15 cm SK L/45

The 15 cm SK L/45^{[Note 1]} was a German naval gun used in World War I and World War II.

15 cm SK L/45
Gun salvaged from SMS Bremse, at the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre, Hoy, Orkney
Type	Naval gun Railroad gun Coastal artillery
Place of origin	German Empire
Service history
In service	1908—45
Used by	Germany
Wars	World War I World War II
Production history
Designer	Krupp
Designed	1906
Manufacturer	Krupp
Produced	1908
Specifications
Mass	5,730 kilograms (12,630 lb)
Length	6.71 metres (22 ft 0 in)
Barrel length	6.32 metres (20 ft 9 in)L/45
Shell	separate loading quick fire
Caliber	149.1 millimetres (5.87 in)
Breech	horizontal sliding-wedge
Recoil	Hydro-spring
Elevation	See table
Traverse	−150° to +150°
Rate of fire	5-7 rpm
Muzzle velocity	840 metres per second (2,800 ft/s)
Maximum firing range	See table

Naval service

The 15 cm SK L/45 was a widely used naval gun on many classes of World War I dreadnoughts and cruisers in both casemates and turrets. It was constructed of an A tube and two layers of hoops with a Krupp horizontal sliding-wedge breech block. During World War I a few pre-war cruisers that were armed with 10.5 cm guns were rearmed with these weapons. In World War II the 15 cm SK L/45 was widely used as coastal artillery and as primary armament on German auxiliary cruisers.

Ship classes that carried the 15 cm SK L/45 include:

• Bremen-class
• Brummer-class
• Graudenz-class
• Kolberg-class
• Magdeburg-class
• Pillau-class

15 cm SK L/45 mounts^[1]

Type of mount	Designation	Weight	Elevation	Range (during World War I)	Ship classes
Single pedestal mounts in casemates	MPL C/06	15,770 kg (34,770 lb)	−7° to +20°	14.9 km (9.3 mi) at 20°	Nassau, Helgoland, Kaiser, von der Tann, Moltke, Blücher
	MPL C/06.11	16,533 kg (36,449 lb)	−10° to +19°	13.5 km (8.4 mi) at +19	König, Seydlitz, Derfflinger, Lutzow
	MPL C/13	17,950 kg (39,570 lb)	−8.5° to +19	13.5 km (8.4 mi) at +19	Bayern, Hindenburg, Mackensen
	MPL C/13 mod	18,350 kg (40,450 lb)	−8.5° to +22	15.8 km (9.8 mi) at +22	Wartime modification to MPL C/13
Single pedestal mounts in open half-shields	MPL C/14	16,185 kg (35,682 lb)	−10° to +22°	15.8 km (9.8 mi) at +22	Wiesbaden, Königsberg II
	MPL C/16	17,116 kg (37,734 lb)	−10° to +27°	16.8 km (10.4 mi) at +27	Cöln II, Emden II
	MPL C/16 mod		−10° to +30	17.6 km (10.9 mi) at +30	wartime modification to MPL C/16

Ammunition

Ammunition was of separate loading quick fire type. The projectiles were 61 cm (2 ft) long with a single bagged charge which weighed 13–14 kg (29–31 lb).

The gun was able to fire:

• Armor piercing 45.3 kg (100 lb)
• High explosive base fuzed 45.3 kg (100 lb)
• High explosive nose fuzed 45.3 kg (100 lb)
• Common shell 45.3 kg (100 lb)

Coast defense gun

15 cm SK L/45 coastal artillery gun at Nordarnøy, Gildeskål, Norway

Rear view of the above pictured gun

The same gun was used for coast defense duties in concrete emplacements after World War I. One example was 3./Marine-Artillerie Abteilung 604 ("3rd Battery of Naval Artillery Battalion 604") in Jersey.^[2] They show it using 44 kilograms (97 lb) shells with a range of 18,000 metres (20,000 yd)

Railroad gun

Main article: 15 cm SK "Nathan"

It was also used as a railroad gun during World War I.

See also

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

• BL 6 inch Mk XII naval gun British equivalent

Footnotes

Notes

1. SK - Schnelladekanone (quick loading cannon); L - Länge in Kaliber (length in caliber)

Citations

1. from NavWeaps
2. Gander and Chamberlain, p. 266

References

• 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.
• Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War Two. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
• Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
• Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.

External links

• the 15cm SK L/45 on NavWeaps