Abandoned cannons

Craft & Design
Abandoned cannons

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Incredible gallery of abandoned cannons in Russia via Buzzfeed.

This is an abandoned army base on the sea coastline near the Murmansk city. It looks like it stays abandoned for quite a while and was built back in 1946 to protect Russian Northern coastline from somebody who might come without peace.

26 thoughts on “Abandoned cannons

  1. yesnoyesno says:

    why is this on make blog? am i missing something?

  2. Phillip Torrone says:

    @yesnoyesno – they are gorgeous structures *made* by humans, pretty much the definition of almost everything we cover here @ MAKE.

  3. Temo says:

    They should get a Electical Technish Upgrade.

    Make them Shoot Water with UV Die (and with the water place a UV LED). It would be AWSOME!!!

    Sort of Steam Punk Amusement Park

  4. jakeofalltrades.wordpress.com says:

    Plus, a good many of us will have to *make* our way to the kitchen to get paper towels to clean up the drool these photos produced…

    Besides, there’s nothing like vintage heavy weaponry for visual and/or mechanical and/or social inspiration right?

  5. yesnoyesno says:

    @Phillip-

    they were *made* to *kill* humans.

  6. Phillip Torrone says:

    @yesnoyesno – we’ve covered swords, guns, tanks, etc – we’ve never said we would never cover cannons, it’s also unclear if these cannons were used to kill people or designed to kill people, i suspect some could easily say they were designed to fire warning shots to keep people away. or perhaps never to be used at all, only as “deterrents”.

    either way, they’re very cool looking, there were crafted and made.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Quoth Phillip Torrone “it’s also unclear if these cannons were used to kill people or designed to kill people”

    There are fixed artillery pieces that have had their long barrels torched off. Given their location at Russia’s only year-round port, I’m surmising that these were naval defense guns. They were designed to kill ships; killing people is a side-effect.

  8. Phillip Torrone says:

    “There are fixed artillery pieces that have had their long barrels torched off. Given their location at Russia’s only year-round port, I’m surmising that these were naval defense guns. They were designed to kill ships; killing people is a side-effect.”

    i’m not sure we should neglect covering something that was made because it could have been used to kill ships or people at one time, like i said before we cover guns, tanks, swords, even electricity – all of these things could be used to kill people but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to look beyond that and see it’s value as something that was “made” right?

  9. Anonymous says:

    These cannon are a fine example of metal fabrication from that period. Welding was a new and untested technology, so if you wanted something SOLID, you still resorted to bolts and rivets. The bases of these big guns use both.

    These are really remarkable bits of engineering in terms of what is needed both to support the great weight, and absorb the incredible force of firing such a large cannon.

    From another angle, these are a beautiful study in corrosion and wear. Over sixty years of exposure to the elements have not been kind. Makers with an eye toward making something metal look “old” would do well to look closely at items like this one.

    Let’s not forget that the people who built these big guns were defending their country against one of the largest invasions in history. This was a defense that was mired in all sorts of difficulty and nearly failed. The cost to the people of the Soviet Union was the loss of just over 13% of their population. Over half those deaths were civilian casualties. The courage and determination of a people fighting insurmountable odds should be rightly admired.

    There is much here to inspire makers of all stripes. Yes, these were weapons of war, but an open hand can be used to attack, and a fist may also protect.

  10. James says:

    Whether you like the message such a creation sends, it is still intriguing. Soviet technology is seemingly far less “elegant” than the same period US technology, but rugged and effective.

    If you’ve never read through Kidd of Speed, http://www.kiddofspeed.com/, you will be impressed by some of the other events and technologies the US, and even most of the Soviet Empire were unaware of.

    It definitely looks like something straight out of RED ALERT.

  11. Anonymous says:

    In Soviet Russia, gun makes you! [dead]

  12. Matt says:

    Gorgeous photos, but isn’t ‘cannon’ the plural of cannon, not ‘cannons’? A bit like sheep, but with less wool.

  13. Osama Bearak says:

    we should go over ther and afix some OBAMA stickers on it!!!

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