This weapon was used primarily as AAA on cruisers and capital ships, although it could be used against surface targets. A reasonably good weapon, but the training and elevation rates of their mountings were rather slow. Replaced the older8.8 cm (3.5") SK C/31 on newer ships.

Note the triaxial mounting in the picture below. This was intended to be able to compensate for the motion of the ship and so maintain target lock. Unfortunately, this mounting proved to be susceptible to electrical faults as it was not sufficiently waterproofed and the mountings were opened to the weather. These earlier mounts had limited RPC. The "H" class battleships were to have much improved enclosed mounts with full RPC, but these ships were never completed.

An interesting post-war usage of these guns was on the French destroyersGuichen andChâteaurenault. These were the former Italian light cruisersScipione Africano andAtilio Regolo which were ceded to France in 1948. All of their Italian armament was removed and they were then rearmed with six German 10.5 cm/65 guns and tenFrench 57 mm/60 AA guns. A single twin mounting was also added to the gunnery training shipAlbatros.

Earlier guns were of loose barrel construction, but later guns designated asSK C/33 na had a two-piece barrel with a heavier jacket and were considerably lighter. A late war design that was designated asSK C/33 nT had the two pieces redesigned as a forward loose muzzle piece and the rear part as a short loose liner.

• ^

  The earlier loose-barrel weighed 2,370 lbs. (1,075 kg) while the later two-piece barrel for the na weighed 1,653 lbs. (750 kg).

• ^

  Actual German designations

  AP 33	10,5 cm Pzgr 33 Fl
  HE L/4,4	10,5 cm Spgr Patr 33 L/4,4
  HE Incendiary L/4,4	10,5 cm Spgr Patr 33 L/4,4 Br
  HE U-boat	10,5 cm U-Spgr Patr 33 L/10
  Illumination L/4	10,5 cm Lg Patr 33 L/4

• ^

  HE projectiles were supplied with both instantaneous impact fuzes and with time fuzes. HE was also supplied with and without tracers.
• ^

  The 10.5 cm C/32 and C/33 guns used the same projectiles, but different casings which held different amounts of propellant.
• ^

  This was a special, oversized ASW round. It is not known if this actually entered service.
• ^

  Burster weights (G =Gesamtgewicht and S =reiner Sprengstoff) from M.Dv. Nr. 198.
• ^

  As originally introduced, cartridges for these weapons used RPC/32 propellant. This was replaced by RPC/38 with RPC/40N being introduced sometime during the war.
• ^

  The above Barrel Life figure is from "German Capital Ships of World War Two." "Battleships: Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War II" credit this weapon with a life of 4,100 rounds. It is possible that these different values are for different mods of this weapon.
• ^

  These are the design figures. "German Warships 1815-1945" says that the actual outfit forBismarck was 420 rounds and that forAdmiral Hipper was 400 rounds.
• ^

  Outfit for warships was HE and HE incendiary, both nose fuzed and with or without tracer. Illumination rounds were also carried. Depot ships included AP rounds in their outfits, but this was rarely carried by warships.

• ^

  Twin mounts had a crew of six on-mount plus ammunition passers.
• ^

  The Kriegsmarine designated these mountings in their standard fashion for secondaries with starboard mountings being Stb I (forward) through Stb IV (aft) and port mountings being Bb I (forward) through Bb IV (aft).
• ^

  The original 10.5 cm Dop. L. C/31 mounting was the8.8 cm Dop. L. C/31 mounting reworked to take the larger gun. This mounting had both guns in a single cradle. The C/31 series can be distinguished from the later Dop. L. C/37 by their shorter shield and by the C/37 having a partial shield over the gun breeches.
• ^

  Experience gained during the Spanish Civil war resulted in the improved Dop. L. C/31gE mounting which had each gun in its own cradle. The mountings were trained via electrically driven hydraulic gear while the elevation and cross-leveling gear were all electric. Elevation was partially RPC and the cross-leveling was fully RPC. The loading gear used an electric motor on the cradle to drive a continuously running roller above the bore with an idler roller in the breech block. These helped to ram the rounds into the breech.
• ^

  A note on sources: "Heavy Cruisers of theAdmiral Hipper Class: Warships of the Kriegsmarine" by Gerhard Koop and Klaus-Peter Schmolke state thatPrinz Eugen may have had Dop. L. C/37 mounts. However, post-war photographs of her (see below) clearly show that she was armed with Dop. L. C/31d mountings, the same as her earlier sisters. This same source states that unfinished sister-shipsSeydlitz and Lützow would have used the Dop. L. C/37 mountings. This is more likely, as the Dop. L. C/37 was being introduced into service use in 1941 onBismarck andTirpitz.
• ^

