The Adolf Gun - Adolfkanonen - World’s Biggest Coastal Gun
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
- The barrel diameter of 40.6 cm (16”) is big enough to take an adult man, At Trondenes in Harstad, four of these terrifying giants from World War II have survived into the 21st century.
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Meet Adolf
There it stands, on the heights north of Trondenes Church, amidst terrain covered with scrub and crumbling old concrete: a gigantic, newly painted and maintained naval gun. From this vantage point, high above Trondenes Church and the town of Harstad, there are tremendous views across the sea towards the islands of Grytøya, Andøya, Senja and Andørja - which was surely the whole point. For the Adolf Gun had a range of 56 km (35 miles), and was capable of firing at all the sailing routes visible in every direction from this spot.
Intended for warships
The Adolf guns were naval guns originally built to be mounted on the Third Reich’s battleships «Friedrich der Große» and «Großdeutschland», two enormous vessels which were planned for completion in 1944. However, in 1941 the building plans for the ships were halted, and Hitler decided to have the guns placed on shore to form part of the Atlantic Wall coastal fortifications. Much of the heavy building work was done by Soviet Russian prisoners of war, and in 1943 the Adolf guns were installed at Trondenes fortress.
Shooting whale off Andenes?
Five different types of long-range shell had been developed, weighing between 600 kg (1,322 lbs) and 1,035 kg (2,282 lbs) each. The smallest and fastest - the Adolf shell - was fired at a speed of 1,050 metres (3,445 feet) per second. With a range of 56 km (35 miles), the Adolf guns were theoretically capable of shooting whales in the feeding grounds off Andenes. They could also hit targets in the port of Narvik. The shell was in the air for over two minutes, and had a maximum trajectory ceiling of 21,800 metres (14 miles).
Several guns
Four Adolf guns were placed at Trondenes fortress: today only one gun is fully maintained and in working order for conservation purposes, while the other three are painted but not maintained. The Coastal Gun Battery Dietl on the island of Engeløya in Steigen was also equipped with guns of the same type, but they were cut up after the war. The big German cross-Channel guns at Sangatte near Calais have also been dismantled. The US coastal artillery set up 100 guns of the same calibre during World War II, which were all destroyed after the war. The one at Trondnenes is the only one left, but it is completely preserved.
Strategic location
Trondenes fortress controls the sea approach to the port of Narvik from the north. Batterie Dietl in Steigen controlled the southern approach. With a range from Trondenes, the Adolf guns were able to effectively prevent the enemies of the Third Reich from entering Narvik, and thus protect the iron ore shipments from the port which were vital to the Nazi war effort.
Monument to military history
Trondenes fortress was built by Russian prisoners of war during World War II, and it was an operational fortress from 1943. Because of the horrendous conditions the POWs had to endure, over 800 died during the war. Today, Trondenes fortress is one of 14 listed coastal fortifications from the 20th century.
After the war
Trondenes fortress was taken over and manned by the Norwegian Armed Forces after the war. The Adolf guns had their first test firings by Norwegian forces in 1951, and were last fired in 1957. The four guns were decommissioned in 1964. Since then, the single Adolf Gun has been maintained and looked after by veterans from the Norwegian Armed Forces, and is today in good condition and can actually be fired.
Visit to Trondenes
Trondenes fortress is still in military use by the Norwegian Navy. The Adolf Gun is, however, open to visitors, and in summer there are regular guided tours. The tour starts in the bunker beneath the gun, where there is a small museum displaying the huge shell cases and a number of technical instruments from WWII. Visitors are then taken up into the turret to see the enormous firing mechanism, followed by an inspection of the 21-meter long barrel. The bravest are naturally keen to climb in and have their photo taken inside the barrel!
Gun information
www.adolfkanone... is the website for the Adolf Gun, where you will find a wealth of information about this unique, gigantic gun. www.destination... is the website for the tourist information organisation Destination Harstad, where you will find practical information about visiting Harstad.
