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. 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.
After the war, it was used for a few years by the French Marine Nationale on the reconstructed ex-Italian light cruisers, Châteaurenault and Guichen. 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. The 10.5 cm SK C/33 was used by the Kriegsmarine, the German Navy.
The Flak 39 was an improved version, which replaced the electrical gun laying system with a mechanical one. 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 38 was introduced as a competitor to the 8.8 cm FlaK 18. An improved version was introduced as the 10.5 cm FlaK 39. The 10.5 cm FlaK 38 was a German anti-aircraft gun used during World War II by the Luftwaffe. One, 36 grooves with right-hand increasing twist from 1/48 to 1/36 A Flak 38 105 mm anti-aircraft gun at a coastal battery, 1942
