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IMPERIAL DOCKYARDS: CUXHAVEN By: Dreadnought & AP Chapter 51: THE PHOTO TOUR 07 BATTERY SCHARNHORST On the night of 11 November 1940, the Royal Navy launched 21 Fairey “Swordfish” biplanes from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious. Each of the “flying stringbags” carried either a bomb or an aerial torpedo and the attack formation took a heading for the main Italian naval base of Taranto. By the time the sun rose the following morning, the British had successfully executed the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship naval engagement in history – and fully half the capital ships of the Italian Navy rested on the bottom of Taranto harbor. Just thirteen months later, the Imperial Japanese Navy bombed Pearl Harbor and effectively put an end to the dominance of the battleship in naval warfare. Prior to the emergence of the aircraft carrier, all nations bordering the sea used a combination of battle fleets and powerful coastal gun batteries to defend strategic bases and port cities from attack by enemy battle fleets. Imperial Germany had been developing a system of coastal defense batteries since the early days of the empire in 1871. By the early 20th Century, German islands, ports, deep water channels, and naval bases were well protected by strong concrete gun emplacements mounting powerful Krupp artillery. “Battery Scharnhorst”, defending Cuxhaven, is an example of just one of the many coastal defense batteries scattered all over the world. “Battery Scharnhorst” (center of picture) sits on a headland on the east side of the Jade’s deep water channel and provides a defensive cross-fire with “Battery Gneisenau” on the western shore. (See Imperial Dockyards: Wilhelmshaven for details of Battery Gneisenau.) The site was originally occupied by an earthwork shore battery that was expanded into an enclosed fort. The earthen ramparts were backed by brick and masonry walls where heavy cannon were mounted “en barbette” on open carriages (about 1880). As the new main anchorage was constructed, it was decided to protect it and the deep water channel with a modern concrete battery along the lines of the “fortresses” constructed around Metz. Battery Scharnhorst is an all concrete bunker, replacing the previous rampart walls that had no overhead protection. The thick concrete walls facing the sea were sloped at a 60 degree angle to deflect direct fire from heavy guns, and were further covered by thirty feet of packed earth to absorb impact energy. The concrete roof was built in two thick layers with six feet of sand sandwiched between them (same theory as a protective coal bunker). In this view you can see a road entering the bunker complex through a reinforced tunnel mouth. This entrance was used for any foot traffic as well as vehicles. You can also see a rail line running into the bunker, which would bring heavy equipment, spare parts, supplies, and powder and ammunition for the guns. Goods were unloaded from the rail cars and shuttled through the bunker complex with hand-cars on a narrow gauge track. This rear view shows the two entrance tunnels as well as the small exterior entrances to the magazines used for truck traffic and small loads. As you can see, there are only four openings into the bunker complex, two of which are rather small. And there are no exterior buildings or other infrastructure elements that might be destroyed during battle. Everything necessary to the operation of the bunker is contained within its protective walls. Like a warship, the powder and shell handling rooms are directly behind each gun turret and connected to the gun houses by shell hoists. Accommodations for the gun crews and bunker staff are located in rooms along the interior rear walls, and there are dynamo rooms, food and water storage, messing arrangements, offices, and repair shops scattered throughout the complex. The roof of the bunker has virtually nothing on it. There are, of course, the five gun turrets – and a large, square, air intake shaft with a thick steel grate to prevent shells from entering. Just behind the intake shaft are three duct pipes to exhaust fumes from inside the bunker (usually cordite smoke that leaks into the structure from the turrets). Again, like a warship, the bunker operates on the “forced draught” principle. The air intake fans draw air into the bunker and create a “positive” pressure. The fume extractors remove the air around the guns, and from specific handling compartments adjacent to them. You can see earth has been banked-up along the front edges of the bunker and some vegetation has been allowed to grow. The vegetation will prevent erosion of the protective earthen bank, while also making the bunker a difficult target. In an age when air reconnaissance was in its infancy, the bunker would have to be ranged upon by warship rangefinders – at sea level. The vegetation would act as natural camouflage – or – could be removed in time of war to clear the field of fire. This is a close-up of the gun turrets atop the bunker. The concrete bunker complex with revolving turrets was inspired by similar concrete fortress installations built along both sides of the Franco-German border – but most especially by Fort Copacabana, built between 1908 and 1914 to guard the waters of Rio de Janeiro Bay, Brazil. The fort was taken out of service in 1975 and is, today, a very well-preserved national monument. The gun turret is a Krupp model CD/4-1906 fortress turret mounting Krupp model 1906 SK-L/40 12-inch guns. Note the thick concrete and steel reinforcing ring placed around the turret base to prevent shell penetration and possible jamming of the turret race. The fortress gun model was graciously provided by @Barroco Hispano. This is a close-up view of the rear area, where most of the unusual detail can be seen. The bunker was created by raising the terrain, and sculpting it to shape using the “road-piece-plop” method. (Very simple – but very effective.) The raised areas were then covered using the “Paeng” Grunge Concrete pieces to create the bunker – especially the Paeng pieces with overhanging props. Some Paeng lots were modified to handle the gun turrets, air shafts, exhaust ducts, security lamp posts, and those with sailors. The road and rail entrances are from the “WMP” Doc Rorlach Tunnel pack – as suggested by “Mattb325”. And the tunnel pack was graciously updated and brought out of “retirement” for me by the hard-working @Tiberius6 (MANY - MANY thanks). The tunnels were plopped in recesses in the bunker area, then covered over with the overhanging Paeng pieces. A bit tricky, but far better than anything else I tried. The exterior entrances to the magazines are the “PEG SNM Series” small ammo bunkers. They were modified so that the bunker prop overhangs the rear of the lot. That allowed me to plop them “into” the raised side of the bunker so that only the entrance was visible. I then used Paeng overhanging pieces to fill in the concrete wall effect. The following three pictures are landscape details. I used “Heblem Sands” brown sand to indicate earthen spots here and there, as well as using them to cover sloping sides of hills. I used the “Heblem” light gray sand texture to create the appearance of loose gravel in many places to show valleys or depressions in the hills. You have to be very careful when texturing slopes and hills. Using a texture (sand) or too much ground cover on a slope tends to obliterate it – and the sloping effect simply disappears into the “clutter”. Where possible, I used my custom made 1x1 “tree filler” lots (to save time). And I have used virtually every possible ground cover, bush, or tree MMP in the Stex Catalog to paint the terrain. It is an extremely tedious exercise to fill in the landscape in this manner – but I think it produces an excellent level of realism. NEXT TIME…… CUXHAVEN: THE PHOTO TOUR 08 MANY THANKS to @Barroco Hispano for his beautiful warship models. SPECIAL THANKS to my friend and partner, @AP, for his talents, meticulous models, colorful imagination, and extreme dedication. If you enjoyed anything – please punch the “like” button so WE will know. A comment would be even more informative. Comments and critiques requested and gratefully accepted. All questions answered promptly to the best of our ability. THANK YOU for your visit! You may wish to visit these CJ’s as well…… SERIES I: IMPERIAL DOCKYARDS: WILHELMSHAVEN SERIES II: IMPERIAL DOCKYARDS: CUXHAVEN Appearing – Work In Publication SERIES III: IMPERIAL DOCKYARDS: BREMERHAVEN Appearing -- ??? And please feel free to drop in at… THE SIMTROPOLIS SHIPYARD https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/761469-simtropolis-shipyard/?tab=comments#comment-1766496
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