10.5 cm Flak 38

The 10.5 cm Flak 38 was a German anti-aircraft gun used during World War II by the Luftwaffe. An improved version was introduced as the 10.5 cm Flak 39.^[2]

10.5 cm Flak 38
A Flak 38 105 mm anti-aircraft gun at a coastal battery, 1942
Type	Anti-aircraft gun
Place of origin	Nazi Germany
Service history
In service	1937–62
Used by	Nazi Germany (1937-45), French Navy (1953-62)
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designer	Rheinmetall
Designed	1933
Manufacturer	Rheinmetall
Produced	1936–45
No. built	Approx 4,200
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) L/52.8
Width	2.4 m (7 ft 10 in)
Height	2.9 m (9 ft 6 in)
Crew	10[1]
Shell	105 × 769 mm. R
Shell weight	15.1 kg (33 lb 5 oz)
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	Hydro-pneumatic
Elevation	-3° to +85°
Traverse	360°[1]
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[1]

Development

Land version

The Flak 38 was introduced as a competitor to the 8.8 cm Flak 18. In this role it proved to be too heavy for field use while having roughly similar performance as the 88 mm, therefore it was used primarily in static mounts.^[2]

The Flak 39 was an improved version, which replaced the electrical gun laying system with a mechanical one.

Naval version

A twin mounting without its protective shield, exposing the positions of the three aimers for the rotation, elevation and canting axis.

The 10.5 cm SK C/33^{[Note 1]} was used by the Kriegsmarine, the German Navy. Related to the Flak 38, it was installed on the Bismarck and Scharnhorst classes of battleships as well as the Deutschland- and Admiral Hipper-class cruisers. After the war, it was used for a few years by the French Marine Nationale on the reconstructed ex-Italian light cruisers, Châteaurenault^[3] and Guichen.^[4] In the late 1940s, the French also planned to equip the battleship Richelieu with twelve of these mountings, but the project was cancelled due to credit shortage.

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 intended target. The mounting was not properly waterproofed and as the mountings were open to the weather and sea swell, this resulted in a high maintenance burden.

References

1. SK - Schnelladekanone (quick loading cannon); C - Construktionsjahr (year of design)

1. Chamberlain, Peter (1975). Anti-aircraft guns. Gander, Terry. New York: Arco Pub. Co. p. 23. ISBN 0668038187. OCLC 2000222.
2. Bishop, Chris. The encyclopedia of weapons of world War II. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2002, p.153
3. Le Châteaurenault sur le site alabordache.fr
4. Le Guichen sur le site alabordache.fr

References

• 10.5 cm Flak 38, 39: Multi-Purpose Gun Archived 2010-10-23 at the Wayback Machine
• 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.

External links