http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 616 May 8, 1941
In the Arabian Sea 400 miles off Somaliland, British cruiser HMS Cornwall responds to distress signals yesterday from tanker British Emperor. A Walrus seaplane finds German armed merchant cruiser Pinguin (disguised as the Norwegian MV Tamerlane). Both ships open fire at 5.14 PM. HMS Cornwall is stopped by a shell which floods the engine room (1 killed, 3 wounded). Outgunned, Pinguin’s crew prepares to abandon ship when she obliterated by an 8-inch shell which hits a store of 130 mines (341 crew and 214 prisoners killed, 60 crew and 22 prisoners rescued by HMS Cornwall). In 357 days, Pinguin sailed 59,000 miles sinking or capturing 28 ships and laying mines that sank 4 more (total 154,710 tons).
At dawn, Indian troops close in on the Italian stronghold at Amba Alagi, Ethiopia, taking the Falagi Pass to the East and 3 small peaks (Centre Hill, Khaki Hill and Castle Hill) to the South. Italians counterattack, recovering Centre and Khaki Hills.
In the middle of the North Atlantic, U-97 sinks British SS Ramillies (29 dead and 12 survivors).
Overnight, Luftwaffe bombs Hull for the second night. In one of the heaviest RAF raids so far, 359 bombers attack targets in Germany, including Hamburg and Bremen.
I ran across this little beauty, made by the U.S of A, while doing some research on artillery. I've already ordered one for Father's Day.
The largest-calibre artillery piece of modern times, 'LittleDavid' was originally a device for testing aircraft bombs by firing them at various targets. Someone suggested that it could be used as a gun proper, and with the invasion of Japan in prospect the US Army welcomed the idea of a monster howitzer to smash Japanese fortifications.
Specification 'LittleDavid' Calibre: 914 mm (36 in)
Length of piece: with elevating arc 8.534 m (28 ft 0 in)
Weight complete: 82808 kg (182,560 lb)
Elevation: +45° to +65°
Traverse: 26°
Muzzle velocity: not recorded Maximum range: 8687 m (9,500 yards)
Shell weight: 1678 kg (3,700 lb)
Despite the fact that many artilllery pieces were much larger than the strange device known as 'Little David', the fact remains that this weapon still holds the record of having the largest calibre of any modern artillery piece at no less than 914 mm (36 in), and not even the largest German railway gun, the huge 80-cm K(E), got anywhere near that with its calibre of 800 mm (31.5 in)
