Superguns 1854-1991: Extreme artillery from the Paris Gun and the V-3 to Iraq's Project Babylon

Since the 1850s, gun designers have sought to transform warfare with artillery of superlative range and power, from William Armstrong's 19th-century “monster guns” to hypersonic electro-magnetic railguns.

Taking a case study approach, Superguns explains the technology and role of the finest monster weapons of each era. It looks at the 1918 “Wilhelm Gun,” designed to shell Paris from behind the German trenches; the World War II “V-3” gun built to bombard London across the Channel; the Cold Wa...