10.5 cm SK L/40 naval gun

10.5 cm SK L/40
A gun salvaged from the light cruiser Königsberg and mounted on the gunboat SS Graf von Götzen on Lake Tanganyika
Type	Naval gun
Place of origin	German Empire
Service history
In service	1900—1945
Used by	German Empire  Weimar Republic  Nazi Germany
Wars	World War I World War II
Production history
Designed	about 1898–1900
Specifications
Weight	1,555 kilograms (3,428 lb)
Length	4.475 meters (14 ft 8.2 in)
Shell	Fixed
Shell weight	16–17.4 kilograms (35–38 lb)
Caliber	105 millimeters (4.1 in)
Breech	horizontal sliding-block
Muzzle velocity	690 m/s (2,300 ft/s)
Maximum firing range	12,200 metres (13,300 yd)

The 10.5 cm SK L/40 (SK - Schnelladekanone (quick-loading cannon) L - Länge (with a 40-caliber long barrel) was a German naval gun used in World War I and World War II.

Description

The 10.5 cm SK L/40 gun weighed 1,555 kilograms (3,428 lb), had an overall length of 4.475 m (14 ft 8.2 in). It used a horizontal sliding-block breech design.

Surviving examples

Gun from SMS Königsberg, which served ashore in the East Africa Campaign in World War I, outside the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa.

• From Königsberg:
  • Nr. 369L is on display at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa
  • A second is on display at Fort Jesus, Mombasa, Kenya
  • A third is located on a traffic island in Jinja, Uganda
• From Emden:
  • A gun is on display at Hyde Park, Sydney, Australia
  • A second is located at the Royal Australian Navy Heritage Centre in HMAS Kuttabul, the main naval base in Sydney
  • A third is on display at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra
• From the Hilfskreuzer (auxiliary cruiser) Prinz Eitel Friedrich
  • A gun is on display at Memorial Park, Cambridge, United States^[1]

See also

• List of naval guns
• British BL 4 inch naval gun Mk VIII - firing slightly lighter shell

Notes

Sources

• Campbell, John (2002). Naval Weapons of World War Two. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
• Gander, Terry; Chamberlain, Peter (1979). Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939–1945. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-15090-3.
• Hogg, Ian V. (1997). German Artillery of World War Two (2nd corrected ed.). Mechanicsville, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 1-85367-480-X.
• Rolf, Rudi (1998). Der Atlantikwall: Bauten der deutschen Küstenbefestigungen 1940-1945. Osnabrück: Biblio. ISBN 3-7648-2469-7.
• Rolf, Rudi (2004). A Dictionary on Modern Fortification: An Illustrated Lexicon on European Fortification in the Period 1800-1945. Middleburg, Netherlands: PRAK.

External links

• SK L/40 at Navweaps.com