283 mm/54,5 SK C/34 (283 mm)

283 mm/54,5 SK C/34 cannons on the Scharnhorst

Description

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Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• Scharnhorst

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/4,4 Kpf.Z HE	HE	64	64	64	64	64	64
Psgr. L/4.4 APCBC	APCBC	578	538	477	425	380	312
Spgr. L/4,4 Bd.Z SAP	SAPBC	287	266	235	209	186	152
Spgr. L/4,4 Zt.Z HE-DF	HE-TF	64	64	64	64	64	64

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/4,4 Kpf.Z HE	HE	900	315	0	0.1	21.49	79°	80°	81°
Psgr. L/4.4 APCBC	APCBC	890	330	0.035	15	7.21	48°	63°	71°
Spgr. L/4,4 Bd.Z SAP	SAPBC	900	315	0.035	15	16.72	48°	63°	71°
Spgr. L/4,4 Zt.Z HE-DF	HE-TF	900	311	0	0.1	21.49	79°	80°	81°

Comparison with analogues

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Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

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History

The 283 mm/54.5 SK C/34 was the main naval cannon used on the Scharnhorst-class battleships. The design for this class began after the signing of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement in 1935 which gave Germany room to make capital ships in a 3 to 1 ratio favouring Great Britain. Not intending to challenge the Royal Navy, but instead to use the newly rechristened Kriegsmarine for a quick war against France, Adolf Hitler got the room he needed to build his desired capital ships out of the deal. Now under the restrictions of the 1930 London Naval Treaty instead of the more restrictive 1919 Treaty of Versailles, the maximum calibre of guns allowed for the Kriegsmarine was now 40.6 cm or 16 inches. Hitler wanted to arm the new Scharnhorst class with 15-inch or 38 cm guns, but this armament would delay the construction of the class by several years as Germany had no 15-inch guns available to arm them and would have to make the guns from scratch. To make production quicker, Hitler decided to arm the Scharnhorst and her sister ship the Gneisenau with 283 mm guns which Germany had built before for the Deutschland-class "pocket battleships". He still wanted to have 38 cm guns on the ships and demanded they would be re-armed with them as soon as they were available, which came thanks to the Bismarck-class battleships.

The 283 mm/54.5 C/34 was based on the earlier 283 mm/52 SK C/28 used on Germany's "pocket battleships" but there were differences. First the barrel was lengthened by 2.5 calibres, a two-part barrel jacket with a loose liner and a Krupp style horizontal sliding breech block. While the 283 mm was small compared to the armament of other battleships of the period, it offered a faster rate of fire along with being an expedient measure as discussed earlier. It was planned that after the Scharnhorst class was retrofitted with the 38 cm guns from the Bismarck class, that the 283 mm guns would be mounted on the next generation of "pocket battleships". However this plan did not happen. Another planned use for the gun was on the Landkreuzer P. 1000 "Ratte", super-heavy tank project that never left the drawing board. In service, the SK C/34 was an accurate gun and has the distinction of hitting the carrier HMS Glorious during a battle in the North Sea from Scharnhorst at approximately 26,000 yards - one of the longest-range naval gunnery hits in history. After her sister ship Gneisenau was damaged in an air raid, the turrets were removed and repurposed as coastal defense batteries. The Bruno turret guns were assigned to a battery at Fjell festning (fortress) on Sotra Island, Norway. The Caesar turret guns were given to Battery Oerlandat in Austrått, Norway, and the Battery Rozenburg in the Netherlands got the guns from Anton turret.

Media

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See also

• 283 mm/52 SK C/28 (283 mm) - Earlier variant of this gun.

External links

• [Wikipedia] 28 cm SK C/34 naval gun
• [NavWeaps] Germany 28 cm/54.5 (11") SK C/34