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The 10.5 cm SK L/45 (Schnelladekanone Länge 45, quick-loading cannon with a barrel length of 45 calibers) was a German naval gun that was used in World War I and World War II and was the successor of the older 10.5 cm SK L/40 naval gun.

Description

The 10.5 cm SK L/45 gun weighed 1,450 kilograms (3,200 lb), had an overall length of 472.5 cm (15 ft 6 in). It used a horizontal sliding-block breech design. Cradle is usually mounted on a conical pedestal mount, bolted to the submarine deck.

The guns were carefully designed according to the requirements of submarine operations and was therefore streamlined in design. Many items manufactured from brass to resist corrosion.^[2]

It was used on many German and foreign ships like SMS Mowe and Ottomon cruiser Midilli.

Naval use

Gallery

• 
  Gun, partly obscured, from submarine SM U-98, at Imperial War Museum, London
• 
  Gun breech, in Malta
• 
  Gun from SM U-19 in Bangor

See also

• List of naval guns

Weapons of comparable role, performance and era

• QF 4 inch Mk V naval gun Approximate British equivalent firing slightly lighter shell
• 4"/50 caliber gun Approximate US equivalent, firing slightly lighter shell at higher velocity

References

Bibliography

• Campbell, John (2002). Naval Weapons of World War Two. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
• Gander, Terry; Chamberlain, Peter (1979). 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. ISBN 0-385-15090-3.
• Hogg, Ian V. (1997). German Artillery of World War Two (2nd corrected ed.). Mechanicsville, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 1-85367-480-X.
• Rolf, Rudi (1998). Der Atlantikwall: Bauten der deutschen Küstenbefestigungen 1940-1945. Osnabrück: Biblio. ISBN 3-7648-2469-7.
• Rolf, Rudi (2004). A Dictionary on Modern Fortification: An Illustrated Lexicon on European Fortification in the Period 1800-1945. Middleburg, Netherlands: PRAK.

External links

• SK L/45 at Navweaps.com