Just curious, as a general rule, did the cannons on German twin mounts( six inch and larger ) elevate separately or as a unit?
The following page has some pictorial links that may answer your questions: Germany 38 cm (14.96") SK C/34 - NavWeaps Germany 20.3 cm/60 (8") SK C/34 - NavWeaps I would think that it would almost be a requirement as wave action could easily result in the plane of the guns not being precisely horizontal.
lwd, great sources and new to me, thanks.. I thought turrets mounting multiple guns were independent as well. Lots of pictures of them that way. It seems fairly common for them to shoot independently by a few seconds or more as simultaneous firings were hard on the ship and turrets. and ranging seems to have independent at times. Once ranging was over, for example, Rodney firing on Bismark at close range that would sync. I am not certain about this but our naval guys should chime ...or gong...in.! Plus if one gun was down or damaged the other(s) could continue.
In many cases the guns in triple and quad mounts were close enough together that they interfered with each other if fired simultaneously so the middle gun for triples sometimes had a delay imposed and quads would fire alternate pairs.
all german WW2 main guns in twin turrets possess independend elevation gears, but could be coupled together.
Don't know about the Germans, but the guns elevated as a unit on American battleships through the Pennsylvania class and heavy cruisers through the New Orleans class. "Sleeved together" was the technical term, and the mounts were referred to as twin or triple; purists would call later mounts with the guns sleeved individually two- three-, or four-gun.
...do you know if they were all ''locked'' as a unit, or could they be individually bore sighted/battle sight zeroed? ..I would think they would be individually bore sighted
They were not "locked" per se, the three guns were on a single gun slide. You wanted to elevate one, you elevated them all.
..my mistake.....I read that wrong .....seems like you could have ''great'' differences in their accuracy if all were elevated together...
