Railway gun
The 38 cm Siegfried K (E) was a German World War II railway gun based on the 38 cm SK C/34 naval gun that served as the main armament of the Bismarck-class battleships. Only four were produced. K stands for Kanone (cannon), E for Eisenbahnlafette (on railroad mounting).
Design
Like the 38 cm SK C/34 naval guns deployed as coastal defense, the 38 cm Siegfried K guns were modified with a larger chamber to handle the increased amount of propellant used for the special long-range Siegfried shells.[1][2]
The gun had no ability to traverse on its mount, relying instead on moving along a curving section of track or on a Vögele turntable to aim. The turntable (Drehscheibe) consisted of a circular track with a pivot mount in the center for a platform on which the railroad gun itself was secured. A ramp was used to raise the railway gun to the level of the platform. The platform had rollers at each end which rested on the circular rail for 360° traverse. It had a capacity of 300 tonnes (300 long tons; 330 short tons), enough for most of the railroad guns in the German inventory. The gun could only be loaded at 0° elevation and so had to be re-aimed for each shot.[3]
Ammunition
The gun used the standard German naval system of ammunition where the base charge was held in a metallic cartridge case and supplemented by another charge in a silk bag which was rammed first.
Four types of shells were used by the 38 cm Siegfried K (E), including the special long-range Siegfried shell (Siegfried—Granate) developed by the army. Almost 40 per-cent lighter, it could be fired with a reduced charge at 920 metres per second (3,000 ft/s) to 40,000 metres (44,000 yd). With a full charge it reached 1,050 metres per second (3,400 ft/s) and could travel 55,700 metres (60,900 yd)–equivalent to over 34.5 miles.[4]
| Shell name
|
Weight
|
Filling Weight
|
Muzzle velocity
|
Range
|
| nose-fused HE shell with ballistic cap (Sprenggranate L/4.6 m KZ m Hb)
|
800 kg (1,800 lb)
|
Unknown
|
820 m/s (2,700 ft/s)
|
42,000 m (46,000 yd)
|
| base-fused HE shell with ballistic cap (Sprenggranate L/4.4 m BdZ m Hb))
|
800 kg (1,800 lb)
|
Unknown
|
820 m/s (2,700 ft/s)
|
42,000 m (46,000 yd)
|
| base-fused AP shell with ballistic cap (Panzer- Sprenggranate L/4.4 m BdZ m Hb))
|
800 kg (1,800 lb)
|
Unknown
|
820 m/s (2,700 ft/s)
|
42,000 m (46,000 yd)
|
| nose- and base-fused HE shell with ballistic cap (Si-Gr L/4.5 Bdz u. Kz (m.Hb)) (light load)
|
495 kg (1,091 lb)
|
69 kg (152 lb) TNT
|
920 m/s (3,000 ft/s)
|
40,000 m (44,000 yd)
|
| nose- and base-fused HE shell with ballistic cap (Si-Gr L/4.5 Bdz u. Kz (m.Hb)) (full load)
|
495 kg (1,091 lb)
|
69 kg (152 lb) TNT
|
1,050 m/s (3,400 ft/s)
|
55,700 m (60,900 yd)
|
