Oldenburg Battery in France

From the birth of the Dreadnought to the period immediately after the end of World War I.
Rjinbc
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Oldenburg Battery in France

Post by Rjinbc »

Does anyone know how and when the Germans came to be in possession of two of the Russian battleship Rurik’s cannon. They were at one time, while mounted in the Rurik, 254 mm cannon then later rechambered by Krupps to 238 mm. The accepted theory is that when the Germans captured the Latvian port of Bilau in WW I they also captured Rurik. This is not true. Rurik continued to sail for the Russian fleet for the balance of WW I. She was eventually broken down for scrap in 1923. Did Germany acquire the guns at this time or ??? Eventually they were used in Germany for coastal defence at Borkum before being moved to Calais where they were enclosed by massive casemates known Batterie Oldenburg. Thanks.
Mostlyharmless
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Re: Oldenburg Battery in France

Post by Mostlyharmless »

Interesting story!

We know that the battery was established in May 1941. Rurik was scrapped in 1923 and according to http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNRussi ... _m1908.php
"After Rurik was decommissioned these guns and turrets were put in storage for use in coastal defense installations, but they were never actually used for that purpose."

After WW1, it seems very unlikely that Germany would have been allowed to keep any captured guns and, as noted, they weren't captured.

Thus it seems likely that they were sent to Germany during the Nazi-Soviet alliance of 1939-41 and the story of being captured in WW1 looks like Soviet disinformation.
USS ALASKA
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Re: Oldenburg Battery in France

Post by USS ALASKA »

Sirs, some Russian guns from Wrangel's fleet ended up in coastal batteries. The ships were disposed of after the French government recognized the Soviet Union in 1924. The Russians - er - Soviets sent an evaluation team to assess the fleet's condition and worth. The vessels were judged to be unrepairable and sold as scrap in situ. The French kept the Russian battleship Imperator Aleksandr III as payment for the costs of having the fleet there. She was scrapped. Her guns were stored then given to Finland in 1940. The Fins used some of them and the Germans captured some in Norway while enroute to Finland. Both the Fins and Germans used these weapons and some even made it back to the USSR after the war and were kept operational until the 1990s.

https://translate.google.com/translate? ... rev=search

http://www.alternativefinland.com/kuiva ... -fortress/

Batterie Mirus, Guernsey - http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNRussi ... Fi%3E_Guns

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
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marcelo_malara
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Location: buenos aires

Re: Oldenburg Battery in France

Post by marcelo_malara »

Interesting enough, here in Buenos Aires we have 4 shells 24 cm in calibre in a Museum, photos of two of them follows, pieces 0001 and 0002. I broke my head trying to discover what were those aerodynamically modern shells. At first glance due to its form they seemed to be from the 30s, but then there were in force the treaties making ships gunned with higher than 8"/20 cm guns equivalent to a full battleship. Until Kent Crawford, an author with some articles about 19 century guns, told me they were of German origin, and, most interestingly, from the Great War era.


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