These guns were not a century old. They were Krupp 28cm M1891 guns, emplaced in 1898, making them just over 40 years old by 1940. They were obsolete guns, but still had many of the features that more modern guns did. The torpedoes were of a similar vintage - they were Whitehead Mk Vd torpedoes, from the early 1900s. The torpedoes were launched from fixed launch tubes, and could not be aimed; the officer commanding the battery, Captain Andreas Anderssen, had to wait until Blücher crossed the line of fire of the torpedo tubes, while the guns, mounted on rotating mounts, could aim at Blücher well before. Also, the guns opened fire at well over 500 yards, it was the torpedoes that were fired at this short a range.

Equally antique weapons were used throughout WWII. There was little reason not to use a gun that worked, especially not in second-line tasks like coastal defence. The main British coastal defence gun, the 9.2in Mark X, had been designed in 1895, and first entered service in 1900. Another coast-defence gun, the 6"/45 Mark VII, had been designed in 1899, and entered service in 1901. The 12-pdr 12cwt QF had first entered service in 1894, but would see service all the way through WWII, mainly on armed trawlers and merchant ships.