Kriegsmarine AA Sight?

[Brandon]

This is for sale in a local shop, owner is asking $650 Canadian for it, is this a reasonable price? A little outside my collecting area but I figured if its a good deal I could trade it for something that IS in my area haha, its in nice shape but not sure if its complete, could only get the 2 pictures:
https://imgur.com/W6yzZgu
https://imgur.com/8MCSPwQ

[Sgt Bilko]

Nice - I have a Zeiss one but didn't even know rln versions existed. Given it's rarity I'd go for it.

[Mikedenmark]

Should this late model then be without the top scope ? That would make sense, but for that price, I might like to be sure it isn´t supposed to be there.
Try goggling a.z.schr.E. C/6 to see the earlyer types.

Sgt Bilko is right, rare, and related to Uboats.
Still, I am not sure if I would buy it, given the chance. Maybe just me being an old miser here.

[Brandon]

U boat related eh? I looked at a bunch of U Boat pics and don't see anything similar to this on most of them, but theres such a range of optics used...
I see one very similar to this comes up when I google what you told me, but its darker in color and has the red plate with the info on it, an earlier version?

[whsammler]

Brandon,

If you pass on it please let me know I may take a shot at it if you pm me the sellers info etc.




Glen
Collector of Wehrmacht Optics, Ordnance & Field Equipment.

[Mikedenmark]

Brandon. As this one is marked rln, it cannot possibly be any later than it is. Read 1945.
Any other type will be an earlier version.


I just checked back, and I can see you may have a point about the uboat relation.

Everybody writes that, but the only place I can find it shown in use, is in cannon turrets on surface vessels.
If it was used on uboats, which do make sense, then it would be on prewar subs.
Possibly early war too, until surface attacks with the cannons went out of use.
If used, then they were superseeded by the pressure resistant cannon sights.

I have checked, but, so far, not found any photo´s showing it used on uboats.

[Sgt Bilko]

I doubt they were used on U Boats - compared to known U Boat optics they seem too lightweight. As to the rln (1945) version;

The end of the deck guns

After the massive anti-submarine build-up by the allies in 1942 and 1943 the deck guns were removed from almost all the boats in 1943 and 1944. A few commanders were allowed to retain them though, esp. the ones who commanded the boats in the Indian Ocean (the Monsun boats). But, in effect, from 1943 the deck gun was, for most boats, a thing of the past.

[AndyC]

I posted the linked pictures in the thread so that they don´t get lost




Andy

[AndyC]

2

[Mikedenmark]

I have missed an indication here. Still a rare item, but not from a sub.
Marked R for recht/right, makes it less likely to be intended for a sub.
The design has an ancestor in the WW1 imperial navy. Same layout, but, apparently, pressure resistent.


As for this rln model, it might have seen use on coastal defense pieces, or simply meant for a replacement on some of the medium size units still operative.
That said, I can still wonder why they had run out of spare sights. It must have been pretty common once. And extra´s must have been available for ships using it.

[zeissasembi]

Maybe its a Marine Arteleri Zielfernrohr Schr. Einblick C/6 made for centralsight. To be used on heavy weapon when the main centralsight couldnt do the job.

[Le Breton]

A.Z. Schr. E. C/6

These ABNEHMBARE Zielfernrohre mit schrägem Einblick C/6 were available from October 1940 onwards. As they were very versatile, these small optical marvels were made in large numbers and equipped quite a few versions of KM Flak guns in between 3.7 and 10.5 cm. They were literally the optical workhorse of the nautical KM Flak. Every gun would have a right (R) and left (L) version installed. Its performance was such that Nedinsco Venlo continued its production until 1955 for a number of nations, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that Zeiss kept on producing them right until the end of the war - hence the rln marking. Contrary to the several Drückdichte Optische Kreiskornen, they aren't water proof and as such have nothing to do with U-Boot Flak…

[Brandon]

Thank you for all the assistance! I have decided to pass the sellers info on to the first person who asked for it!

[Brandon]

As an update to this post, I went back to the shop today and the guy completely forgot he even had this. Pulled it out of a cupboard and told me to make him an offer, so it's now in my possession. I took it down to the beach here and tried it out, still works great!