28 cm SK L/40 gun
28 cm SK L/40 | ||
---|---|---|
Breech horizontal sliding-wedge | | |
Muzzle velocity | 740 to 820 m/s (2,400 to 2,700 ft/s) |
The 28 cm SK L/40
The 28 cm SK L/40 gun weighed 45.3 tonnes (44.6 long tons; 49.9 short tons), had an overall length of 11.2 meters (36 ft 9 in) and a bore length of 10.401 meters (34 ft 1.5 in). Although designated as 28 cm (11 in), its actual caliber was 28.3 centimeters (11.1 in). It used
The Drh.L. C/01 turret was used by the Braunschweig- and Deutschland-class battleships, one twin gun turret at each end. Its guns could depress 4° and elevate 30° and could traverse about 150° on either side of the centerline. It could fire a 240 kg (530 lb) L/2.6
The
Coast defense guns
Some of the 28 cm SK L/40 guns were transferred to the
During World War II only seven guns were used as coast defense duties on BSG mountings. The four guns of "Batterie Graf Spee" had survived World War I and were transferred to Brest, France in 1940.[5][6]
Railway guns
Approximately twenty other guns from the battleships were put on railroad mountings as the 28 cm SK L/40 "Bruno" and used as railway guns. A number were kept by the Kaiserliche Marine and used on coastal defense duties, but the others were used by the Heer in more traditional roles as long-range heavy artillery.[3] Surviving weapons were used by the Germans in World War II as coast defense duties.[7]
Ammunition
Before and during World War I, the gun used about 73 kg (161 lb) of RP C/12 (Rohr-Pulver – tube powder)
These guns mounted fired two types of shells during World War I:
Shell name | Weight | Filling Weight | Muzzle velocity | Range |
---|---|---|---|---|
World War I | ||||
Armor-piercing shell (Pzgr L/2.6) | 240 kg (530 lb) | unknown | 820 m/s (2,700 ft/s) | 18,830 m (20,590 yd) |
high-explosive shell (Sprenggranate L/2.9) | 240 kg (530 lb) | unknown | 820 m/s (2,700 ft/s) | unknown |
World War II | ||||
base-fused high-explosive shell with ballistic cap (Sprenggranate L/4.3 m. Bdz. (mit Haube)) | 240 kg (530 lb) | unknown | 820 m/s (2,700 ft/s) | unknown |
nose-fused HE shell with ballistic cap (Sprenggranate L/4.1 m. Kz. (mit Haube)) | 240 kg (530 lb) | unknown | 820 m/s (2,700 ft/s) | unknown |
base- and nose-fused HE shell with ballistic cap (Sprgr L/4.4 m. Bdz. u. Kz. (mit Haube)) | 284 kg (626 lb) | 18.7 kg (41 lb) ( TNT )
|
740 m/s (2,400 ft/s) | 25,640 m (28,040 yd) at 30° |
Due to the greater elevation available in the BSG mount, the Sprgr L/4.4 m. Bdz. u. Kz. (mit Haube) had a maximum range of 27,750 m (30,350 yd).[9]
Armor penetration
One source credits the Pzgr L/2.6 shell with the ability to penetrate 160 millimeters (6.3 in) of side armor at 12,000 meters (13,000 yd).[1]
See also
Footnotes
Notes
- ^ SK - Schnelladekanone (quick loading cannon); L - Länge in Kaliber (length in caliber)
- ^ Exact dates of production are not known with any certainty, even if any guns were built after the last of the Deutschland-class ships was launched in 1906. Chesneau and Kolesnik, pp. 247–249.
Citations
References
- OCLC 252061411.
- OCLC 252060665.
- OCLC 252061127.
- Campbell, John (2002). Naval Weapons of World War Two. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
- Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.}
- François, Guy (2006). Eisenbahnartillerie: Histoire de l'artillerie lourde sur voie ferrée allemande des origines à 1945 (in French). Paris: Editions Histoire et Fortifications.
- Gander, Terry; Chamberlain, Peter (1979). Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939–1945. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-15090-3.
- Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
- Hogg, Ian V. (1997). German Artillery of World War Two (2nd corrected ed.). Mechanicsville, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 1-85367-480-X.
- Rolf, Rudi (1998). Der Atlantikwall: Bauten der deutschen Küstenbefestigungen 1940–1945 (in German). Osnabrück: Biblio. ISBN 3-7648-2469-7.
- Rolf, Rudi (2004). A Dictionary on Modern Fortification: An Illustrated Lexicon on European Fortification in the Period 1800–1945. Middleburg, Netherlands: PRAK.
- Schmalenbach, Paul (1983). "German Navy Large Bore Guns Operational Ashore During World War I". Warship International. XX (2): 123–153. ISSN 0043-0374.
External links