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Concept
28 cm SK L/40 gun
Summary
The 28 cm SK L/40 was a German naval gun that was used in World War I and World War II as the main armament of the - and pre-dreadnoughts.
The 28 cm SK L/40 gun weighed , had an overall length of and a bore length of . Although designated as , its actual caliber was . It used Krupp's horizontal sliding-block, or "wedge", as it is sometimes referred to, breech design rather than the interrupted screw commonly used in heavy guns of other nations. This required that the propellant charge be loaded in a metal case (usually brass) which provides obturation, or sealing of the breech, to prevent escape of the expanding propellant gas. The 28 cm SK L/40 was the last large German naval gun to load all its propellant in a single case; later guns required a fore charge in addition to the main charge in the cartridge case.
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 L/2.6 armor-piercing shell to a maximum range of at maximum elevation. These ships stowed 85 rounds per gun. The rate of fire for both types of turrets was about 2 rounds per minute.
The Treaty of Versailles allowed the Germans to retain four pre-dreadnoughts, although only two, and , were rearmed with their original 28 cm SK L/40 guns. The former fired the first shots of World War II when she began bombarding Polish defenses on the Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 while the latter also participated in the Polish Campaign. However both ships were relegated to training duties shortly afterwards.
Some of the 28 cm SK L/40 guns were transferred to the German Army from the Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) when the pre-dreadnoughts began to be disarmed and relegated to training duties in 1916 after the Battle of Jutland had proved that they were not suitable for contemporary naval combat. One obvious change made for land service was the placement of a large counterweight just forward of the trunnions to counteract the preponderance of weight towards the breech.
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