Trondenes Fort and Adolf Gun

Trondenes Fort was built by German forces during the WWII occupation of Norway as part of the Atlantic Wall — the system of coastal defences stretching from Norway to France. The fort's centrepiece is one of four massive naval guns emplaced on the Trondenes peninsula: the 40.6 cm SK C/34 naval gun, known as the "Adolf Gun," is one of the largest guns ever mounted in a land fortification and remains largely intact.

The gun and its concrete emplacement are open to visitors, and the scale of the installation is startling up close — the barrel alone is over 20 metres long. The bunker complex surrounding it has been preserved as a WWII heritage site. The walk from the parking area passes good views over the strait and the outer islands.

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A story
The Adolf Gun at Trondenes was the largest land-based artillery gun ever used in combat. It had a calibre of 40.6 cm (roughly 16 inches) and could fire a 1,030 kg shell over 56 km. Hitler reportedly visited the gun on a tour of the Norwegian coast in 1942. After the war, Norwegian authorities wanted to demolish it but it proved too difficult — the gun is simply too massive and too deeply embedded in concrete to remove economically, so it remains where the Germans left it.