In the case of growing sea power, coastal defense has become the focus of national defense of many countries, in the era of no aircraft, missiles, coastal defense gun is the best weapon for coastal defense, in the late 19th century, the German Krupp factory began to develop a 283 mm caliber coastal defense heavy gun, its official name is 28 cm Haubitze L / 12, perhaps no one expected that this rapidly backward in technology gun actually served for a long time, participated in two world wars.
This coastal defense gun began to enter service in 1892, it was also an advanced equipment at the time, it was developed by Krupp according to the requirements of the German coastal defense, the German army required this gun to be fixed in a fortress with protective capabilities, fire at a large angle, somewhat similar to the mortar gun, at least can project shells for 10 kilometers, and has enough ability to destroy enemy warships, Krupp chose a 283 mm caliber, large caliber to ensure sufficient damage.
The gun had a thick rectangular base made of wood, and unlike other permanent bases of poured concrete for similar artillery, the horizontal rotating parts of the gun were mounted on the base, above which was a riveted metal box with a collection of steering machines, and the trunnions of the gun barrel were mounted on a U-shaped support frame.
The metal box is a front low and high slide rail, which is the same as the slide rail frame at that time, the gun slid backwards under the recoil impact after firing, the gun was also installed with an early anti-recoil device, the cylinder was installed above the track, which could help shorten the recoil stroke of the gun, but its strength should not be enough to withstand the recoil impact independently, otherwise there was no need to install a tilt slide.
The barrel was 12 times the diameter and 3396 mm long, and like most coastal heavy artillery of that period, the barrel was made very thick, and with the short length, the gun appeared short and fat, and the gun breech was closed with a horizontal sliding gun latch. The gun can be rotated horizontally by 360° and has a pitch angle of 0° to 65° (there is also a saying that it is 0° to 70°).
The gun acquired a specially developed heavy shell weighing about 350 kg, which could be changed by adjusting the amount of emulsion, the initial velocity of the ammunition muzzle was 360 m / s, the maximum range was 10.4 km, and the internal charge was 17.3 kg, which was enough to penetrate the armor of the ship's deck and could cause great damage once it hit the target. Such a heavy shell completely rely on human handling is obviously not appropriate, a small crane is installed behind the gun, using manual pulleys to enhance the shell, and the gun breech needs to be pushed in by hand, and the rate of fire of the gun is about 4 minutes a round in actual combat.
The artillery is relatively bulky, and the overall weight of the wooden platform is 50.3 tons, which is mainly fixed installation, and if necessary, it can also be disassembled into four parts and maneuvered by horse-drawn carriage, and it takes several days to recombine and install.
Before World War I, the Germans deployed these heavy coastal defense guns in key coastal defense fortresses, such as the defense of Wilhelmshaven, and the forts built by the German army in Qingdao in the mainland were also transported by 4 thousands of miles, and they played a role in the later battles with the Japanese army. During World War I, the Germans also moved some of their artillery to the Netherlands to prevent possible landings, and had plans to dismantle the guns and transport them to the front lines of the land war, but were abandoned due to insufficient gun performance and slow installation.
After World War I, according to the treaty, the Germans could not possess such heavy weapons as the 28 cm gun, but they managed to hide some of it. In terms of performance, these 28 cm coastal defense guns have been outdated after the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the German army advanced rapidly on the battlefield, many of the heavy artillery originally prepared did not come in handy, until the Battle of Sevastopol, the Soviet and German armies used a large number of artillery, the German army in addition to the use of Karl Mortar gun, Gustav train gun and other famous equipment, but also an unknown number of 28 cm coastal defense guns to participate in the war and played a certain role, may have been in service for too long, Several artillery shelling accidents occurred, and after this battle, there was basically no combat record of 28 cm coastal defense guns, which may have been withdrawn to Germany.