105 mm german naval shell casing

[jeffmorgan]

Hi All, I write on behalf of the Military historical society of Australia, our Queensland branch have been bequeathed a German 105 mm naval shell casing, the casing was taken from the wreck of the German raider "EMDEN" by an Australian seaman from HMAS Sydney which had been responsible for sinking the Emden off the Cocos Island on the 9th Nov 1914 and had been a family possession until it was donated to our Queensland branch.

There are clear markings on the base of the casing [ manufactured by Polte, Magdeburg, V1 [june] 1909 ] the only marking that cannot be identify is a number 17 stamped directly below the name "Magdeburg, could this number be a factory or even a factory machine number used in the shells manufacture.


Thank you


Jeff Lloyd.

 

[M8owner]

Wow! I have been familiar with the hunt for the Emden and its demise at the hands of the Sydney since I was a boy. What a treasure!

 

[ozziammo]

Same item as in Cartridges section- "Early German Headstamp Interpretation" (pic of headstamp) posted by myself.

 

[jeffmorgan]

Thanks for that info, i shall sent this onto the Queensland branch.

 

[thekees]

Jeff, the German navy used "batch"or lot numbers up to 17 cm cass, and serialnumbers starting at 21 cm. So in your "case" its a batchnumber, i try to find if those batchnumbers were given by month or by year, since they are almost always lower then 100. Or they had large lots or they restarted at a certain moment, within a year.

 

[greif]

In most cases the lot numbers were given to a certain amount of pieces, for instance 20.000 cases.

 

[thekees]

Greif, if you see the lotnumbers on the 7,7 cm cases, and compare it with the amount used in 1917, the lotnumbers should be containing larger numbers. will check the lotnumbers on them tomorrow, however lets say the highest number is 99, times 20.000 it makes 2000000 cases in one year. Does anyone have productionnumbers per manufactor lets say for the year 1917?

thanks

Kees