Due to these actions during the war, the design remains the largest and heaviest rifled / mobile artillery piece ever built and used in combat.
"Schwerer Gustav 2", finished in August of 1942, was to be committed to the shelling of Gibraltar from positions within Spain but the operation never materialized between the two nations. It was used for a time at Stalingrad from August until September 1942 before being packed up and relocated in the subsequent German retreat. She was blown up at (or near) Grafenwohr on April 19th, 1945.
The third, and last, gun in the series - "Langer Gustav" - was a proposed refinement of the original and set to feature a longer 52cm (520mm) caliber barrel for an all-new, longer-ranged projectile type. However, this weapon was still under construction in 1944 (it was originally expected in 1943) when irreparably damaged by Allied aerial bombs. The Langer's range would have reached 118 miles (190 km) giving it an excellent "reach".
The base 80cm K(E) gun design was to be featured in the proposed (and highly optimistic) Landkreuzer P.1500 "Monster" self-propelled gun platform (detailed elsewhere on this site) of 1943 which never materialized beyond the paper stage. The 80cm K(E) weapon was to be its centerpiece while this "vehicle" was also set to carry 2 x 15cm sFH 18 series heavy field howitzers and a plethora of MG151 automatic cannons in the air-defense / airspace deterrence role.
The focus on railway guns was eventually dropped by German authorities as the war progressed for they proved a cumbersome, expensive, and resource-intensive weapon to deliver and operate alongside questionable battlefield effectiveness / value - particularly as the war situation worsened. Comparatively, the same power could be had through two-dozen or so German "Tiger" heavy tanks which proved more cost-effective, resource-effective, and were inherently more tactically mobile than the Krupp railway gun. The role of such restrictive guns was eventually was taken over by the "V-2" class of ballistic missiles (though equally lacking in precision but offering excellent range) which terrorized London at-range during the latter stages of the war.
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