The 38 cm Siegfried K (E) was a German World War II railway gun based on the 38 cm SK C/34 naval gun that served as the main armament of the s. Only four were produced. K stands for Kanone (cannon), E for Eisenbahnlafette (on railroad mounting).
Like the 38 cm SK C/34 naval guns deployed as coastal defense, the 38 cm Siegfried K guns were modified with a larger chamber to handle the increased amount of propellant used for the special long-range Siegfried shells.
The gun had no ability to traverse on its mount, relying instead on moving along a curving section of track or on a Vögele turntable to aim. The turntable (Drehscheibe) consisted of a circular track with a pivot mount in the center for a platform on which the railroad gun itself was secured. A ramp was used to raise the railway gun to the level of the platform. The platform had rollers at each end which rested on the circular rail for 360ð traverse. It had a capacity of , enough for most of the railroad guns in the German inventory. The gun could only be loaded at 0ð elevation and so had to be re-aimed for each shot.
The gun used the standard German naval system of ammunition where the base charge was held in a metallic cartridge case and supplemented by another charge in a silk bag which was rammed first.
Four types of shells were used by the 38 cm Siegfried K (E), including the special long-range Siegfried shell (SiegfriedâÂÂGranate) developed by the army. Almost 40 per-cent lighter, it could be fired with a reduced charge at to . With a full charge it reached and could travel –equivalent to over 34.5 miles.