10.5 cm FlaK 38

10.5 cm Flak 38
A Flak 38 105 mm anti-aircraft gun at a Military museum in Belgrade
Type	Anti-aircraft gun
Place of origin	Nazi Germany
Service history
In service	1937–45
Used by	Nazi Germany
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designer	Rheinmetall
Designed	1933
Manufacturer	Rheinmetall
Produced	1936–45
No. built	Approx 2,000[citation needed]
Specifications (Flak 39)
Mass	10,224 kg (22,540 lbs)
Length	6.648 m (21 ft 10 in)
Barrel length	5.547 m (18 ft 2 in)
Crew	six
Shell	105 × 769 mm. R
Caliber	105 mm (4.13 in)
Barrels	One, 36 grooves with right-hand increasing twist from 1/48 to 1/36
Breech	Horizontal semi-automatic sliding block
Recoil	Hydropneumatic
Elevation	-3 to +85
Traverse	360
Rate of fire	15–18 rounds per minute
Muzzle velocity	881 m/s (2,890 ft/s)
Effective firing range	17,600 m (19,247 yds) ground target 9,450 m (31,003 ft) effective ceiling
Maximum firing range	11,400 m (37,401 ft) maximum ceiling

The 10.5 cm SK C/33 was a German anti-aircraft gun used during World War II by the Kriegsmarine on the Bismarck and Scharnhorst classes of battleships as well as the Deutschland- and Admiral Hipper-class cruisers.

They were mounted in pairs on an electrically powered tri-axial mounting, intended to compensate for the motion of the ship and maintain a lock onto the intened target. The mounting was not properly waterproofed so as the mountings were opened to the weather and sea swell, suffered from a high maintenance burden.

It was later adapted for Luftwaffe as a competitor to the famed 8.8 cm FlaK 18 as the 10.5 cm FlaK 38. In this role it proved to be too heavy for field use while having roughly similar performance as the 88mm, so was used primarily in static mounts. An improved version replacing the electrical gunlaying with a mechanical system was also introduced as the 10.5 cm FlaK 39.

Gallery

Two views of a Flak 38 105 mm anti-aircraft gun.

A Flak 38 105 mm anti-aircraft gun at a Military museum in Belgrade.

Nymphe, a German Anti-Aircraft Ship. Formerly Norwegian Tordenskjold). Note her camouflaged 10.5 anti-aircraft guns.

A Flak 38 105 mm gun on the Zoo flak tower.

Footnotes

Notes

Citations

References

• 10.5 cm Flak 38, 39: Multi-Purpose Gun
• German 10.5 cm/65 (4.1") SK C/33
• Gander, Terry; Chamberlain, Peter (1979). Weapons of the Third Reich: An Encyclopedic Survey of All Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the German Land Forces 1939–1945. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-15090-3. 
• Hogg, Ian V. (1997). German Artillery of World War Two (2nd corrected ed.). Mechanicsville, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 1-85367-480-X.