Zeiss 5x10x70 artillery binoculars in their natural habitat

[Mikedenmark]

For some time, I have hoped to get photos of a 5+10x70 Zeiss artillery binoculars in "original" surroundings.

I knew where a suitable cannon was placed, but to get the binoculars along, and actually go there, has taken some time.
But earlier this week, I finally made it.

I hope you will enjoy it.

The binocular will not fit down completely, as the securing screw to the back is stuck. So it is tilting forward a little bit.
I deliberately omitted the head rest to make better photos.














And the cannon:

15 cm coastal defence cannon SKC/28. Mounted in affutage Küst mpl C/36.
According to a plate on it, it is a Rheinmetall design, produced by Skoda.
Marked with code qfs on the breech end. Weight 9020 kilo.

[Michael Downey]

What a great post. Thanks for sharing. I had often wondered how the base plate attached to the mount. Your photos make that pretty clear now. Really appreciate your effort.

[benutzer]

THANKS for the pics !!!!!!!!

[Frans H.]

Well done! I have the same binoculars as you have, but without the baseplate. Now I know how it was attached.

[pzo]

Beautiful! Thanks for commiting and sharing. Was it used mainly on coastal gun or onboard?

[Mikedenmark]

I don´t know where this type of cannon saw most use. Rumour will know these cannons were spare ones from the Sharnhorst. On Sharnhorst, they were mounted in 2 barrel towers at both sides of the ship. The binoculars were, as far as I know, used both on ships and on shore.
Basically this binocular is a very large double sighting scope. If a tower looses contact to the central fire leader, (central sight) it is supposed to continue firing independently. To do that, it needs a optic sight.
That is what this binocular do.

I find it odd that the cannon has such a late code. When the qxx range of military codes was introduced, there wasn´t much coastline left for Germany to defend. Still, they made large navy cannon barrels.

[Stew]

optical sight for 15cm SKC/28

Hi Mikedenmark,
thankyou for telling us about this project and sharing the pictures . Very interesting!!
I have a similar long running project ....see separate post ....(Das ist Englisch!!!)