Skoda 305 mm

Škoda 30.5 cm Mörser M.11
Škoda 30.5 cm Mörser M.11 at Belgrade Military Museum, Serbia
Type	Siege howitzer
Place of origin	Austria-Hungary
Service history
In service	1911-1945
Used by	Austria-Hungary Czechoslovakia German Empire Nazi Germany Kingdom of Hungary Kingdom of Italy Kingdom of Romania Yugoslavia
Wars	World War I, World War II
Production history
Designer	Škoda Works
Designed	1906–1911
Manufacturer	Škoda Works
Produced	1911–1918?
No. built	79
Variants	M.11/16, M.16
Specifications (M.11)
Weight	20,830 kg (45,922 lb)
Barrel length	3.05 m (10 ft) L/10
Crew	15–17
Shell	287 kg (633 lb) (light) 384 kg (847 lb) (heavy)
Caliber	305 mm (12 in)
Breech	horizontal sliding block
Carriage	box trail
Elevation	+40° to 70°
Traverse	120°
Rate of fire	10 rounds/hour
Muzzle velocity	340 m/s (1,115 ft/s)
Effective firing range	9,600 m (10,500 yd)
Maximum firing range	11,300 m (12,400 yd)

The Škoda 30.5 cm Mörser M.11 was a siege howitzer produced by Škoda Works and used by the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I and by Nazi Germany in World War II.

Development began in 1906, when a development contract was placed by the Austro-Hungarian high command with Skoda-Werke in Pilsen to develop a weapon capable of penetrating the concrete fortresses being built in Belgium and Italy. Development work continued until 1909, when the first prototype was finished and, in 1910, fired secretly in Hungary.

The weapon was able to penetrate 2 m (6 ft 7 in) of reinforced concrete with its special armour-piercing shell, which weighed 384 kg (847 lb). There were a few technical problems with the first piece, but, after few reconstructions in 1911, the upgraded piece made another round of testing in Felixdorf and in the mountains of Tyrol. After that, Moritz von Auffenberg, the Minister of War, placed an order for 24 of the new weapons.

The weapon was transported in three sections by a 100-horsepower 15 ton Austro-Daimler road tractor M.12. It broke down into barrel, carriage and firing platform loads, each of which had its own trailer. It could be assembled and readied to fire in around 50 minutes.

The mortar could fire two types of shell, a heavy armour-piercing shell with a delayed action fuse weighing 384 kg, and a lighter 287 kg shell fitted with an impact fuze. The light shell was capable of creating a crater 8 meters wide and 8 meters deep, as well as killing exposed infantry up to 400 m (440 yd) away.

The weapon required a crew of 15–17, and could fire 10 to 12 rounds an hour. After firing, it automatically returned to the horizontal loading position.

In 1916, the M.11 design was upgraded and the new M.11/16 was produced - the difference was mainly that the firing platform had been modified to allow for a traverse of 360 degrees. Also in 1916, a new model was released, the M.16, which had longer barrel (L/12) and longer range 12,300 metres (13,500 yd).