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.

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.