Here are a couple 3"-23 Naval rounds I had a few years ago. These have been traded off, unfortunately, but for a higher priority ordnance trinket for the collection. These were used in the WWI 3 inch deck gun as well as the Naval Landing Forces gun on a wheeled carriage.
As I'm sure most of you know, the 3"-23 designates a barrel length on the gun 23 times the caliber of the projectile, or 69 inches, just like the updated 3"-50 deck guns of WWII had 150 inch barrels. The unpainted one is an explosive round and the grey painted example is a scarce illumination round, or as the Navy calls them, star shells.
Closeup of the markings on the 3"-23 illuminating shell. Notice at the lower edge of the projectile you can see part of the white star marking that designates it as a star shell.
Here's the feature that REALLY makes these rounds scarce. They are both equipped with their original sheet brass, soldered on fuze covers. These two, as most early U.S. shrapnel and explosive rounds, were fitted with M1907 black powder variable time fuzes. These had internal channels filled with molded-in black powder that burned to produce the shellburst at a specified time delay. The black powder was very suceptible to absorption of moisture so the shells were shipped and stored with moisture protective caps soldered on. These were removed just prior to firing via a tear-off strip much like a SPAM can has.
I've never seen another American artillery round that still had this cover in place. As can be seen in the first photo, these shells were stencilled "DUMMY" on the cases. They were assembled as inert loaded, live weight training shells for classroom instruction of gunners in training. That's about the only way the fuze covers could survive, other than on a live round.
Headstamps...Washington Navy Yard, 1914, and 1917 dated, both marked for Landing Gun.
Base of explosive projectile.......
One last view of the fuze cover and tear-off strip. Hope you like these. I know I'd sure like to have them back.
As I'm sure most of you know, the 3"-23 designates a barrel length on the gun 23 times the caliber of the projectile, or 69 inches, just like the updated 3"-50 deck guns of WWII had 150 inch barrels. The unpainted one is an explosive round and the grey painted example is a scarce illumination round, or as the Navy calls them, star shells.
Closeup of the markings on the 3"-23 illuminating shell. Notice at the lower edge of the projectile you can see part of the white star marking that designates it as a star shell.
Here's the feature that REALLY makes these rounds scarce. They are both equipped with their original sheet brass, soldered on fuze covers. These two, as most early U.S. shrapnel and explosive rounds, were fitted with M1907 black powder variable time fuzes. These had internal channels filled with molded-in black powder that burned to produce the shellburst at a specified time delay. The black powder was very suceptible to absorption of moisture so the shells were shipped and stored with moisture protective caps soldered on. These were removed just prior to firing via a tear-off strip much like a SPAM can has.
I've never seen another American artillery round that still had this cover in place. As can be seen in the first photo, these shells were stencilled "DUMMY" on the cases. They were assembled as inert loaded, live weight training shells for classroom instruction of gunners in training. That's about the only way the fuze covers could survive, other than on a live round.
Headstamps...Washington Navy Yard, 1914, and 1917 dated, both marked for Landing Gun.
Base of explosive projectile.......
One last view of the fuze cover and tear-off strip. Hope you like these. I know I'd sure like to have them back.
Kind of too bad that you traded them.
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