I can't believe it still is operational like that.
And still alive :) In North Norway at Bø in Nordland it was 3 Adolf Gunners at a big fort.Now the fort are a museum but the Guns are not there.The fort name is : Bateri Dietl.This fort is wery big,to protect the city of Narvik.The 3 guns there was not jused in ww2 in action,only test shots.Strange or no? ...If you are near Bodø in holidays,go little north to Steigen,Engeløya.There this place are.The Canon in this video are in South of Norway in Kristiansand.
Is it bigger than the one in Kristiansand?
Its a bigger caliber but not sure in size
@klenoth one gun that is available to sightsee is Barbara cannon (Trondenes fort), 350 tones of weight (weight of the turret), and around 80 people to make it operational :P
@klenoth First time adolfkannone was placed on Hel on polish theritory, till today u have ground structures for it.
Been there 5 6 times
I dont know why I expected it to fire
Because it has a fashy spirit.;)
They can if they want :) And if they have the amo;)
Meee2!
Same
@@raymondmathisen6160 You sure it's in a fireable condition?
I'M AFRAID THE ADOLFKANNON WILL BE QUITE OPERATIONAL WHEN YOUR FRIENDS ARRIVE.
He knows too much take him out
Lukeskywalker: Your over confidence is your weakness
Loll
Hey I get that reference
Brexit leave's nasty taste, we should have decommissioned that one🆘🇬🇧💯🌏🌍👁️☠️👁️🗣️
"How many Germans does it take to put a light bulb in the ceiling?" "One. We are the best at engineering and humorless."
The shortest book ever written is the german book of humour
А она вообще существует?
@@user-ob6ee5iv7c it should:-)
How many Americans does it take?
Depends if there's an audience
@@mjautilusmjauritzen4078 the longest
"Hanz we need production of tanks"
"Bigger Kannon You say?"
...
*Ja Hanz*
*JA*
Hans*
@@michaelgobl1060 Hans is just a regular sentence of english. But Hanz makes the sentence into german-ish
Fishgang, nice
hans we need a better transmission
@@themechbuilder6171 *no
that can survive another 100 yaer if they kept it in good conditions and grease it and it necesary to fire 1/3 shots in one year to clean the inside of canon and relax/release the springs of recoil
I second that motion!!! 🤠👍
I don't think Britain would like that very much
Britain is fine with it. Just try not to hit anything valuable.
@@Hellcat_UK we can shoot Paris, right?
@@kommandantgalileo and the third goes to Pol- I mean the empty spot on the North Pole
looked better when i was in the military in the 90's
the gun barrel is 158664 kg and the recoil pressure is 580 000 kg the Projectile is 1024 and 600 kg+- a few kilo, the Projectile flight time is about 2,1min, and the highest hight is about 22 km and fire radius is 56km @ 600 kg shell :-) a big gun
Otto Olsen a VERY BIG gun:-)
Thanks for compressing the description down to a sentence.
How much armor can it penetrate?
@@georgivanev7466 enough
@@georgivanev7466
It depends on the angle of attack, the material of armour, the type of shell used. I guess it could penetrate up to 1 or 2, maybe 3 metres of reinforced concrete, but I don't know for sure.
Stylish Uniform,Had a technology ahead of it's time.
German Engineering at its finest
SEKAI ICHIIII
@@averageboxingenjoyer968 Ah also don't forget first Cyborg in 1938 that defeated Demi God
More like German OVER engineering at its finest. Theirs a reason the rest of the world wasn't building this large of costal guns. Unless this thing happens to be in the right spot and doesn't get hit with air artillery it going to be a very large burning pile of rubel
@@FUNKER420 yeah, the schwere Gustav was such a waste of resources, the Tirpitz as well.
@@kit_0617 MAUS
I love the way the little sections of the walkway lift up and out of the way when the gun slews - that's attention to detail.
I am so glad to see those guns still perserved very well and hope to see them in future!
