Coastal Artillery.

This is coolbert:

The Finns still continue to deploy - - and have done so for some time - - coastal artillery?

I would have thought such a thing to be passe', outmoded, archaic. Coastal artillery as a "doctrine" began to become irrelevant with the advent of the warplane? Around the year 1900 or so?

Coastal fortifications in this particular instance consisting of the turret and gun of a Soviet T-55 tank [first designed and fielded in 1955!], "embedded", NOT firing in the direct mode but rather the indirect mode!

"100 56 TK or 100 TK ("100 mm, . . . turret gun") is a Finnish stationary coastal artillery gun that utilizes the tank turret from the Soviet T-55 tank with its 100 mm D-10 tank gun"

You cannot tell much from this photo. Purportedly taken in 2009. That is supposed to be a camouflage coating applied to the turret? NOT much camouflage. And below that slab is a quarters for the gun crew? Where is the engine or power source for the turret? Maybe the apparatus is hand-cranked in some manner? I think not!

I would have thought by now that the anti-ship missile would have rendered such fortifications obsolete, outdated, ineffective. This is a cost-effective way to solve a problem? The Finnish military is noted for being innovative? This "system" was in place and up and going during the 1980's and into the 1990's? Perhaps still is?

Take the gun and turret out of a Soviet T-55 tank, em-place on top of a concrete structure, and voila', you have a defensive weapon of effectiveness. And the power source is? The engine too has been ripped out of the tank and is co-located below ground? Crew quarters are below ground too?

What you see is just the proverbial "tip of the iceberg"?

NOT sure about any of this.

That turret can be traversed from left to right and back again, the gun elevated, etc. And maybe only two persons needed to man the "fortification". Some central command authority issues orders, targeting, etc. AND CAN BE MANNED BY OLDER, OUT-OF-SHAPE RESERVISTS!!

According to Suvorov, the Soviets to defend their border with China had done something similar. Ripped the turrets, guns and engines out of the older Joseph Stalin and T-10 tanks, situated those portions of the gutted tank along the border at one and two kilometer intervals, welding cut-off pieces of old railroad track to the turret to provide additional armor thickness. Again, an expedient and cost-effective way of solving a problem for which their is no easy answer. NOT recognized as a total panacea but a small part of a whole! [until revealed by Suvorov, these Soviet "fortifications" were a SECRET!]

Perhaps a Finnish reader to the blog can provide some insight into this "system"? Still operational? Just a museum piece now or is it smoke and mirrors?

coolbert.