305 mm/50 SK L/50 (305 mm)

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Description

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Vehicles equipped with this weapon

General info

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Available ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition Type of
warhead
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
1,000 m 2,500 m 5,000 m 7,500 m 10,000 m 15,000 m
Spgr. L/3.8 Bdz HE 167 149 124 103 87 66
Spgr. L/3.3 SAP SAP 481 430 357 299 252 193
Psgr. L/3.4 APC 519 463 383 320 270 205
Shell details
Ammunition Type of
warhead
Velocity
(m/s)
Projectile
mass (kg)
Fuse delay
(s)
Fuse sensitivity
(mm)
Explosive mass
(TNT equivalent) (kg)
Ricochet
0% 50% 100%
Spgr. L/3.8 Bdz HE 855 405.9 0.025 17 27 79° 80° 81°
Spgr. L/3.3 SAP SAP 850 410 0.025 17 10.8 47° 60° 65°
Psgr. L/3.4 APC 855 405.5 0.025 17 13.6 48° 63° 71°

Comparison with analogues

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Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

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History

The 305 mm/50 SK L/50 was developed as a result of the escalation in the Anglo-German Naval Arms Race preceding World War I. As Germany did not agree to any restrictions on gun calibre during the 1907 Hague Convention, the Royal Navy continued their construction of dreadnoughts with 12 inch/50 Mark XI guns. However, because they felt these guns were not capable at the longer ranges of naval combat they predicted would occur in the future, they upgraded to 13.5-inch guns starting with the Orion class. Germany was not idle at this time. When the Riechsmarineamt (Imperial Naval Office) got word of Britain up-gunning to 13.5 inches, they upgraded their own ships from 283 mm/45 SK L/45 (11-inch) to the 305 mm/50 SK L/50 (12-inch) guns. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, Secretary of State of the Riechsmarineamt, was at first reluctant to agree to up-gunning their ships, but he ended his objections after learning the Americans were also moving towards 12-inch guns in response to the Royal Navy's actions.

The SK L/50 used a mount that featured electric pumps to power the hydraulic elevation gear that initially went up to only 13.5 degrees, but were upgraded to go further to 16 degrees during World War I after the Battle of Jutland in 1916. These were the first German large-calibre guns to feature hydraulic rams and breeches, significantly increasing its rate of fire compared to contemporary weapons. As is typical for German naval guns of this era, they were constructed of shrunk on tubes and hoops with a Krupp horizontal sliding breech block. Superior in penetration power to British 12-inch guns, the guns still fell short of their 13.5-inch guns.

The Kaiserlichemarine (Imperial German Navy) first mounted these guns on the Helgoland-class dreadnoughts such as SMS Helgoland and Ostfriesland, and soon followed with the Kaiser-class, König-class, and the Derfflinger-class whose lead ship, alongside her sister ship the Lützow, sunk the HMS Invincible and HMS Queen Mary during the Battle of Jutland.

The SK L/50 was also used in the coastal defense role. Between 1909 and 1912, four twin-gun turrets equipped with this cannon were assigned to Heligoland island in the North Sea. Battery Kaiser Wilhelm II was assigned to defend the port of Zeebrugge in occupied Belgium during World War I with four guns mounted on concrete barbettes and manually operated firing platforms capable of all-around fire. By the time World War I ended, six guns built to the same specifications were used for Battery Friedrich August on the island of Wangerooge. Due to the Treaty of Versailles, Heligoland was demilitarized, but Hitler would use 3 guns from from Wangerooge, not affected by the treaty, to re-equip the coastal defenses at Heligoland in 1935. The remaining 3 still part of Battery Friedrich August would be transferred to Le Trésorerie in France in 1940 as a cross-channel defense. Here the guns were fitted with concrete casemates which provided overhead cover at the cost of restricting the firing angles to 220 degrees to either side and 50 degrees in elevation. The coastal defense guns also were armed with streamlined shells with larger propellant charges to increase their range.

Media

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See also

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External links


Germany naval cannons
15 mm  MG 151
20 mm  2 cm/65 C/30 · 2 cm/65 C/38 · 2 cm/65 Flakzwilling 38 · 2 cm/65 Flakvierling 38 · MG 151/20
30 mm  MK103/38
37 mm  FlaK-Lafette C/36 · 3.7 cm FlaK-Lafette LM/42 · SK C/30 · FlaK.36 · FlaK43
40 mm  40 mm/70 MEL58 · Bofors Flak 28 · Bofors L/70 model 1948
52 mm  52 mm/55 SK L/55
88 mm  8.8 cm/76 SK C/32 · S.K.C/35 · FlaK.18 · Flak.36 · 88 mm/45 AA SK L/45 · 88 mm/45 casemate SK L/45
100 mm  100 mm/55 MLE model 53
105 mm  SK C/32 · SK C/33 AA
120 mm  L45
128 mm  12.8 cm/45 SK C/34
150 mm  150 mm/45 SK L/45 · 15 cm/48 KC/36 · 15 cm/55 SK C/28 · 15 cm/60 SK C/25
203 mm  20.3 cm/60 SK C/34
283 mm  283 mm/45 SK L/45 · 283 mm/52 SK C/28 · 283 mm/54,5 SK C/34
305 mm  305 mm/50 SK L/50
380 mm  38 cm SK L/45
  Foreign:
23 mm  ZU-23 (USSR)
30 mm  AK-230 (USSR)
37 mm  V-11 (USSR)
76 mm  76 mm/62 OTO-Melara Compact (Italy)
100 mm  100 mm/56 B-34 (USSR)