Safari Sauer a small group of former artillerists are doing all the maintenance for free. Great people!
Great jobs and Great people!
kobbaen it’s was used but another country’s army
This is 406mm SKC/34 L/52, that had to operated and used by H-class battleships, including H39, H40A, H40B. But... as we know, those battleships was scrapped and we see how his germanian 16" inch / 406mm guns was used.
Tbh I was supprised to see still working one
Two battleships of the "H39" design were laid down, but work was soon halted because they weren't far along and materials were needed elsewhere. These battleships were essentially like enlarged Bismarck-class and would have 8 16 inch guns. Several of the guns were built for these two particular battleships and these are the guns which were repurposed for coastal artillery, as we see in the video. I'm not trying to disagree with you, just adding a bit more context, as I believe it is noteworthy to add this information, since there were only ever two battleships of the entire so-called H-series ever laid down, with the other bigger designs never being laid down. Although, if I remember correctly, not even all 16 of these guns needed for the two battleships were produced because the construction of the ships was suspended and then cancelled before all the guns were built.
So the Bismarcks guns are bigger?@@MaxCroat
@@coolboi1232 no no, the bismarck and tirpitz had 15 inch or 380mm guns, the next battleship class (the H39 ehich were never completed, as I said) were supposed to have 16 inch or 406mm guns. And some of these guns were completed, but the ships themselves were scrapped, so these guns were used in coastal defense.
I suppose you misunderstood my sentence saying these ships were enlarged bismarck class, here I was referring to the H39 class which were in essence supposed to be very similar to the bismarck class, but larger.
@@MaxCroat I wish they were fully built how many guns are the ships supposed to have?
@@coolboi1232 8 main guns, same layout as bismarck class with two double turrets in a superfiring position forward and two aft
You have to take a minute to appreciate the shear size of this gun. Unfortunately, the video is only 58 seconds. What a huge beast!
To think these where on WW2 war ships, may be even more insane though. And these guns had 5-10 floors with people and walkways and railways and bunkers, to actually run them. On a ship it's not difficult, it's what they are designed for. On land, well. No wonder the mountains and hills are hollowed out all along the coast from Norway to France.
@@krimke881 Yep, these guns were the ones built for the two H39 class battleships then under construction in Germany, but since the battleships were cancelled and some of the guns were already built, they repurposed them as coastal artillery.
Gotta love that Teutonic engineering!!! Man. They built that thing to last. No squeaks, no scraping noises. Just the sound of the drive motor running down in the turret pit. Looks good too!!!
It was kept in running order for several decades by the Norwegian armed forces. We used it as a naval defence element up until the 80s i believe.
@Loli4lyf What's the point of you living? Go try heroin.
@@theRealBased1492 he was being sarcastic...
Would love to see it fire again!
Maybe fire it on V.E. Day!
My British grandpa will not love to see it firing again
same
No, 17th of may would be better. @@Dr.Pepperdave
we Germans appreciate Quality
It's fascinating and scary how advanced the Germans were in ww2. The fact that only a few fluke moments in history prevented them from creating nuclear weapons is haunting..
Fluke moments and serious sabotage from the heros of the Telemark
Germany expelled most of their nuclear scientists for being Jewish, I wouldn't call that a fluke.
German technological superiority is by the most part a myth.
@@moekitsune Nazis try not to handicap themselves challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)
Fashinating XD
Amazing engineering!
In my best Marvin the martian voice
"Where is the kaboom? there was supposed to be an earth shattering KABOOM!
Yes I love this!
what a cool cannon I wonder what would happen if it were on a tank
What I love on old tech, is that in case of war, it is still being used.
In WW1, weapons from 1870s were being used. In WW2 many pieces from WW1 were used. Same in Vietnam, wars in orient or so. In Ukraine, they used old T-34s. In Africa, they rebuilt T-34s to carry howitzers.
