Trondenes Fort is a

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

situated on the

Trondenes Trondenes is an old parish and former municipality in Troms county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. It was located along the western shore of the Vågsfjorden in what is now Harstad Municipality. T ...

peninsula in the municipality of

Harstad ( se, Hárstták) is the second-most populated municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is mostly located on the large island of Hinnøya. The municipal center is the Harstad (town), town of Harstad, the most populous town in Centra ...

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English language, English), is a Counties of Norway, county in Northern Norway, northern Norway that was established ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. It is located about north of the town of

. The fort has been the main base for the

Norwegian Coastal Ranger Command ''Kystjegerkommandoen'' (KJK: in English "Coastal Ranger Commando") is a Norwegian amphibious unit trained to operate in littoral combat theatres, filling the role of a marine corps and coastal artillery. History The unit was created when it be ...

since 2002. The fort was built in 1943 by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

occupying Norway during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as a part of the

Atlantic Wall The Atlantic Wall (german: link=no, Atlantikwall) was an extensive system of coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defence against an anticip ...

Equipment

The fort was equipped with four of the world's largest land-based guns (). The guns were taken out of the Norwegian mobilisation plans in 1961, but are still in place and one is kept in working order for conservation purposes.http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNGER_16-52_skc34.htm Germany 40.6 cm/52 (16") SK C/34 The guns are 40.6 cm Schnelladekanone C/34, sometimes known as ''Adolfkanone'' or Adolf Guns, and have a barrel length of . The standard shell weighed with a range of about , while the lighter shell had a range of about . As a part of the Atlantic Wall, the fort is unique in its original set up and high degree of preservation.

References

External links

Naval Gun Battery Trondenes
Royal Norwegian Navy bases Forts in Norway Harstad Military installations in Troms og Finnmark Military installations established in 1943 1943 establishments in Norway {{Norway-mil-stub