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38 cm Siegfried K (E)
Encyclopedia
The 38 cm Siegfried K (E) (K - Kanone (cannon), E - in Eisenbahnlafette (on railroad mounting)) was a railway gun
developed by Germany during World War II
. Originally designed as the main armament of the s some surplus guns were transferred to the Army for use on coast-defense duties.
Railway gun
A railway gun, also called a railroad gun, is a large artillery piece, often surplus naval ordnance, mounted on, transported by, and fired from a specially designed railway wagon. Many countries have built railway guns, but the best known are the large Krupp-built pieces used by Germany in World...
developed by Germany during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Originally designed as the main armament of the s some surplus guns were transferred to the Army for use on coast-defense duties.
Design
The gun had no ability to traverse on its mount; it relied entirely 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 tonne, 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.Ammunition
It 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 Siegfried shell (Siegfried-Granate) which was a special long-range shell developed by the Army. It could be fired with a reduced charge at 920 metres per second (3,018.4 ft/s) to 40 kilometres (43,744.5 yd).| Shell name | Weight | Filling Weight | Muzzle velocity | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nose-fused HE He He is a third-person, singular personal pronoun in Modern English, as well as being a personal pronoun in Middle English.-Animals:... shell with ballistic cap Shell (projectile) A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot . Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used... (Sprenggranate L/4.6 m KZ m Hb) |
800 kg (1,763.7 lb) | Unknown | 820 m/s (2,690.3 ft/s) | 42000 m (45,931.8 yd) |
| base-fused HE He He is a third-person, singular personal pronoun in Modern English, as well as being a personal pronoun in Middle English.-Animals:... shell with ballistic cap Shell (projectile) A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot . Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used... (Sprenggranate L/4.4 m BdZ m Hb)) |
800 kg (1,763.7 lb) | Unknown | 820 m/s (2,690.3 ft/s) | 42000 m (45,931.8 yd) |
| base-fused AP Armor-piercing shot and shell An armor-piercing shell is a type of ammunition designed to penetrate armor. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armor-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armor carried on many warships. From the 1920s onwards, armor-piercing weapons were required for anti-tank missions... shell with ballistic cap Shell (projectile) A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot . Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used... (Panzer- Sprenggranate L/4.4 m BdZ m Hb)) |
800 kg (1,763.7 lb) | Unknown | 820 m/s (2,690.3 ft/s) | 42000 m (45,931.8 yd) |
| nose- and base-fused HE He He is a third-person, singular personal pronoun in Modern English, as well as being a personal pronoun in Middle English.-Animals:... shell with ballistic cap Shell (projectile) A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot . Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used... (Siegfried-Granate L/4.5 m KZ u BdZ m Hb)) |
495 kg (1,091.3 lb) | 69 kg (152.1 lb) TNT | 1050 m/s (3,444.9 ft/s) | 55700 m (60,914.3 yd) |