Used on pre-dreadnoughts of the Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm class. The mixture of both L/35 and L/40 guns on these ships shows how centralized fire control was not yet available for these ships, even though they had a "uniform" main battery.
These guns were built from hoops and used a horizontal wedge breech mechanism.
These mountings used hydraulic power with steam pumps as prime movers. The breech mechanisms were hand-worked as was the ramming.
All German 28 cm guns had an actual bore diameter of 28.3 cm (11.1").
| Designation | 28 cm/40 (11") MRK L/40 |
|---|---|
| Ship Class Used On | Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm class |
| Date Of Design | 1890 |
| Date In Service | 1893 |
| Gun Weight | 97,000 lbs. (44,000 kg) including BM |
| Gun Length oa | 440.9 in (11.200 m) |
| Bore Length | 409.5 in (10.401 m) |
| Rifling Length | N/A |
| Grooves | N/A |
| Lands | N/A |
| Twist | N/A |
| Chamber Volume | 8,723 in3 (142.9 dm3) |
| Rate Of Fire | about 0.5 rounds per minute |
| Type | Bag |
|---|---|
| Projectile Types and Weights 1 | AP L/2,6 2 : 530.7 lbs. (240.7 kg) HE L/2,9 base fuze: 529 lbs. (240 kg) |
| Bursting Charge | N/A |
| Projectile Length | AP L/2,6: 29.0 in (73.6 cm) HE L/2,9 base fuze: 32.3 in (82.1 cm) |
| Propellant Charge 4 | 211.6 lbs. (96.0 kg) Brown Powder
124.8 lbs. (56.6 kg) RP C/12 |
| Muzzle Velocity | 2,690 fps (820 mps) |
| Working Pressure | N/A |
| Approximate Barrel Life | N/A |
| Ammunition stowage per gun | Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm: 60 rounds |
- ^
Actual designations for Projectiles AP L/2,6 28 cm Psgr. L/2,6 HE L/2,9 base fuze 28 cm Spgr. L/2,9 Bdz - ^The AP L/2,6 was about 2crh.
- For a sketch of the AP L/2,6, please see the 28 cm SK L/40 datapage.
- ^As originally introduced, these guns used brown powder. Full charges were in halves.
| Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|
| 25 degrees (Max elevation of turret) |
17,400 yards (15,900 m) |
"Die Geschichte der deutschen Schiffsartillerie" says that the effective range of this gun when introduced was 12,030 yards (11,000 m).
| Range | Side Armor | Deck Armor |
|---|---|---|
| 13,120 yards (12,000 m) | 6.3 in (160 mm) | --- |
Data from "Die Geschichte der deutschen Schiffsartillerie."
| Designation | Two-gun barbette/turrets
Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm (2): Drh.L. C/92 |
|---|---|
| Weight | N/A |
| Elevation | -5 / +25 degrees |
| Elevation Rate | N/A |
| Train | about +150 / -150 degrees |
| Train Rate | N/A |
| Gun recoil | N/A |
| Loading Angle | N/A 1a |
- ^C/92 mounts were a barbette type with ammunition coming up from the magazines into the rear of the pear-shaped barbette. The shells were then transferred into a cart which ran on a circular track that was in a narrow passageway around the outside of the stalk. The cart was moved by hand. Each of the two propellant bags appear to have been transported in a carrier held by two men. Ammunition was lifted into the gunhouse via two cranes, one for each gun. This was a clumsy arrangement and it may have been faster and easier to only load ammunition into the gunhouse when it was trained to the centerline. See sketch on the 28 cm/35 MRK L/35 datapage for details and also see the photographs on the 24 cm/40 SK L/40 datapage for a very similar mounting. As the guns were hand worked, they could be loaded at any angle of train once the ammunition was in the gunhouse.
"Naval Weapons of World War One" by Norman Friedman
"Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906-1922" by Randal Gray and Robert Gardiner (Editor)
"German Warships 1815-1945" by Erich Gröner
"The Big Gun: Battleship Main Armament 1860-1945" by Peter Hodges
"From Ironclads to Dreadnoughts: The Development of the German Battleship, 1864-1918" by Dirk Nottelmann and David M. Sullivan
"Die Geschichte der deutschen Schiffsartillerie" by Paul Schmalenbach
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"Munitionsvorschriften für die Kriegsmarine - Panzersprenggranaten (Psgr)" M.Dv. Nr. 190,1A2 by Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine
21 November 2012 - New datapage
15 December 2013 - Added photograph of Weissenburg
23 February 2019 - Converted to HTML 5 format, reorganized notes and added data from M.Dv. Nr. 190,1A2
01 April 2021 - Added another photograph of Weissenburg
24 April 2024 - Expanded comment regarding ammunition supply
04 August 2024 - More on the ammunition supply and added photograph of turret on the Meppen test range