8.8 cm SK C/30 naval gun

8.8 cm SK C/30
8.8 cm SK C/30
	A restored gun preserved at Fjell Fortress in Norway
Type	Naval gun; Anti-aircraft gun
Place of origin	Germany
Service history
In service	1933—1945
Used by	Nazi Germany ; Republic of China
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designed	1930–1933
Specifications
Mass	1,230 kilograms (2,710 lb)
Length	3.96 meters (13 ft 0 in)
Barrel length	3.706 meters (12 ft 1.9 in) (bore length)
Shell	Fixed QF
Shell weight	9–10 kilograms (20–22 lb)
Caliber	88 millimeters (3.5 in)
Breech	Vertical sliding-block
Elevation	-10° to +80°
Traverse	360°
Rate of fire	15 rpm
Muzzle velocity	790 m/s (2,600 ft/s)
Effective firing range	Horizontal: 14,175 metres (15,502 yd) at +43.5°; Vertical: 9,700 metres (10,600 yd) at +80°

The 8.8 cm SK C/30^{[Note 1]} was a German naval gun that was used in World War II. The SK C/30 guns were intended for smaller warships such as submarine chasers and corvettes.

Description

The SK C/30 had a barrel and breech end-piece with a half-length loose liner and a vertical sliding breech block. The SK C/30 guns were mounted on a hand-operated MPLC/30 mounting that had a total weight of 5,760 kilograms (12,700 lb) including a 15–10 millimetres (0.59–0.39 in) shield and a fuze-setting machine. However they were significantly lighter than the older 8.8 cm SK L/45 naval guns.^[2] Captured guns from the Chinese National Revolutionary Army was reverse engineered in 1938 by the Imperial Japanese Army and introduced as Type 99 88 mm AA gun.

Ammunition

Fixed type ammunition with and without tracer, which weighed 15 kg (33 lb), with a projectile length of 385.5 mm (15.18 in) was fired. Ammunition Types Available:

Armour Piercing (AP) - 10 kg (22 lb)
High Explosive (HE) - 9 kg (20 lb)
High Explosive Incendiary (HEI) - 9.5 kg (21 lb)
Illumination (ILLUM) - 9.4 kg (21 lb)

Notes

^ SK - Schnelladekanone (quick loading cannon); C - Construktionsjahr (year of design)

Citations

^ Campbell, Naval Weapons of WWII, p.251.
^ Campbell, Naval Weapons of WWII, p.251.

References

Campbell, John (2002). Naval Weapons of World War Two. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
Gander, Terry; Chamberlain, Peter (1979). Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939–1945. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-15090-3.
Hogg, Ian V. (1997). German Artillery of World War Two (2nd corrected ed.). Mechanicsville, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 1-85367-480-X.
Rolf, Rudi (1998). Der Atlantikwall: Bauten der deutschen Küstenbefestigungen 1940-1945. Osnabrück: Biblio. ISBN 3-7648-2469-7.
Rolf, Rudi (2004). A Dictionary on Modern Fortification: An Illustrated Lexicon on European Fortification in the Period 1800-1945. Middleburg, Netherlands: PRAK.