1/700 German Kriegsmarine 38cm (14.96") SK C/34 x4 (Bismarck Class)

1/700 German Kriegsmarine 38cm (14.96") SK C/34 x4 (Bismarck Class) as seen in 1941 after the removal of Anton’s Rangefinder and as seen at time of sinking. These are the most detailed and accurate 38cm SK C/34 Guns available anywhere and have been created using plans and many reference photographs (yes, even the rivets have been counted!). This set contain 8x barrels and can be elevated as desired.

• 4x Highly detailed turrets, Anton (no Rangefinder) Bruno, Caesar and Dora Turrets with Rangefinders
• Anton, Bruno/Caesar Turrets and Dora Turrets are unique: Anton (no Rangefinder and Higher Side Safety Rail), Bruno and Caesar (Rangefinders and Lower Side Safety Rail) and finally Dora (Rangefinders and Higher Side Safety Rail). Underside hatches on Anton and Dora are located towards the rear of the Turret whilst Bruno and Caesar are located close to the Barbette
  
• Details include: Rivet detail, Periscope and Open Sighting Hatches
• Correct Stanchion placement on Turret Roofs (in lowered position) different location on Bruno and Caesar Turrets
• Accurate underside detail including shell ejection ports and hatches
• 8x Barrels can be elevated as desired to a maximum of 30º and minimum of -5.5º.

HISTORICAL DATA
Used on the famous Bismarck class battleships, this weapon is usually - but incorrectly - referred to as being 47 calibers long, but it was actually 51.66 calibers in length. It is also sometimes mistakenly described as being a carry over from the 38 cm L/45 guns used on the World War I-era Bayern class battleships. In reality, these guns were built to a completely new design having little in common with the older guns other than their caliber.

A modified version of these guns known as Siegfried was widely used as coastal artillery. The best-known of these was Battery Todt, named after Armaments Minister Dr. Fritz Todt who had been killed in a plane crash. This battery consisted of four guns located near Haringzelles about 3 km (1.8 miles) east of Cap Gris-Nez and which often fired across the Straits of Dover. Four more guns were used at Oxsby (Denmark), four at Hanstead (Denmark) and three at Kristiansand (Norway). After the war, the battery at Kristiansand was incorporated into the Norwegian coastal artillery and the cannons were fired for the last time in 1952.

Besides the Bismarck and Tirpitz, it had been planned to rearm the small battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau with these weapons. No serious work ever started for Scharnhorst, but three turrets were under construction during the early 1940s to rearm Gneisenau. When Gneisenau was badly damaged in 1942, these three turrets plus an additional one originally intended for the Soviet Union were reallocated for use as coastal artillery. It was originally planned to install two of these at Cap de la Hague and the other two at Paimpol in France, but this plan was never implemented. Work on putting two of these turrets at Oxsby in Denmark was well advanced but incomplete by the end of the war.

The Soviet Union placed an order for sixteen of these guns which were intended for the battlecruisers Sevastopol and Kronstadt (Project 69), but no guns were ever delivered.

Constructed of loose liner, A tube with four rings shrunk over it for about two-thirds of the length from the breech, a jacket shrunk over about two-thirds of the ring layer and a breech end-piece, breech block supporting piece and a horizontal sliding breech block. Later guns had a loose liner that was removed from the breech end, but these were not universally interchangeable.

*STOCKED ITEM

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