L-11 76.2 mm tank gun#Field gun conversion

The L-11 was designed in 1938 by IA Makhanov of the SKB-4 design bureau at the Kirov Plant in Leningrad. It was 30.5 calibers long,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a-QlhQlYZXQC&pg=PA41|title=T-34/76 Medium Tank 1941-45|last=Zaloga|first=Steve|publisher=Osprey Publishing|year=1994|isbn=978-1-85532-382-7|page=41}} had a semi-automatic vertical sliding-wedge breech, used fixed quick-fire 76.2 x 385 mm R ammunition and had a hydro-pneumatic recoil mechanism.

It has been claimed that the L-11 was based on the 76 mm air-defense gun M1914/15 designed by VV Tarnovsky and F. F. Lender.{{Cite web|url=http://tankarchives.blogspot.com/2016/02/minor-modernization-t-150.html|title=Tank Archives: "Minor Modernization": T-150|date=2016-02-05|website=Tank Archives|access-date=2017-09-17}} What can be said is that both the M1914/15 and L-11 had similar lengths, similar muzzle velocities (592 m/s vs 613 m/s), were built in the same factory and fired the same ammunition.

Through a combination of administrative interference by Marshal Grigory Kulik and bureaucratic inertia, the first models of the T-34 and KV-1 were both armed with the L-11. Testing of both tanks highlighted an undesirable situation where both a medium tank and heavy tank were equal in firepower and neither had the firepower necessary to defeat a foreign tank of similar capabilities. Although an acceptable tank gun by the standards of the time the L-11 did not have a substantial performance advantage over foreign designs. Therefore, the L-11 was a stopgap until improved guns for the T-34 and KV-1 could be produced. An early favorite to replace the L-11 was a modified version of the 76 mm air defense gun M1931, but delays and difficulties saw it passed over despite excellent performance.

During 1941 the L-11 was replaced on T-34 production lines by the 42.5 caliber F-34 and on KV-1 production lines by the 31.5 caliber {{ill|76 mm tank gun M1939 (F-32)|ru|Ф-32|lt=F-32}}. Despite being considered a superior design the performance of the F-32 gun was not substantially better than the L-11 and inferior to the F-34 gun used on the T-34. Eventually, the F-32 gun was replaced on the KV-1 production lines by a modified version of the F-34 gun called the ZiS-5, finally giving the T-34 and KV-1 parity in firepower.

During the 1930s the Red Army proposed creation of a new 76 mm casemate gun capable of withstanding a direct hit from a 76 mm armor-piercing projectile fired from a distance of {{convert|400|m|ft|abbr=on}} or the explosion of a {{convert|203|mm|in|abbr=on}} high-explosive projectile at a distance of {{convert|1|m|ftin|abbr=on}} from the pillbox.

The design bureau of the Kirov Plant under the leadership of IA Makhanov responded by creating a variant of the L-11 which it called the L-17. The L-17 was mounted in a heavily armored gun mantlet with the barrel inside of an armored tube. In May 1939, the Kirov plant received an order for six-hundred L-17 guns. During testing between September 29 and October 8, 1939 the L-17 withstood the impact of a 76 mm armor piercing projectile fired from a M1902/30 field gun at a velocity of {{convert|529-547|m|ft|abbr=on}} at a distance of {{convert|50|m|ft|abbr=on}}. The first L-17's were installed in June 1940 in the Kamenets-Podilsky fortified area.{{Cite web|url=http://www.plam.ru/tehnauka/genii_sovetskoi_artillerii_triumf_i_tragedija_v_grabina/p15.php|title=Дело о казематной пушке / Гений советской артиллерии. Триумф и трагедия В.Грабина|website=www.plam.ru|access-date=2017-09-17}}

During 1941-1942 a field gun based on the L-11 was introduced. It consisted of an L-11 barrel on the split-trail carriage used by the ZiS-3. This adaptation was probably done to address the huge losses of artillery suffered during the summer of 1941 and to use surplus L-11 barrels. The Soviet designation for this gun is not known, but the Germans referred to them as the 7.62 cm FK 250(r).{{Cite book|title=Light and medium field artillery|last=Chamberlain|first=Peter|date=1975|page=62|publisher=Arco|others=Gander, Terry|isbn=0668038209|location=New York|oclc=2067331}}

{{reflist}}

• Chamberlain, Peter. Gander Terry. 1975. Light and medium field artillery. New York: Arco. {{ISBN|0668038209}}.
• Zaloga, Steve. 1994. T-34/76 Medium Tank 1941-45. Osprey Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1-85532-382-7}}
• Zaloga, Steve. Grandsen, James. 1984. Soviet tanks and combat vehicles of World War Two. London: Arms and Armour Press. p225. {{ISBN|0853686068}}.

• http://www.armchairgeneral.com/rkkaww2/weapons/art_tanks.htm
• http://tankarchives.blogspot.com/2016/02/minor-modernization-t-150.html
• http://www.plam.ru/tehnauka/genii_sovetskoi_artillerii_triumf_i_tragedija_v_grabina/p15.php

Category:World War II tank guns

Category:World War II artillery of the Soviet Union

Category:Tank guns of the Soviet Union

Category:Military equipment introduced in the 1930s