British WW1 4" rifled mortar Percy shell

[Rrickoshae]

you've probably seen that there is a 4" rifled mortar shell for sale on quickfireauctions. Back in the good old days we called them 'Percy shells' but I've never found any documentary evidence that that is what they were officially known as. Does anyone know if they were known as this outside of the collecting circle and why they were known as Percy shells?

thanks for any info

Dave

 

[siegfreid]

Dave . Perhaps something to do with the Australian phrase " point Percy at the porcelain " ?

 

[Snufkin]

Percy Girouard (otherwise Sir Édouard Percy Cranwill Girouard) was the managing director of the Elswick Works of Armstrong Whitworth. In November 1914 the Director or Artillery let contract 73/4/6488 for twelve 4-inch trench howitzers, manufactured from bored out 6-inch shell.

I can't find proof that the urgent contract was definitely let to Armstrong Whitworth, but if it was then Percy Girouard would have been instrumental in expediting the order, which would have interrupted other crucial work. Perhaps that is the most likely association with the name Percy...



Tom.

 

[Rrickoshae]

Dave . Perhaps something to do with the Australian phrase " point Percy at the porcelain " ?

trust you Mike! But thanks for your considered opinion anyway, I'll bare it in mind (briefly) Dave

 

[Rrickoshae]

you might just have it there Tom, that would make sense. But how would you 'bore out' a 6 inch shell to fire a 4 inch projectile? Was the 4 inch mortar that short, presumably you are talking about boring out a solid shot 6 in rather than an HE?

Dave

 

[Snufkin]

As the British Army went to war in August 1914 with no trench mortars whatsoever, there was a flurry of activity to produce extemporised articles, and boring out a 6-inch shell proved successful. Whether from HE shell or solid billet is not recorded in the Ministry of Munitions Official History.

The third version of the 4-inch light mortar was the one that "fired a steel bomb, which was studded to take the rifling and weighed 8 1/2 lb. It was fairly accurate and had a range of 900 yd., but it was slow loading and the shell case was expensive." A short barrel based on a forged steel 6-inch shell should have sufficed for a small round like the 4-inch, although how accurate it was at maximum range is debatable.

The 4-inch light mortar was not the last short round-to-tube ratio weapon to have evolved. An extreme example was the British 1980s Merlin 81mm mortar development which had an anti-armour bomb that was longer than the tube, and was supposedly quite effective at destroying tanks - although not necessarily discriminating whose side the tanks belonged to.



Tom.