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10.5 cm Flak 38

German anti-aircraft gun

Field	Value
name	10.5 cm Flak 38
image	Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-621-2942-17, Schwere Flak einer Küstenbatterie.jpg
image_size	300
caption	A Flak 38 105 mm anti-aircraft gun at a coastal battery, 1942
origin	Nazi Germany
type	Anti-aircraft gun
is_ranged	yes
is_artillery	yes
service	1937–62
used_by	Nazi Germany (1937-45), French Navy (1953-62)
wars	World War II
designer	Rheinmetall
design_date	1933
manufacturer	Rheinmetall
production_date	1936–45
number	Approx 4,200
spec_label	Flak 39
weight	10,224 kg (22,540 lbs)
length	6.648 m
part_length	5.547 m L/52.8
width	2.4 m
height	2.9 m
crew	10
cartridge	105 × 769 mm. R
cartridge_weight	15.1 kg
caliber	105 mm (4.13 in)
barrels	One, 36 grooves with right-hand increasing twist from 1/48 to 1/36
rate	15–18 rounds per minute
velocity	881 m/s (2,890 ft/s)
range	17,600 m (19,247 yds) ground target
9,450 m (31,003 ft) effective ceiling
max_range	11,400 m (37,401 ft) maximum ceiling
breech	Horizontal semi-automatic sliding-block
recoil	Hydro-pneumatic
elevation	-3° to +85°
traverse	360°

9,450 m (31,003 ft) effective ceiling

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.

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.

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

Naval version

The 10.5 cm SK C/33SK - Schnelladekanone (quick loading cannon); C - Construktionsjahr (year of design) was used by the Kriegsmarine, the German Navy. Related to the Flak 38, it was installed on the and classes of battleships as well as the - and cruisers. After the war, it was used for a few years by the French Marine Nationale on the reconstructed ex-Italian light cruisers, and . 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.

Gallery

File:SKC33 P1970793.jpg|A twin mounting without its protective shield, exposing the positions of the three aimers for the rotation, elevation and canting axis. File:Flak (1944).webm|"Flak" (1944) de-classified official U.S. War-Department training film reel. File:Flak 38 105mm.jpg File:SKC33Ammunition.jpg|10.5cm German anti-aircraft munition

References

Chamberlain, Peter. (1975). "Anti-aircraft guns". Arco Pub. Co.
Bishop, Chris. The encyclopedia of weapons of world War II. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2002, p.153
[http://www.alabordache.fr/marine/espacemarine/desarme/escorteurdescadre/chateaurenault/presentation.php Le Châteaurenault sur le site alabordache.fr]
[http://www.alabordache.fr/marine/espacemarine/desarme/escorteurdescadre/guichen/actualite.php Le Guichen sur le site alabordache.fr]

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

anti-aircraft-guns-of-germany world-war-ii-anti-aircraft-guns world-war-ii-artillery-of-germany 105-mm-artillery rheinmetall military-equipment-introduced-in-the-1930s

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