World War II Database

Country of Origin	Germany
Type	Coastal Defense Gun
Caliber	406.000 mm
Barrel Length	2.150 m
Weight	1475000.000 kg
Ammunition Weight	600.00 kg
Range	56.000 km
Muzzle Velocity	1,050 m/s

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseIn 1940, when it was decided that a batch of 40.6-centimeter naval guns made by Krupp was not to be equipped aboard battleships as originally intended, they were installed on land in coastal defense roles. A special light-weight 600-kilogram shell called the Adolf-shell (thus leading to these guns' nickname of "Adolfkanone", or "Adolf gun") was developed that allowed the long range of 56 kilometers, while the typical 1,030-kilogram shells had the shorter effective range of 42.8 kilometers. As coastal artillery guns, they had a firing rate of 2 minutes per round. They were deployed in turrets that each housed a single barrel. At least 11 guns were deployed. The first three were initially deployed at Battery Schleswig-Holstein on the Hel Peninsula, Poland in 1940 to protect the Bay of Danzig. Shortly after test firing between May and Jun 1941, they were transported to France, where they were deployed at Battery Lindemann near Sangatte, France. These three guns fired 2,226 shells at the city of Dover across the English Channel and an unknown number of shells at Allied shipping. 8 of these 40.6-centimeter guns were shipped to Norway; only 7 reached their destinations as 1 of them was lost en route. Three of the guns were deployed at Battery Dietl on the Norwegian island of Engeløya, Steigen, while the other four were deployed at Battery Theo at Trondenes near Harstad. After the war, the guns at Trondenes were taken over by the Norwegian Army, which kept them in service until 1964 (last test fired in 1957). The three guns at Engeløya were sold for scrap in 1956.

Source: Wikipedia. ww2dbase

Last Major Revision: Apr 2010

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