What were the dimensions of the guns of Navarone?

Answer 1

I've researched the guns extensively since 1965 and have collected all the available lobby photos of the guns. The barrels are copies of the 30.5 cm SK/50 Krupp-built rifled naval barrels made for the Derflinger-class cruisers of WWI. Naval analysts rate them as among the most advanced in the world up until WWII. Several were fitted to carriages and installed on the Channel coast to shell the British coast and channel shipping. I have copies of the Krupp drawings and they are a perfect match. The carriages are a creation of the late Geoffrey Drake, the production designer. His daughter confirmed for me that the carriages were 40 feet long. I have done detailed drawings of the guns and have built a scale model (1/32nd scale). Drake designed the carriage to resemble the Channel guns but with a built-up frame more appropriate to assembly in a cavern, with a large A-frame shell hoist and transfer system to create a look of mass. Look for a blog detailing the construction of the model.

The guns were capable of hurling a 30.5 cm HE shell approximately 25 miles. Following German practice, the shell and powder cartridges were separate. The Channel guns were captured and destroyed in late 1944 by Royal Canadian forces.