Main artillery: 3x28 cm SKC/34 in armoured turret (Caesar) from the German battleship Gneisenau
One of the biggest and strongest batteries in Norway. Like it's twin, MKB Fjell outside Bergen, it's main armament was a tripple 280 mm armoured turret from the scuttled German battleship Gneisenau. Batterie Örlandet is located in the mouth of the Trondheimsfjord, protecting the ship lane and the strategical important town of Trondheim. The town's harbour was an important base for German subs, with two submarine bunkers, one of them not finished by the end of the war. Long underground tunnels, galleries, rooms and storages could accomodate a thousand men and supplies and ammunition for several months. The whole battery is embedded in solid rock, with only the turret and the flak/close defence visible on the outside. The range of the guns is said to be 40,000 meters, reduced to 38,000 meters by 1942 due to barrel wear. The guns were never fired in anger during the war, apart from when aboard the Gneisenau, but it was test fired once in a while. All the houses and buildings in the area around the battery were evaquated when the guns were to be fired, for the vibrations and air pressure from the three guns being fired simultainously caused windows to blow in, and poor constructions to collapse. Several hundred prisoners of war took part in building the battery, and many died due to the hard work. After the war the battery was taken over by the Norwegian Army, and kept in service under the name of Austråt Fort until 1974, when it was shut down. For years it was left to rust and decay, with only some maintenance, before finally in the early nineties it was opened as a museum. Completely restored, the battery is today the most authentic WWII museum one can visit in Norway. Most authentic because the unique turret is still in place, and the complete tunnel system, turret shaft and turret has been restored to it's 1945 state. The only difference is that the turret is rusted to a fixed position in it's barbette. It's twin battery MKB Fjell west of Bergen suffered a different fate. In 1968, turret "Bruno" was sold to a scrap dealer for 6000 NOK (approx. £500), cut up and melted. The rest of the battery is still there, but with the loss of the turret, it is mostly the vast underground constructions that attracts attention to the site today. Turret "Caesar" at MKB Örlandet is today the only remaining part of the German battleship, and an important monument for later generations. Thinking about that the complete turret, with all it's five floors and platforms underneath it is embedded in solid rock, and about all the construction under the surface, and all the work and engineering work behind it, it is difficult not to be impressed or touched.
In one part of the underground system, there is an exhibition about local war history with authentic items and documents from both the occupiers and the Norwegian underground resistance.
Turret Caesar
Turret Caesar
Turret Caesar
Turret Caesar
Turret Caesar. My girlfriend is sitting under the middle barrel making it easier to estimate the size of the turret
Interior in the turret. One of the barrels and the loading mechanism
Same as above, different barrel
Tunnel from the main entrance leading to the turret shaft. Ammunition rails on the floor. Along it there are access to the other parts of the underground facilities
Generator/engine room
Storage for the gunpowder cartridges
280 mm shells
Main entrance to the tunnels. All the photos above apart those of the turret are of inside here.
The rangefinder. It was moved from its bunker on the mountain Lørberen 3 km away to the museum site a few years ago. The bunker on which it was fitted, is partly flooded, but very interesting
