Hi, just finished reading "After the Battle" magazine No 95 (published in 1997) and there is a 'bonus article' at the end featuring this battery in northern Norway. Looks like it is still a popular tourist attraction, and no wonder, it's incredible, and in such good condition that I think that at least one of the guns may still be in working order!
These guns were originally intended for a German heavy battleship class that was never completed and so the guns were re-purposed for coastal defence use. The calibre of 40.6cm is amazing, and apparently with the long-range "Adolf" shell it could throw a shell a distance of 56km... I believe that these were the most powerful naval guns produced up to and possibly after WW2, when considering the propellant charge.
Reading the above article it's apparent that these weapons were an engineering marvel, multiple turrets fired electrically from a command post that featured a 'mechanical computer" that took into account all manner of variables including air temperature, wind speed and direction and so on. The Allies never dared to approach and they were never fired in anger so I suppose they served their purpose, "Area Denial" weapons as they call them...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trondenes_Fort
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhx-ekBfR-4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07j7Hh-cRWQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isH94DzNlQY
Regards, Paul
These guns were originally intended for a German heavy battleship class that was never completed and so the guns were re-purposed for coastal defence use. The calibre of 40.6cm is amazing, and apparently with the long-range "Adolf" shell it could throw a shell a distance of 56km... I believe that these were the most powerful naval guns produced up to and possibly after WW2, when considering the propellant charge.
Reading the above article it's apparent that these weapons were an engineering marvel, multiple turrets fired electrically from a command post that featured a 'mechanical computer" that took into account all manner of variables including air temperature, wind speed and direction and so on. The Allies never dared to approach and they were never fired in anger so I suppose they served their purpose, "Area Denial" weapons as they call them...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trondenes_Fort
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhx-ekBfR-4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07j7Hh-cRWQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isH94DzNlQY
Regards, Paul
Tom
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