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Here is a US Naval Base Fuze that I thought some might find interesting. The base reads from the top to the bottom, "28 1918", "X-5 SEMPLE", "NEPTUNE", "AAA". The last
pic shows it with the magazine attached. Cheers Y'all, Bruce.
Rick, From what I'm able to surmise, this would have been a medium caliber fuze, use in 4", 5" and possibly 6" common rounds. The main charge for those rounds were either black powder or a combination of black powder and TNT, so the "magazine" would have been full of black powder also. I've been trying to get more info, collecting bits and pieces here and there and trying to develop a picture, but the pubs for ordnance from the 1870's-1930's is almost non-existent. This one appears to be an experimental fuze that made it to service status and is the non-tracer version of another service fuze that I will post later. Cheers, Y'all, Bruce.
There were a series of books, I believe they were called "Naval Ordnance" that were done each year, mostly between WWI and WWII. They have a lot of stuff listed in them and may be your best bet. I've got no time right now, but remind me closer to the weekend and I'll check through the couple that I have.
In the US Navy Ordance Pamphlet NO. 4, Ammunition, Instructions for Navel Service, 1923 the Neptune fuze (Neptune made fuzes) is described along with other base fuzes as 'a simple base percussion fuze'.
And from the listing of Navel fuzes on page 174 is the following entry- Mark & mod. X-5, X-6, X-7 and X-8, manufactured by the Neptune Meter Co. Ammunition to which assigned: All medium caliber.
No other mention is made of Neptune fuzes (Neptune made fuzes) in this pamphlet
I'm very lucky to have obtained an orgional of US Navy Ordance Pamphlet NO. 4, Ammunition, Instructions for Navel Service, 1923 many years ago and as far as I know it is not an easy item to get ahold of and there are no reprints. I hope to be able to scan my copy and provide a download to BOCN later this year but I do not have the capabiltiy to do that at the present time. It is a good source of basic information on US Navy ammunition/ordnance for the WW1 era and it contains many good diagrams so I will make every effort to get a download to BOCN.
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