Denmark Underground
coastwatch
armament from a Nazi Battle-Cruiser? If you are Danish, build an
underground fort, with the turrets sitting up on the clifftop, to
command a narrow strait between the Danish shore and Sweden.
Built in 1952/3 by driving tunnels from sea level into the chalk
cliffs which meant the waste could just be dumped straight into the
sea the fort consists of about 1.7km of tunnels, most of which are
visited on the guided tours.
The surface retains both of the twin 15cm turrets, both accessable
(one is outside the compound) and the emplacements for 40mm Anti
Aircraft guns. An unusual feature is a single 15cm gun in a surface
bunker which was used to fire illuminating shells for sighting the
main guns. There is also a battery of Hawk missiles, much of the
associated equipmet such as loaders, storage tubes, and the radar
equipment and control containers for the battery. At the entrance are
a Nike Ajax, and Nike Herculese missile, not, as far as I could gather
based at Stvens itself, but part of Denmark's Clod War heritage. A
Centurion and a Leopard tank are also on display, as are a number of
APCs. As part of the tour you also get to go inside one of the
turrets, and can still see the makers plates on the guns.
Underground the tour lasts the best part of an hour, taking in almost
all of the installation, including the fire-control centre, the
ammunition storage area and hoists up to the turret, and the 70's
radar control installation.
Most of the tour is in Danish, but if the staff know you are English
they will try and put you on one of the tours with a guide who can
give you a bit of information in English, and they are working on
audioguides for the future.
Overall a pretty fascinating place for anyone interested in Cold War
history, the museum is very much a new venture, having only been open
a few years, but they seem keen to expand it and it was very well
attended the day I was there, I had to wait an hour and a half to get
onto one of the tours, which leave every 15 minutes or so.
http://www.fortress-scandinavia.dk/Stevns/Ramme_Stevns_fort_eng.htm
Jules
> What do you do if you inherit a couple of turrets-worth of secondary
> armament from a Nazi Battle-Cruiser?
That place looks awesome. Shame the links to the large images on the site
seem to be broken (at least all the ones I tried)...
Wonder if those guns are really 15cm, or 6"? Not sure if they would have
made their own guns or just bought some in from overseas.
I read 40mm as 40cm at first... that would have been one heck of a barrel :)
cheers
Jules
Russell W. Barnes
"Jules" <jules.rich...@remove.this.gmail.com> wrote in message
news:pan.2009.10.06....@remove.this.gmail.com...
> On Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:59:25 -0700, coastwatch wrote:
> Wonder if those guns are really 15cm, or 6"? Not sure if they would have
> made their own guns or just bought some in from overseas.
If they're German they would've been 150mm, like these ones:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/russell_w_b/318483888/in/set-72157603795684131/
The Whitehaven coast-artillery battery used captured French 138mm guns
during WWII (having sent their four-inchers to the Mumbles), and couldn't
practice, as ammunition was scarce! I don't really see the Germans using
imperial measurements for their weaponry calibres.
--
Regds,
Russell W. B.
http://www.huttonrow.co.uk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/russell_w_b
Please replace appropriate text with punctuation to reply!
coastwatch
huttonrow dot co dot uk> wrote:
> "Jules" <jules.richardsonn...@remove.this.gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:pan.2009.10.06....@remove.this.gmail.com...
>
> > On Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:59:25 -0700, coastwatch wrote:
> > Wonder if those guns are really 15cm, or 6"? Not sure if they would have
> > made their own guns or just bought some in from overseas.
>
>
> The Whitehaven coast-artillery battery used captured French 138mm guns
> during WWII (having sent their four-inchers to the Mumbles), and couldn't
> practice, as ammunition was scarce! I don't really see the Germans using
> imperial measurements for their weaponry calibres.
>
> --
> Regds,
>
>
> Please replace appropriate text with punctuation to reply!
Definitely 150mm, as I said, the guns still have the German makers
plates on them. Bit of a long way to go fro a visit, but I was staying
in Copenhagen, and it is moderately easy to get to by public
transport, by taking the S-train then the local train to Rodvig, about
an hour. The fort is about a mile from the village, either by road, or
by the coastal path, which will take you to the turret ouside the
compound. If you have an interest in geology, the famous location of
the K=T boundary, Stevns Clint is nearby too. The Museum has a small
cinema, showing films about the Cold war in Danish, and shop selling a
number of books, some in English about the site and Denmark in the
Cold War. Interestingly the underground stuff was operated by the
Danish Navy, that above ground was operated by the Danish Army.
TTFN
Nigel