10.5 Cm Fla K 38

10.5 Cm Fla K 38

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 class 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.