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12.8 cm SK C/34
12.8 cm SK C/34
	Aft guns on Z3 Max Schultz
Type	Naval gun; Coast-defence gun
Place of origin	Nazi Germany
Service history
In service	1934–2003
Used by	Nazi Germany ; Norway ; Greece; France
Wars	Second World War
Production history
Designer	Rheinmetall
Designed	1930–1934
Manufacturer	Rheinmetall
Specifications
Mass	3,645 kilograms (8,036 lb)
Length	5.76 meters (18 ft 11 in)
Barrel length	5.43 meters (17 ft 10 in) (bore)
Shell	128 x 680mm R; separate-loading, cased charge
Shell weight	28 kilograms (61.7 lb)
Caliber	128 millimeters (5.04 in)
Breech	vertical sliding-block
Elevation	depends on the mount
Traverse	depends on the mount
Rate of fire	15–18 rpm (maximum)
Muzzle velocity	830 meters per second (2,700 ft/s)
Maximum firing range	17,400 meters (19,000 yd) at 30°

The 12.8 cm SK C/34^{[Note 1]} was a German medium-caliber naval gun deployed on destroyers from 1934 through the Second World War. Some of these guns remained in service until 2003 in the coastal defense units of Norway.

Characteristics

The 12.8 cm SK C/34 was used on the Type 34, Type 36 and Type 36B destroyers as well as the sloop Grille, the training ship Bremse and the torpedo boats Leopard and Luchs. They were also intended for the unbuilt Type 38B destroyers, Type 40 torpedo-boats and the Type XI U-boats. These guns were either mounted on single hand worked MPLC/34 mounts, converted 10.5 cm MPLC/28 mounts or in two twin Drh LC/38 mounts for Type XI U-boats.^[1]

The gun could be depressed to -10° and raised to 30°. It had an arc of fire of 360°, meaning that they could rotate a full circle, able to fire at any given point. The gun fired a 28-kilogram (62 lb) high-explosive shell at a muzzle velocity of 830 meters per second (2,700 ft/s) to a range of 17,400 meters (19,000 yd).^[2]

Eight of the naval guns were also purchased by Greece, intended to be used in the construction of two new Greek Destroyers in 1941. However, the outbreak of the Second World War forced the Greek government to cancel their plans. Instead, the Greeks installed the guns to monitor to Corfu strait during the Greco-Italian War.

Notes

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

Citations

^ Campbell, Naval Weapons of WWII, p.246.
^ DiGiulian, Tony (2 August 2016). "Germany 12.7 cm/45 (5") SK C/34". navweaps.com. Retrieved 23 September 2017.

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.