KwK 36
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
, during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. This was the primary weapon of the Pzkw VI Tiger I
Tiger I
Tiger I is the common name of a German heavy tank developed in 1942 and used in World War II. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. E, often shortened to Tiger. It was an answer to the unexpectedly formidable Soviet armour encountered in the initial months of...
tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
. It was developed and built by Krupp
Krupp
The Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...
.
Design
It is often said that this gun was based on the FlaK 36 88 mm gun88 mm gun
The 88 mm gun was a German anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery gun from World War II. It was widely used by Germany throughout the war, and was one of the most recognizable German weapons of the war...
anti-aircraft gun. There are similarities between these weapons but they must be considered merely parallel designs. The KwK 36 could fire the same ammunition as the FlaK 18 or 36. The only difference were the primers that were of percussion type in the FlaK guns and electric in KwK 36. Also the ballistics were identical and both guns had a 56 caliber barrel. The KwK 36 was built to practically the same design as the 7.5 cm and 5.0 cm guns already used in German tanks, but with the structure scaled up considerably. The breech ring was square in section and 320 millimetres (12.6 in) on a side. The breech block was of vertical falling wedge type and operated semi-automatically, meaning that after firing the empty cartridge case was automatically ejected, while the breech cocked itself and remained open, ready to take the next round in.
L56 refers to the barrel length; the inside diameter of a gun barrel is one "caliber
Caliber
In guns including firearms, caliber or calibre is the approximate internal diameter of the barrel in relation to the diameter of the projectile used in it....
". In this gun, L56 means the barrel was 56 caliber
Caliber (artillery)
In artillery, caliber or calibredifference in British English and American English spelling is the internal diameter of a gun barrel, or by extension a relative measure of the length....
s long, or 56 times 88 mm = 4,928 mm, or almost 5 metres (16.4 ft). A longer gun barrel allows the expanding gas from the shell's charge to act on the projectile longer than a short barrel, giving it more velocity. For the Tiger II
Tiger II
Tiger II is the common name of a German heavy tank of the Second World War. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B,Panzerkampfwagen – abbr: Pz. or Pz.Kfw. Ausführung – abbr: Ausf. .The full titles Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf...
's 88 mm/L71, 71 times 88 mm is 6248 mm, over 6 metres (19.7 ft) long.
This gun was amongst the most effective and feared tank guns of its time. It was also extremely accurate and had a very flat trajectory which meant the gun could usually still hit the target at some point even if the range to the target was incorrectly estimated. In British firing trials during the war, a British gunner scored five successive hits from 1200 yards (1,097.3 m) at a 16 by target.
Pzgr. 39 (APCBC)
- Weight of projectile: 10.2 kg (22.48 lbs)
- Muzzle velocity: 810 m/s (2,536 ft/s)
- Explosive filler 0.059 kg
Penetration figures given for an armoured plate 30 degrees from the horizontal
| Hit probability versus 2.5 x 2 m target | |||
| Range | Penetration | in training | in combat |
| 100 m | 120 mm | 100 % | 100 % |
| 500 m | 110 mm | 100 % | 100 % |
| 1000 m | 99 mm | 100 % | 93 % |
| 1500 m | 91 mm | 98 % | 74 % |
| 2000 m | 83 mm | 87 % | 50 % |
| 2500 m | n/a | 71 % | 31 % |
| 3000 m | n/a | 53 % | 19 % |
Pzgr. 40 (APCR)
An armour-piercing, composite rigid (APCR) projectile had a sub-calibre tungstenTungsten
Tungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74.A hard, rare metal under standard conditions when uncombined, tungsten is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. It was identified as a new element in 1781, and first isolated as...
core.
- Weight of projectile: 7.3 kg (16 lbs)
- Muzzle velocity: 930 m/s (3,051 ft/s)
Penetration figures given for an armoured plate 30 degrees from the horizontal
| Hit probability versus 2.5 x 2 m target | |||
| Range | Penetration | in training | in combat |
| 100 m | 171 mm | 100 % | 100 % |
| 500 m | 156 mm | 100 % | 100 % |
| 1000 m | 138 mm | 100 % | 93 % |
| 1500 m | 123 mm | 97 % | 74 % |
| 2000 m | 110 mm | 89 % | 47 % |
| 2500 m | n/a | 78 % | 34 % |
| 3000 m | n/a | 66 % | 25 % |
Gr. 39 HL (HEAT)
A high explosive anti-tankHigh explosive anti-tank
High explosive anti-tank warheads are made of an explosive shaped charge that uses the Munroe effect to create a very high-velocity partial stream of metal in a state of superplasticity that can punch through solid armor....
(HEAT) round with a shaped charge.
- Weight of projectile: 7.65 kg (16.8 lbs)
- Muzzle velocity: 600 m/s (1,968 ft/s)
Penetration figures given for an armoured plate 30 degrees from the horizontal
| Hit probability versus 2.5 x 2m target | |||
| Range | Penetration | in training | in combat |
| 100 m | 90 mm | 100 % | 100 % |
| 500 m | 90 mm | 100 % | 98 % |
| 1000 m | 90 mm | 94 % | 62 % |
| 1500 m | 90 mm | 72 % | 34 % |
| 2000 m | 90 mm | 52 % | 20 % |
| 2500 m | 90 mm | n/a | n/a |
| 3000 m | 90 mm | n/a | n/a |