The ships' main battery armament consisted of eight SK L/40 guns, four in twin gun turrets, one fore and one aft of the main superstructure on the centerline, and the remaining four were mounted in single wing turrets located amidships. The centerline turrets were the DrL C/01 type turrets, which were hydraulically operated, and the mounts provided a range of elevation from -5 to +30 degrees. The wing turrets used electric motors to train the guns, but elevation was hand-operated. These guns fired a armor-piercing shell at a muzzle velocity of . The centerline turrets had a maximum range of , while the wing turrets could only engage targets out to . The guns were supplied with a total of 700 rounds.