A powerful weapon for its caliber, with a maximum range exceeding that of all other battleship guns despite its modest maximum elevation.
This superb performance had a price in that they suffered from excessive dispersion and a very short barrel life, which was only about half that of other nation's large-caliber guns.
Unlike many other European 38 cm guns, the bore of this gun was actually 381 mm (15.0").
Ammunition:
Type: Bag
Projectile types and weights: APC - 1,951 lbs. (885 kg), HE - 1,706 lbs. (774 kg)
Projectile length: APC - 66.9 in (166.93 cm), HE - N/A
Propellant charge: 490 lbs. (222.2 kg) NAC
Muzzle velocity: APC: 2,789 fps (850 mps), HE: 2,854 fps (870 mps)
Working pressure: 20.3 ton/in2 (3,200 kg/cm2)
Approximate barrel life: 110-130 rounds
Ammunition storage per gun: 74 rounds
The basic flight formation for military aircraft in many air forces during World War II was a V formation.
In the U.S. Army Air Forces, the most basic formation for bombers was a three-plane "V" called an "element".
Stacks of these elements were configured to form a defensive bombing formation called the "combat box".
The standard fighter unit, early in World War II, for the British Royal Air Force was the V shaped "vic".
This involved one lead plane and two wingmen, with the wingmen flying very close to the sides and slightly behind the lead plane to form the V shape.
Typically four vics would fly together one after another to form a squadron.
The problem with the vics were the formations were so tight that the wingmen had to constantly be watching the lead plane or risk running into them.
This left only the lead plane to search the skies for enemy planes.
After many complaints from the British pilots of the vics not being the optimal flying formation, the RAF Fighter Command changed the squadron formation so the fourth vic would weave back and forth theoretically giving them a better field of view.
This resulted in the "weavers" as they were called being picked off because the German fighters could attack them and get away before the rest of the squadron could leave formation and be ready for a counterattack.
The Germans called these vics Idiotenreihen ("rows of idiots").
Later in the war the RAF Fighter Command abandoned the vic formations in favor of the Finger-four formation that the German Air Force used.