6-inch Naval Practice Shell

[Juzzy]

HI,

Just thought I'd share some photos of naval shells that were taken in the New Zealand Naval Museum at Devonport, Auckland. The first one is of a 6-inch practice shell that was used by the NZ Navy for its WW2 light cruisers. Second is the blurb on the wall explaining the practice shell. Third is a comparison of the 6-inch, 8-inch and 11-inch shells used in the Battle of the River Plate. Fourth & fifth photos show details of the 6-inch Mark XXIII naval gun. Sixth photo is of HMS Achilles in February 1938, seventh photo is of the Achilles 6-inch guns shortly after the Battle of the River Plate on Dec 13th 1939. Last photo shows the Y-turrret of the Achilles at its current location at the Royal NZ Navy base at Devonport, Auckland.

Does anyone know how common these 6-inch naval practice shells are in the collecting arena ? My grandfather served on the Achilles during the Second World War, so I'd love to have one in my collection one day........

 

[ozziammo]

Howdy Juzz,

This projectile is relatively common here in Oz, reckon I have had about 5 thru my hands over the years, only seen one with drive bands though. They must come off during firing. The pic of the praccy proj. seems to be a fired one as d/bands are missing & chip off the nose where it hit something.

Anyone else got info on this type of prac proj?

Thanks for posting info

Regards Ozzi

 

[Juzzy]

I have just obtained this projectile, and was wondering if it could be the 6-inch practice projectile I was talking about above. I have reposted the museum projectile for comparison. The rusty projectile I have is 150mm diameter (5.9 inches) at the base, 515mm high (20.3 inches) and weighs 42.5kg according to my bathroom scales. It has no visible markings, and has a slight indent in the middle of the base. Apart from the Mark XXIII naval guns that were on the WWII NZ Cruisers, the following 6-inch guns have also been used in NZ: 6 inch BLHP disappearing guns, BL 6 inch MK VII, BL 6 inch MK XXI, BL 6 inch MK XXIV, BL 6 inch P III naval guns, BL US Army 155mm field guns, BL 6 inch MK XI on HMS Chatham and BL 6 inch MK XIV on HMS Dunedin (probably others types of 6-inch guns too that I don't know about). I'll also post about this in the ID section of the forum. Cheers.