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FFE Certificate

AMMOTECHXT said:
e by jagged metal as it sang through the air. The two army blokes and the coastguard men had hidden behind the nearby dunes. The coastguards reported hearing metal pass over them. I guess the distance was not enough for complete safety. They should all have been further from the shell. Such lessons have to learned and then relearned by others over
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The peacetime safety distance for explosive cutting of steel was 1000 metres. I suspect they couldn’t be bothered to sandbag it and cuffed it!
You’re only as lucky as your last job!
 
Agreed. A&ER Vol 3 used to include a table of HE shell and their Lethal Splinter Distances, for example, one that stuck in my head (pardon the pun) was 80 yards for 25 Pr HE. I had a less than happy experience with surface-blown 155 mm in Saudi Arabia after the first Gulf War, where splinters passed either side and behind me (and in front too - instantaneous splashes), where I was about 200 m from the shell being blown. Since 5.5 Inch is not too dissimilar in calibre to 155 mm, given the same scenario, I would want to double the distance to about 400 m. Going back to the 5.5 Inch shell, I'm pretty sure the Captain just dug a hole and backfilled onto the shell, no sandbags used, probably to save time but putting the safety of himself, his No 2 and the coastguards in danger.
 
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