15 cm SK C/25

15 cm SK C/25
15 cm SK C/25 in Drh LC/35 turret on Nürnberg
Type	naval gun
Place of origin	Nazi Germany
Service history
In service	1935–45
Used by	Nazi Germany
Wars	Second World War
Specifications
Weight	11,970 kilograms (26,390 lb)
Length	9.08 metres (29.8 ft)
Barrel length	8.57 metres (28.1 ft)
Shell	separate-loading, cased charge
Caliber	149.1 millimetres (5.87 in)
Breech	semi-automatic, vertical sliding block
Elevation	-10° to +40°
Traverse	360°
Rate of fire	8 rpm (maximum)
Muzzle velocity	960 metres per second (3,100 ft/s)
Maximum range	25,700 metres (28,100 yd)

The 15 cm SK C/25 (SK - Schiffskanone (ship's gun), C - Construktionsjahr (year of design)) was a German medium-caliber naval gun used during the Second World War. It served as the primary armament for the K-class and Leipzig-class cruisers. Oddly, no weapons of this type surplus appear to have been used as coast-defense guns.

Description

This gun was the most powerful of the Kriegsmarine's 15 centimetres (5.9 in) guns and was designed with a loose barrel, jacket and breech-piece with a vertical sliding breech block.

Mount

The Drh. LC/25 triple-gun mount was the only mount used for this gun in the Kriegsmarine. The mount weighed between 136.91–147.15 tonnes (134.75–144.83 long tons; 150.92–162.21 short tons), depending on its armor thickness; the Nürnberg's mounts had between 20–80 mm (0.79–3.15 in) of armor while the other ships had 20–30 mm (0.79–1.18 in). Maximum elevation was 40°, giving a range of 25,700 metres (28,100 yd), and maximum depression was -10°, while the electric motors had a maximum elevating speed of 8° per second. Each mount was designed for full 360° of traverse, but was limited to much less than that by the ship's superstructure. Speed in train was a maximum of 6-8° per second using electrically-powered hydraulic pumps. The maximum firing cycle was 7.5 seconds, or 8 rounds per minute, despite being hand-loaded and rammed. Ammunition was supplied by three hoists, one between the left and center guns and the other two between center and right guns at the rear of the mount.

Ammunition

The SK C/25 had a number of different shells available.

Shell name	Weight	Filling Weight	Muzzle velocity
base-fused HE shell with ballistic cap (Sprenggranate L/4.5 m Bdz m. Hb)	45.5 kg (100 lb)	3.058 kg (6.74 lb)	960 m/s (3,100 ft/s)
nose-fused HE shell with ballistic cap (15 cm Spgr. L/4.4 Kz m. Hb)	45.5 kg (100 lb)	3.892 kg (8.58 lb)	960 m/s (3,100 ft/s)
base-fused armor-piercing shell with ballistic cap (Panzer-Sprenggranate) L/3.7 m Bdz. m Hb)	45.5 kg (100 lb)	.885 kg (1.95 lb)	960 m/s (3,100 ft/s)
illumination shell	41 kg (90 lb)	Unknown	650 m/s (2,100 ft/s)

Coast defense use?

No trace has been found of any SK C/25 guns used as coast defense guns. It is not listed in the reference works of either Gander and Chamberlain or Hogg, unlike most every other naval gun used by the Kriegsmarine, nor is it listed in the summary table of all German coast defense guns in Rolf. This is unusual considering the early loss of two of the K class cruisers Königsberg and Karlsruhe would have ordinarily have released the spare barrels held for both those ships for other duties if one can judge from the World War I experience with the 21 cm SK "Peter Adalbert".

References

• Campbell, John. Naval Weapons of World War Two. London: Conway Maritime Press, 2002 ISBN 0-87021-459-4
• Gander, Terry and Chamberlain, Peter. 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, 1979 ISBN 0-385-15090-3
• Hogg, Ian V. German Artillery of World War Two. 2nd corrected edition. Mechanicsville, PA: Stackpole Books, 1997 ISBN 1-85367-480-X
• Rolf, Rudi. Der Atlantikwall: Bauten der deutschen Küstenbefestigungen 1940-1945. Osnabrück: Biblio, 1998 ISBN 3-7648-2469-7

External links

• SK C/25 on navweaps.com

Campbell, p. 239

Tony DiGiulian (20 November 2008). "German 15 cm/60 (5.9") SK C/25". Archived from the original on 2009-07-20. Retrieved 2009-06-23. 

Rolf, p. 387