[2] Since the intended 56,000-ton H-class battleships “H” and “J” were never completed, the guns that had been designed for them were used as coastal defense artillery during the Second World War.

The first three guns were situated at the Hel Fortified Area, Poland as Battery Schleswig-Holstein (German unit MKB 2 / MAA 119) during 1940 to protect the Bay of Danzig.

[5] The three guns from Hel, re-sited in France and renamed Batterie Lindemann (German unit MKB 6 / MAA 244), saw considerable service.

The three guns were emplaced singly in turrets, protected by massive concrete encasements in places four metres thick.

Only Bruno turret was damaged, on 3 September 1944, when a shell from a British railway gun hit its elevating gear; the battery was captured shortly afterwards.