Design & History
Designed by Krupp as a dual-purpose heavy field and coast defense gun in the late Thirties for Turkey. Only two had been delivered before the rest were appropriated by the Heer upon the outbreak of World War II. In the coast defense role it was provided with an elaborate portable turntable. This had a central platform and twelve radial struts that connected to an outer ring. In action the trails would be locked together and put on a small trolley that rode on the outer ring. Coarse aiming was by cranking the trolley back and forth while fine laying was done by traversing the gun on its mount, up to the 6° limit imposed by the closed trails.
For transport it broke down into two loads, the barrel being removed and carried on its own wagon. A third wagon was necessary to carry the firing platform. It could fire the same ammunition as the 15 cm Kanone 18 as well as its own special ammunition designed to Turkish specifications.
Read more about this topic: 15 Cm Kanone 39
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