Little David
Little David was a gigantic American 36-inch siege mortar built during World War II. It weighed about 173,000 pounds, had a 22-foot barrel, and fired a 3,650-pound shell. It could reach about 9,500 yards (8.7 km) and fired at 1,250 feet per second. The goal was to break the Siegfried Line of German fortifications and, later, to test dropping very large aerial bombs.
The gun was built to the same 36-inch caliber as the British Mallet’s Mortar from 1857, making it one of the largest-caliber weapons ever made. Germany’s Schwerer Gustav and Dora fired heavier shells, but Little David was still extremely large.
Little David started as a plan to destroy heavy fortifications with huge charges, delivered by rocket or bomb. Some people suggested dropping charges from planes, others suggested firing them from a mortar. The result was a siege mortar designed to fire a massive shell.
The mortar sat on a large steel base buried underground, with the muzzle flush with the surface so loading could be done at ground level. It could be taken apart into two main pieces—a 80,000-pound barrel and a 93,000-pound base—moved by two M25 tractors, and it came with a bulldozer and crane to dig the emplacement. It could be ready to fire in about 12 hours.
Compared with German guns, Little David had a shorter range. The largest German 800 mm guns required about three weeks to set up and could reach about 47 km, far farther than Little David’s 9.5 km.
Little David never saw combat. After Japan surrendered, the invasion plan was canceled, and the mortar stayed in testing.
In the years after the war, Little David appeared in museums. The Aberdeen Proving Ground Ordnance Museum moved to Fort Lee, and pieces were relocated. By September 2023, Little David had moved to a new museum location and will be restored before display.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 17:32 (CET).