 The ships were designed to carry fourteen 15 cm ( 5 @.@ 9 in ) SK L / 45 guns , mounted in casemates along the superstructure . Because Derfflinger had to be fitted with anti @-@ roll tanks , two of the casemated guns had to be removed , to allow enough room in the hull . Lützow and Hindenburg were equipped with the designed number of guns . Each gun was supplied with 160 rounds , and had a maximum range of 13 @,@ 500 m ( 14 @,@ 800 yd ) , though this was later extended to 16 @,@ 800 m ( 18 @,@ 400 yd ) . The guns had a sustained rate of fire of five to seven rounds per minute . The shells were 45 @.@ 3 kg ( 99 @.@ 8 lb ) , and were loaded with a 13 @.@ 7 kg ( 31 @.@ 2 lb ) <unk> / 12 propellant charge in a brass cartridge . The guns fired at a muzzle velocity of 835 meters per second ( 2 @,@ 740 ft / s ) . The guns were expected to fire around 1 @,@ 400 shells before they needed to be replaced . 
