15 cm L/40 Feldkanone i.R.

The 15 cm Feldkanone L/40 in Räderlafette (40 caliber Field Gun on Wheeled Carriage) was a heavy field gun used by Germany in World War I. It was an ex-naval gun hastily adapted for land service by rigidly mounting it in a field carriage.

History

The Germans were desperate for long-range artillery by 1915 and were forced to adapt a number of ex-naval guns for Army use, details of which are often lacking. The SK L/40 (Schnellladungskanone or fast-loading cannon) was an obsolete gun used as secondary armament by pre-dreadnought battleships. It seems that there were actually two versions of this gun, one with a L/40 and the other with a L/45 barrel. It is not know if the designation changed depending on the barrel. The gun could not traverse on the mount and had to be mounted on a firing platform that weighed 7,450 kilograms (16,400 lb) to give it 60° of traverse. For transport purposes it was broken down into three loads, barrel, carriage and firing platform.

While details are unclear it seems that this gun was also adapted for land use complete with its armored gunhouse as the 15 cm KiSL (Kanone in Schirmlafette). It was mounted on a central pivot which was in turn mounted on a firing platform. It was transported by rail or by road to its firing location in one piece and then offloaded onto the firing platform by crane.

It retained the Navy's (Kaiserliche Marine) semi-fixed ammunition where one bag of powder was loaded before the brass cartridge containing the rest of the propellant and the primer.

See also

• BL 6 inch Mk VII naval gun The British equivalent World War I naval gun modified for field use

References

• Hogg, Ian. Twentieth-Century Artillery. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000 ISBN 0-7607-1994-2
• Jäger, Herbert. German Artillery of World War One. Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire: Crowood Press, 2001 ISBN 1-86126-403-8

External links

• 15 cm FK L/40 i.R.L. on Landships
• List and pictures of WW1 surviving 15cm L/40 and L/45 i.R. guns