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

Description

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Vehicles equipped with this weapon

• SMS Helgoland
• SMS Ostfriesland
• SMS Kaiser

General info

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Available ammunition

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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-Germans Naval Arms Race preceding World War I. As Germany did not agree to any restrictions on gun caliber 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 Orion-class. Germany was not idle at this time. When the Riechsmarineamt (Imperial Naval Office) got word of Britain up-gunning to 13.5-inchs, they upgraded their own ships from 283 mm/45 SK L/45 (11-inch) to the 305mm/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 mounted 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-caliber guns to 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 the 13.5-inch guns they built.

The Kaiserlichemarine (Imperial German Navy) first mounted these guns on the Helgoland-class dreadnoughts such as the SMS 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 were assigned the island Helgoland in the North Sea. Battery Kaiser Wilhelm II was assigned with there guns 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, Helgoland was demilitarized, but Hitler would use 3 guns from from Wangerooge, not affected by the treaty, to re-equip the coastal defenses at Helgoland 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.

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See also

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External links

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