Mosin-Nagants and Ppsh are used worldwide, as ammo is abundant and these weapons will always shoot.
Or American classics, like 1911 or M2.
Imagine it, in year 2021, we are still killing each other with 100 or more years old weapons.
There is artifical inteligence, precise sattelites or god-damn drones, but we still use weapons made in ages of steam and horses.
And I bet if there will be some major war and weapons will be scarce, pieces from museum will still see some good use.
This cannon was originally built for being used on the H-class battleship, but since it was cancelled, it was used as a coastal gun
Two turrets from the sunken Arizona were salvaged, rebuilt, and installed in coastal installations on the east and west points of Oahu.
Was the Bismarcks guns bigger?
@@coolboi1232 no, Bismarck's guns were 380mm (15 inch) while the guns from the pic are 406mm (16inch), the same caliber as the Iowa class battleship from the US navy
@@aurdel775 damn
I've done some service work on it, such as painting and looking over it as a summer vacancy job, such an interesting well kept piece of engineering, i actually live just a few kilometers from this gun, it really does function well after all those years, as a matter of fact it is in firing condition, so they could fire it.
I'm sure if anyone tries to invade in that area it will fire
What is preventing them from firing it?
@@maggs131 Two main reasons i believe, one is the availability and laws & regulations surrounding the charge that would be used, but the biggest concern would be the shear shockwave generated would blow out the windows of surrounding buildings, the cannons was supposedly tested by the Norwegian forces back in the early 50s or so, they fired one round and they blew people's windows several hundred meters away, caused a massive lean up operation.
@@HansensUniverseT-A Norwegians are serious people, I experienced while visiting norge in 2002, but in case of wanting some fun..., they become melting glaciers 😆
Listen to some darkthrone stuff and blow out the damn windows! 😂
It is still functional ! What an reliable weapon.
It works because it's made with old tech, mechanical tech, and it's been maintained for years.
As mentioned by one of German Commander, Rudol Von Stroheim : "German engineering is number one in the world".
Where is Gerany? I must know!
@@black.baron_angel is there were gerans live?
Long live Gerania
Imagine being on a naval vessel, just chilling watching the shore defense being destroyed by ur ships cannons. Then out of the smoke, you notice something odd. A giant barrel just calmly aiming at your soul 💀
imagine having a gun that big malfunction and it just explodes right there on the spot
Wow what a rare treasure!
3/10 didn't fire
Now imagine a battleship with TWELVE of these mounted in 4 turrets. That was some serious firepower.
It didn´t exist. The max cal on naval guns, Yamato, 460 mm,9 guns, Iowa class 406 mm, 9 guns
@@manucorral6284 it was intended to be mounted on a battleship, but A. H changed the plan. It's in the description.
Isn’t that a 16 in pretty much what US had on there battleships. AirPower made the big battleships obsolete
@@manucorral6284Of course the Montanas would’ve had twelve such guns, and there was a Tillman design that would’ve packed TWENTY FOUR.
Dolfy would be proud because of his engineer.
There is a lot of things that survived the war but have been scrapped or lost (or nuked if your the U.S) and it’s good to see there is still some things that have survived time and still work today!
Man i want to see that in action
You and me both!!!🤠👍
The Death Star is fully operational
Btw temporarily closed :)
last shot fired was in 1957 i think, the operating manpower was 68 souls for each gun, and the bullet or shell velosity was 810 m\s for the heavy shells and 1050 m\s for the lighter adolf shell , the hatches at the back is for the rear support of the gun, and the 2 elevators lifting the ammo, the gun is supported by a track + there are 2 more rails for a gun create(waggon) for faster transport and loading, as there was only 4 plases to get the shells out into the back of the bunker.the squere chanel going down on the right side of the turret is a gravety operated elevator to remove the hot used cartridge.
There are many 16" guns on battleships of the WWII era -- so the engineering for these coastal guns is no big deal. Two Japanese battleships had 18"+ guns, which were even more amazing.
