The official German name for these guns was 40,6cm Schnell-ladekanone C/34, abbreviated 40,6cm SK C/34. The guns were developed in 1934 for the new capital ships for the Kriegsmarine, probably at the same time as the 38cm guns, and they are often wrongly referred to as Schiffskanone SK C/34. The 38cm guns were the heaviest armament onboard the battleships Tirpitz and Bismarck.

In 1937 the Kriegsmarine ordered the 40,6cm guns from Krupp in Essen for the next series of battleships, the H and J class of 56,200 tons. Plan Z was the driving force behind the expansion of the Kriegsmarine. It was approved in 1937 and very ambitious when it came to number and size of ships. However, the timeframe did not coincide with Hitler’s plans for the land war. The building of the two battleships with the planned names of Friedrich der Große and Großdeutschland was stopped.

The ordered and finished 40,6cm guns were released for use ashore and Hitler decided that no less than 8 out of 12 guns should go to the Northern front, i.e. the Narvik area. 3 of the guns were sent to Hel in Poland in 1941 were they formed Batterie Schleswig-Holstein. That battery was test fired and completed in 1942, but shortly after the 3 guns were moved to Sangatte near Calais and became Batterie Lindemann. The two batteries in Norway and the battery at Sangatte were all operational and test fired in 1943.

Only the two batteries in Norway survived WW II, the battery at Trondenes, Batterie Trondenes I, and the battery at Engeløy in Steigen, Batterie Dietl. In 1956 the battery at Engeløy was decommissioned and scrapped and the guns removed. The battery at Trondenes, however, remained as a part of the Norwegian Costal Defence up to the final closing date 1. July 1964. All the other 40,6cm Krupp made guns are now destroyed.

   © Harald Isachsen