Palletised UK ammo

[AMMOTECHXT]

Details of palletised ammo dimensions and weights were included in RAOC Statistics Pamphlet No 2. I think the version I was familiar with was dated 1976, with amendments. Photos show our pyrotechnics site after the 1st Gulf War, where we were sorting serviceable from unserviceable and packing the serviceable for return to UK or Germany. The pallets where the boxes are stacked four high are yet to have the wooden battens (pallet furniture) and steel tape banding added but are otherwise complete. The boxes are mostly steel H83 containing a version of the L8 smoke discharger grenade for use in AFVs. Some loose grenades can be seen in the bottom right corner of one of the photos.
Pallet types at that time were a mixture of Unit Load Containers (ULC) eg for heavier natures such as 155 mm Howitzer and Swingfire anti-tank missiles and Unit Load Specifications (ULS), both metric and imperial, for the smaller natures. The pallets in the photos are to ULS, probably metric. We had wood brought to the site and cut the pallet furniture to size on the site.

 

[LCplCombat]

Nice pics. I hope the bloke standing on the pallet did a risk assesment

What stable belt are those chaps wearing?

 

[Falcon]

I suppose anything that was unservicable was stacked up and detonated?

 

[pointblank0]

Nice pics. I hope the bloke standing on the pallet did a risk assesment

What stable belt are those chaps wearing?

Yeah. Looks very high. I hope some civilian admin staff demonstrated safe manual handling and lifting techniques too.

 

[AMMOTECHXT]

LCPLCombat, he didn't but now he's heard you say that he's put his hand over his mouth as he says `Oops' or similar.
Falcon, u/s kit was detonated, burned or deep sea dumped (DSD) - photos of propellant burns to follow (probably in thread sections dealing with gun ammo) and SAA for DSD when I have time.
Pointblanko, we had no civvies with us and had to rely on common sense - Oh Dear, am I being politically incorrect? The stable belt is Inniskilling Dragoon Guards. They were tank crew in theatre as battle casualty replacements. Thankfully they weren't needed in that role. We also had less than a handful of RE lads, about a dozen RA lads, a squadron(?) of Innis DGs and a similar number of Royal Irish Rangers, all put to work as labourers for us in sorting the good ammo from the bad. Our site processed the loose stuff that had been unpacked and issued and went to war but not used. It took us 3 1/2 months.

 

[AMMOTECHXT]

Unit Load Container for 120 mm Tank APDS & Prop charges

Here's one from In-service Proof from Germany, 1984. Again, pink markings indicate the ammo was for proof firings. The photo shows the backs of two ULCs. The one on the left shows it was inspected (Insp) by ammo tech YL at 5 Ordnance Battalion (formerly Combat Supplies Battalion, hence `CSB'). ADAC stands for Ammunition Data Acquisition Code, a reference tool for managing the ammo during its lifetime from factory to firing. I think I can also make out a NATO Stock Number (NSN), again of use in managing the ammo. There is also a Hazard Classification Code (HCC) label - the orange label marked 1.3C. The HCC label is to inform firefighters how the ammo is likely to behave in a fire and for ammo staff is to inform them what other ammo types it is compatible with in storage and movement. If I remember correctly the large white `C' indicated a `Change' pallet, meaning the ULC contained more than one lot number of ammunition, as often happens for ammo for proof, but rarely happens for anything else.

 

[LCplCombat]

This type of ULC contains the charges in the top in a series of metal tubes and the APDS round inside their plastic tubes, in pairs, inside more metal tubes in the bottom section. I was working on emptying some in January but I can't for the life of me remember the type. Was it L22A1?