  The Dop. L. C/31d mounting was derived from the Dop. L. C/31gE mounting and differed by slight changes to the equipment and shield.
• ^

  The mixing of Dop. L. C/31 and Dop. L. C/37 mountings onBismarck may partially account for her poor showing against British aircraft during her only operational sortie. These mounts had different training and elevating characteristics that were apparently not accounted for in her AA fire control systems.
• ^8.18.2

  Bismarck andTirpitz were equipped with a practice gun installed between "C" and "D" turrets. This consisted of a complete breech mechanism and a short barrel.
• ^

  The Dop. L. C/37 had both guns in a single cradle, reducing the spacing between gun barrels from the previous mountings.
• ^

  A note on sources: "German Naval Guns: 1939 - 1945" says that the fuze setters for the Dop. L. C/37 were mounted inside the shield, but the sketches in this book for these mounts show these machines on the outside of the shield. Other sources say that the fuze-setters were on the outside of the shield. Photographs of these mountings onBismarck seem to show the fuze-setters on the outside of the shield, similar to how they were assembled on the Dop. L. C/31 mountings. The model of the Dop. L. C/37 now at the Imperial War Museum (see photograph below) also shows the fuze-setters on the outside of the shield.
• ^

  Tirpitz was originally fitted with two Dop. L. C/31d mounts but these were replaced in late 1941 giving her a uniform battery of eight Dop. L. C/37 mounts. As noted above, this mixing of mounting types may not have been accounted for in her AA fire control systems, so changing to a uniform battery would have improved her AA defense capabilities.
• ^

  The Dop. L. C/38 was an all-electric true turret with full RPC and was to have hoists on the outside of each gun supplying rounds horizontally with automatic loading. One long trunk and one short trunk prototype were completed for evaluation, but the production units were cancelled along with the "H" class battleships. Guns appear to have been in separate cradles.
• ^

  In 1956 - 1957 the FrenchGuichen andChâteaurenault were converted to flotilla leaders and traded their No. 3 mounting for additional accommodation space.Albatros replaced her 10.5 cm mounting with the prototype of the new100 mm Model 1945 twin mounting.
• ^

  The sources below differ as to the weight of these mountings. For the most part,I have chosen to use the weights given in "German Naval Guns: 1939 - 1945."
• ^

  A note on sources: "Battleships: Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War II" credits the Dop. L. C/37 and Dop. L. C/38 mounts with -15 / +85 degrees elevation.

• Spacing between gun axes

  Dop. L. C/31	26.8 in (68 cm)
  Dop. L. C/37	26.0 in (66 cm)
  Dop. L. C/38	38.2 in (97 cm)

"Naval Weapons of World War Two" by John Campbell
"The Postwar Naval Revolution" by Norman Friedman
"Battleships: Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War II" by W.H. Garzke, Jr. and R.O. Dulin, Jr.
"German Warships 1815 - 1945" by Erich Gröner
"French Cruisers: 1922 - 1956" and "French Destroyers: Torpilleurs d'Escadre & Contre-Torpilleurs 1922 - 1956" both by John Jordan and Jean Moulin
"German Naval Guns: 1939 - 1945" by Miroslaw Skwiot
"German Capital Ships of World War Two" and "German Cruisers of World War Two" both by M.J. Whitley
"Warship Pictorial #21: Kriegsmarine Prinz Eugen" by Steve Wiper
---
"Unterrichtstafeln für Geschützkunde - Band II Flak: Zusammengestellt bei der 1. Abtlg. S.A.S. 1942" by Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine
"Übersicht über die für die Marinegeschütze und deren Abk K zu verwendende Munition und ihre Einzelteile einschließlich Salut- und Manöverladungen" M.Dv. Nr. 198 by Oberkommando der Kriegsmarine
---
Special help from Thorsten Wahl

10 September 2007 - Benchmark
26 January 2009 - Added gun information and ship usage
17 February 2010 - Corrected number of mountings onScharnhorst, miscellaneous changes
05 June 2011 - Updated data forTirpitz mountings and added note about practice gun
29 March 2013 - Added information aboutChâteaurenault
15 December 2013 - Added photograph of 10.5 cm model
08 October 2015 - Added information aboutAlbatros
23 February 2018 - Converted to HTML 5 format and reorganized notes
10 February 2019 - Added additional information on mountings, small changes in the ammunition section, added photograph of gun mount onAdmiral Hipper
10 March 2019 - Added dimensional sketch of Dopp. L. C/37 mounting
18 August 2024 - Added burster weights
20 June 2025 - Redid Burster table
04 September 2025 - Corrected Photograph ID