A big beast, but it never achieved anything as impressive as Norway's own coastal artillery. Drøbak Sound. Perfect.
Yeah due to britains spy network, that's not even the biggest gun, germanys gun could fire from it's coast directly into britain, it's just that the brits were so smart and roleplayed over radio that after each shot they got hit so the germans never adjusted their shots thinking they allready were perfectly on targed altho they just shortly hit infron of the british coast. ... Smart MFs. Well let's just say they were lucky drones were no thing back then.
When you can't find a big enough tracked vehicle to carry your gun, so you just mount it on the EARTH.....
Earth is now a tank.
Bit of a tactical error having the track exposed like that. A single direct hit on that would have disabled the whole gun. A single member of the resistance with a coffee cup of thermite could have done the same damage.
A large coastal defense piece, but not the largest. The US had multiple batteries of guns that were of comparable size if not slightly larger. I will however concede that this is the largest coastal defense gun still in place. One of the surviving examples of the American guns is on display at Aberdeen Proving Grounds.
@@preude1American 16"/50 Mark 2 (410mm) was originally intended for the South Dakota class battleships, but due to treaties at the time the remaining cannons were used as coastal artillery You used to be able to see it in San Francisco. Today, I'm not sure if it's still there.
When things were made to last!!
I'm happy that these still exist
Oh maaaan what a Beast!!!! Thank you for the Video :)
Fun Fact: you can already experience Bismark's Main Battery for visiting this
Keep it operational. Possibly will be needed in future
I wonder if it’s bigger than Bismarcks 15 inch shells but imagine how loud it is and the damage it could do
I want one of these in my garden so I can protect myself against evil deer eating my strawberry plants. It could also make my neighbour think twice before he cut the hedge down to one meter in length and preventing sales people from entering my yard. It might even reach Stockholm from here, I really want one of these its simply a wounderful thing to have.
If this was intended for a battleship, don't they normally have 2 or 3 barrels?
Well yes, but the ships they were supposed to be mounted on were never started
"Everybody in line! Roll call completed! Begin loading cannon!"
Everybody gangsta till the demolition expert is your tour guide
old tech. miss the good old days.
Achtung fire shots!!!!
Its crazy to think that Gustav and Dora both lobbed shells almost DOUBLE the size of these. A shell THAT big would be very impractical, but I dont really care. Cool is cool.
It's actually even crazier, the Gustav fires a 7 ton shell vs 1 ton for this piece. A ridiculously single use weapon.
You will NEVER fire the Adolfkanonen. Feels bad man.
Can you imagine how many projectiles there are out in the ocean from them calibrating that gun in
Was waiting for a shot at the end...
"wait why is it pointing at me"
And he was never seen again.
Amazing german technology 🥰
Those doors opening barely on time gave me a heart attack
15 inch is no joke
Can't believe that caliber of this cannon and that of Bismarck's is same
this could actualy be the p1000 landkreuzer/ratte main canon,but just the canon and only one barrel
That thing would have never worked
This things was chambered for the 406 mm shells same as the Iowas & North Carolina class main guns
It's amazing to see it still working.
12 out of 10 for that description!!!
That is a big caliber!
Well preserved great mind Engineers at that time who Invent this biggest Gun of All time great.
I'm not sure if it's the wind or the bearings but I swear this damn thing is howling.
and it still freaking works.... TURRRRRNNNN!
Hitler: I want a p.100 ratte tank
The company: sorry but turret only
We have no "Adolfguns" in the Kriegsmarine. 38cm was the biggest Caliber on Battleship Bismark and Tirpitz. The biggest guns in field was "Dora" , "Gustav" and "Thor".
@Goettschwan The coastal guns
@Goettschwan I meant to bitcoin's statement about coastal guns (like in this video) are vulnerable from enemy bombers
no.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolfkanon
Amazingly
It’s scary how close the Germans came to winning WW2. Like Napoleon, (and the Spanish Armada), weather was the greatest weapon against them.
