Landships II

Hello Peter.

   This is what I have found, It might be what you already have. I also have pictures, I will email you when I get home.

During WW1 these Guns received their own small hydraulic stabilizers  built under the main gun carriage , which assisted in lowering the guns onto the bedding, usual of the frontal pivoting type, the super heavy guns like the 28cm needed other beddings. They were lowered onto a turntable by hydraulic winches and then the undercarriage pulled away. The standard gauge track extends a short distance beyond the emplacement, for the forward truck when removed from the mount…The auxiliary sections of track are laid inside the emplacement for the placing of the gun. As soon as the gun is in position, the central sections of rail…are removed and the base section of the pivot dropped and bolted in place. The carriage is then raised a few inches by means of jacks…and the trucks removed. The short sections of track within the emplacement are like wise removed and the rear of the carriage let down until the traversing rollers rest on the roller path. The gun could then fire inside a full circle, with an azimuth of 360 degrees, and could also take any elevation up to 45 degrees; the hydraulic winches were located on each side of the main frame to the extreme rear and extreme front. Also these guns received a medium counter weight built up of heavy steel plates on top of the breech. Also a derrick was built to the rear of the car to assist in the loading of the shells, this derrick was covered, and was supported by for steel braces