NAJDLUZSZY PANCERNIK SWIATA

Wow! Excellent monograph on the four 305 mm/52 triple gun turrets taken from the Imperial Russian Baltic Fleet battleship "Poltava" and used in coastal defence. The first pair of turrets was used at the Coast Artillery Battery No 981 (Voroshilov's Battery) on Russian Island near Vladivostok in 1932. The turrets were installed in two separate concrete blocks, connected with an underground access path. The second pair of turrets was proposed initially to be installed at Fort "Krasnaya Gorka" (Kronstadt) but the plan was not realised. After the Soviet-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940 the turrets were reassigned to Russaro Island (Hanko Naval Base). Two tremendous excavations for the concrete turret blocks of the new Battery No 3 were made in 1940-1941, but the works were not completed. The turrets were kept in the port of Leningrad during the rest of the war. After World War II the remaining turrets were installed at Sevastopol. Both pairs of turrets still remain at their sites in Vladivostok and Sevastopol, and are open as museums. This book illustrates the guns and positions in some detail, with black and white and colour photographs, plenty of excellent line drawings. Polish text with English summary and captions.