Frontline Event in reallife guys, get your best tier 8 premium tank ready ... 😁😁
Russian B-37 406mm gun: Hold my vodka...
How about a demonstration shot?!
NOT EVEN CLOSE! Hawaii had 32 inch "spigot mortars" to repel ships in 1911. Manila had 40" anti-ship mortars-never fired in anger!
Great info thanks
I wonder why they didn't use a pair of these in Bismarck,probably weren't available during late 1930s.
They were ahead of everyone...
wow just *wow*
Doom Slayer:
*HEAVY BREATHING INTENSIFIES*
Irrc, they once planned to put this thing onto a giant tanks
Fun Fact for those that don't wanna read the entire description lmao: These were originally meant for German Battleships. In particular, new ones after the legendary Bismarck and Tirpitz. Only 3 of these guns were ever produced.
one of these days this is going to be used again...one of these days...
I would have love to see a old gun like this fire again ... but at the same time, i know you would have to start up a factory to cast a new pipe to start with.
I wonder how these old pipes age? With that massive pipe could it be prone to bend a little by just sitting there for years and therefore not be able to fire safely?
Well, the US Navy was firing 16" Naval Guns very similar to this one into the 1990's - so I don't really think that "Barrel Droop" is an issue -
remember, these these are not simple pipes, but are engineered to remain precisely accurate while withstanding the massive firing pressures required
to propel the projectiles.
@@theblackbear211 oh ok. Maybe modern pipes could last longer? Or there was a big storage of pipes left overs and they just stored and reused old stock?
Well im no master in knowledge about it, just hobby interest in the facinating boats of WWII.
But to my understanding, in WWII the ship pipes would need to be change freq. because everytime they fired, massive amount of metall and excessive amount of heat would make the pipe flex (Japan and USA fired big heave ass shells) , so accurancy was always a issue. Meaning, in my humble understanding, that there had to be a steady supply of pipes produced as you could only fire a gun ex amount time before i new pipe had to be fitted? (sorry if im not making sence, at work and english second language) 😊
@@nakazul1 You are correct about the gun barrels wearing with use.
Each time a shell is fired it did wear the barrel.
So yes, spare barrels were manufactured for these guns - and Naval shipyards had the capability of relining and reboring the old barrels back to specifications - so they could then be re-used.
But, I am unaware of any tendency for an unused gun barrel to develop alignment problems.
I do know that one of the key issues that the US was running into in operating these weapons was that all the powder charges dated from before 1950... so there was a question mark as to how long this powder would remain reliable.
You mean barrel
That's the one that many people died when constructing it but was never used?
Yes, that’s correct.
Why I have the impression this will become operative again
This is true peace for me
Damn, Wolfenstein turrets were just like this gun but bigger
Its more like a Bismarck kannon with one barrel
Beautiful brings a tear to my eye
who would win? a group battle fleet with landing crafts and cruiser or a big boi cannon concrete to the ground
"I am completely mentally stable, oh hey look, a civilian cruise ship!"
When they start measuring in cm you know it’s big
В Севастополе такая же 35 батарея была
He definitely didn't compensate for anything
Hitler has only got one ball...
Nice to see it in good shape and operating. How about firing a shot or three? It would only take six bags of powder at 110 lbs. each (660 lbs. total).
It was and is not the biggest Coastal gun in the world. The Japanese had bigger ones, but it was the biggest in Europe and in Germanys Atlantic Wall.
Had? Or do they still exist?
I’m sure there was bigger a gun turret of a old German war shop
This is currently the biggest coastal gun in the world.
FotoschoPro what is it bigger due to its gun being 40.6 cm?
FotoschoPro there’s a gun turret with 3 280mm guns and shouldn’t of this gun gun had concrete hood over the top
"Boom here comes the Boom!!! Oh wait....."
Dude i know those from old pics, nice to see them irl
Imagine miss one of those...
Wish I could go there