Kyler’s Kaiserliche Marine Blog
Weapon: 30.5cm Gun
This weapon would serve as the principal armament of the battleships of the Kaiserliche Marine. The weapon would be fielded on the classes: Helgoland, Kaiser, Konig, and Derfflinger.
The weapons were 50 calibers in length at 15.25m with a weight of 51,850 kgs. The bore was 14.461m with rifling along 11.805m. The working pressure was 3,300 kg/cm squared with 88 rifling groves. The charge was 277lbs of RP C/12 cordite in two charges one 201lbs and the other 76lbs. The AP shell weighed 405kgs with a bursting charge of 25.4lbs.
The gun mounting would evolve from the DrL C/08 on the Helgoland Class to the C/13 on the SMS Hindenburg. With an elevation range from 13.5 to 16.5 degrees depending on the class. Thus giving a range from 19,200m to 20,400m.
Sources
Photo: Personal Collection
Data: “Naval Weapons of World War One” By Norman Friedman