. Twenty of the atomic cannons were produced at a cost of $800,000 each. The weapon weighed over 83 tons, with cannon and carriage, or 50 tons in firing position, and was more than 80 feet in length, the largest mobile artillery ever built.

Gun crews could set the cannon up and be ready to fire in less than 15 minutes using hydraulic jacks and winches. The atomic cannon could be be returned from firing position to traveling position also in 15 minutes, record time for any artillery of similar size. The huge gun is balanced on its nine foot circular base plate with jacks, enabling its crew (5 to 7 men) to move it through its full 360° traverse capability. The projectile and powder charge are loaded with the assistance of a power hydraulic ram.

280mm "Atomic Annie" Nuclear Field Artillery in firing position.