8.8 cm SK C/25 naval gun

The 8.8 cm SK C/25 was a German naval gun intended as a heavy anti-aircraft gun on the capital ships of the Reichsmarine.

Description
In order to replace the obsolete 8.8 cm SK L/45 anti-aircraft gun, the Reichsmarine started to develop a new gun in 1925. It was intended to arm the new Königsberg-class light cruisers with the weapon, and also the new heavy cruiser (Panzerschiff) Deutschland. The first ship to receive the new guns was the light cruiser Köln in 1930. During trials the gun was found not to be satisfactory and hence not installed on other ships. In 1931 the guns were removed from Köln.

Two guns were mounted in dual Gun carriage (Doppel Lafette) C 25 and the gun carriage was designed to incorporate two novelties : the mount was stabilised against rolling and pitching, and the guns were directed using a Fire-control system. The fuse-setting mechanism and the stabilisation were installed centrally on the mounting, causing the barrels of the battery to be mounted too far from the center, which caused too much vibration and inaccuracy when the guns were fired. It was also discovered that two axis stabilisation was insufficient for accurate targeting of aircraft. Both problems were tackled with the subsequent gun carriage C31 which mounted the 8.8 cm SK C/31 and its improved version the gun carriage C32 which mounted the 8.8 cm SK C/32.