Landships II

Hi Mick,

I have no expertise in that area but did you look at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tank_main_guns?

Which in turn gives search terms leading to such as:



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/QF_6_pdr_rounds_1890s.jpg

Standard (steel - fragmentation) round for the 40 cal BBL 6 pdr (57mm).

Steve


-- Edited by Rectalgia on Monday 26th of July 2010 07:28:49 AM

Ummm ... yes, well, any unexploded projectiles are potentially extremely lethal of course. WW1 UXO to the extent of up to 10 per day are still being found and rendered safe in Belgium alone, according to a 2009 report.

What I found interesting about the 6 pdr shells was the (apparent) use of blackpowder (FG) as a bursting charge -



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:QF6pdrCartridgesMkXIIIMkXIV.jpg

The navy seems to have had a sentimental attachment to large splinters - fond memories of the wooden ship days perhaps, when they would load down the propellant charges in their guns to maximise the splintering effect of solid balls striking enemy hulls. I guess we should remember WW1 was about as close to the Napoleonic wars as we are to WW1, the last veterans had passed away, well within living memory.

In the case of the Mk XIII/XIV 6 pdr shells, fragmentation would be quite different to that obtained with actual high explosive bursting charges as used in most field-gun shells. It may have even had a better armour-penetrating effect - the nose of the shell would be driven forward virtually intact whereas fragmentation with HE is effectively random and includes a considerable proportion of fine - ultra-velocity but short range - material.

-- Edited by Rectalgia on Monday 26th of July 2010 06:14:09 PM

We used to see the occasional 3" mortar shell used as a lamp base - of course they look quite spectacular, with their fins and all, oddly enough always used in the upright position which is less stable in terms of centre of gravity. But I suppose that's a relatively easy conversion with a nose fuse-well and relatively thin case.

Hmmm ... almost worth it, just for the anticipated look on the faces of some of my liberal-minded (so-called) friends who blanch at the sight of a nice old P'07 bayonet. But then there's SWMBO who unaccountably considers "inside" to be her domain. Guess I should have done a bit more (or some) of the hoovering in years gone by.

Great find - I was in Ypres last week and tried to find a 6 pdr but had no luck, luckily a friend of a friend is buying two for me

Things to do with tank shells.
Mick.

Yes, lovely work Mick - and of course the cradle references the driving bands, a very nice touch.

Once there were a lot of those shells laying around, I guess. The Hotchkiss Mk IV base percussion fuse must have taken a fair thump to activate = http://www.ammunitionpages.com/download/244/British%20Hotchkiss.pdf - and no back-up timing fuse. Presumably the detonation mix (2 grams/32 grains of "A" mixture) was a friction mix (having texture/granularity/frangibility properties combined with percussion sensitivity) since a "needle" was used in the mechanical part of activation instead of "hammer and anvil".

I would have thought that would have given it a degree of "grazing" sensitivity (detonation on abrupt but not necessarily complete deceleration) but I suppose that would depend on the strength of the creep spring and any asymmetric deformation of the lead alloy 'percussion pellet' - all of which construction detail is shown in the above PDF. Because an awful lot of them evidently lingered on. Oh well, conjecture is no substitute for knowledge, I don't know - but it's nice that your ones at least survived to be 'memorialised' Mick.

I suppose, with enough time, the fuses simply corroded away, being composed of various different metals in contact, the detonation mix perhaps contibuting since those were often corrosive to some degree, and the critical part of the main bursting charge (the nitrate in the blackpowder shell filling) leached away.

Mick,

Like the tank shells. Excellent

Tanks3

You could well be right about the sponsons. But I have been scrutinising all the pics I can find and Im sure there could be some camoflage on them. I suppose we will never know for sure now . Maybe could do two versions ,with and without.
Mick

OK I give in , leave it with me for a few days and I'll "destripe" them.

You see I was under the impresion that some were camoflaged then overpainted in brown and maybe in the field so a bit slapdash . And the sponsons were a bit mix and match. Such a shame there's no colour photos of them at the front.

Mick.