Axis History Forum

by **Dora** on 22 Jun 2004 21:52

Kranix,
Each loading of the 80cm K (E) took approximately 45 minutes.
Dora

by **KraniX** on 22 Jun 2004 23:23

cheers for the info mate, thats a lot longer than i expected but then i found this picture of a 80cm shell - 45mins ain't that long really.

by **Dora** on 22 Jun 2004 23:29

Kranix,
Your most welcome and thanks for posting the color photograph of the Dora/Gustav shell. From the looks of it, especially the snub conical tip appears to be the concrete penetrating shell. If your not aware of it, the 80cm guns fired two types of projectiles; a general or standard shell and a concrete penetrating shell, the kind used against the deep underground bunkers at Svastapol. The weights were different as the manufacture of the projectiles were different and had a consequent effect on range. Just thought I'd throw that in. Thanks once again.
Dora

by **KraniX** on 23 Jun 2004 09:31

i didnt know it had 2 types of ammo, cheers for the info.

i had a search around and found this pic, is this the other type?

by **Patrice** on 23 Jun 2004 12:02

Hello Kranix .
Your picture show a 80cm Gr Be:fuzed Bd Z C/38 weight 7.100 Kg.
This picture was taken in 1945.
The British sergeant is looking at the 1.3m main propeliant casing of the Dora.
The barrel life was approximatly:300 rounds.
You could found pictures of the Dora transport and setting on the squadron/signal N°15 German Rairoad Guns.
The other projectile for the Dora was the 80cm Sprrgr:fuzed Hbgr Z 40 K
Weigth:4.88Kg the explosive content approx:400 Kg.
Patrice.

by **Tony Williams** on 23 Jun 2004 12:51

[quote="Witch-King of Angmar] No German-buit railway gun of WWII came in 30cm/12in calibre, they ranged from 15cm to 28cm(most common), the only exception was the 38cm Siegfried.

~The Witch-King of Angmar[/quote]

Don't forget the 30.5 cm K5 Glatt, the smoothbored version of the 28cm gun designed to fire the Peenemunde arrow shells.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion
forum

by **Dora** on 23 Jun 2004 13:11

Kranix and Patrice,
My information on the giant guns comes from two sources, one a web site, an excellent and detailed work: (http://www.cix.co.uk/~nrobinson/railgun ... index.html).

The other is a book by Ian V. Hogg "German Artillery of World War Two" Greenhill Books, London, 1977.

Kranix, I do have one correction to make and that is on the reloading times for the 80cm guns. The site quotes a figure of "At best as little as fifteen minutes was needed to load and fire a round. . .more often the interval was longer". According to the web site referenced above I also fond the following:

"The preparation for each shell and charge was considerable and involved several stages including taking the temperature of each charge, accurately computing the air temperature and wind currents at altitude, and getting the shell and the charge to the breech. Projectile and charge then had to be rammed accurately, and the whole barrel had to be elevated to the correct angle. It all took time."
Dora

by **Patrice** on 23 Jun 2004 13:42

Hello Dora .
I have this book too, old but very good.
Patrice

by **Dora** on 23 Jun 2004 14:19

Patrice,
Thanks for the prompt reply, yes it is a little dated, but as you observed, a very good reference source. Thanks again.
Dora

by **Topspeed** on 23 Jun 2004 15:34

Was this cannon ever used in anger and if so into which direction was it pointed at and what was the range of it ?

Any interesting stories around it...like allied bombing it or the soviets ?

by **Dora** on 23 Jun 2004 15:42

Topspeed,
Thanks for joining in the discussion of the 80cm K (E) railguns. To answer your question as to the guns' operational history, please refer to the two sources I mentioned in an earlier posting (see above). Both have information that the other does not so checking both of them will provide you a more complete picture of their careers.
Dora

by **Topspeed** on 23 Jun 2004 17:08

Dora,

I am honoured to be here. Unfortunately those links take me nowhere.
Great gun..is this the BIG BERTHA ?

Juke aka "topspeed"

by **Dora** on 23 Jun 2004 23:21

Juke,
Sorry about the dead link. I last visited it about a year ago when I was writing my book. I guess they could not maintain the site and it was dropped.

Try this: pull up your search engine and type into it: "Dora", "Gustav", "80cm K (E)" and see what you get. I think this is what I did when I looked for information on these guns.
Ken aka Dora

by **KraniX** on 24 Jun 2004 19:02

for some more info on the dora...

http://www.aopt91.dsl.pipex.com/railgun ... 0index.htm

the actual website is here

http://www.railwaygun.co.uk

by **Dora** on 24 Jun 2004 22:12

Kranix,
Thanks for the site info on the 80cm guns.
Dora

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