Japanese possibly?

[AussieBri]

Hello folks.
I am currently in the philippines supporting Dredging operations and have come across an item which i require your assistance with please. I believe it to be Japanese, possibly a flare. The shaft is approx. 75-90mm in diameter and approximately 300-500mm in length. I apologies for the vagueness of the measurements but thats whats reported back by the Philippine dredger ship crew. Any assitance will be much appreciated.
BRI

 

[ron3350]

Top item in photo 3 looks like a 3" Stokes mortar without a fuze . Just a thought.

 

[Eggburt1969]

Possibly a Japanese Type 97 15 kg concrete bomb. See attached data.

 

[US-Subs]

Looks very close to the explosive burster for the 15cm red projectile. The red projectiles are chemical weapons, referred to as an annular design. This consists of a large main explosive charge in a central tube, also containing the nose fuze. This is then surrounded by a small amount of liquid chemical agent in the main body of the projectile. Over time, it is common for the chemical agent, diphenylchloroarsine, to degrade. As it breaks down it releases gas, which builds pressure in the body of the projectile. Eventually the pressure may build enough to where it shears the threads securing the bursting charge in the body, separating the charge from the body. That is what this looks typical of. These are frequently found at Abandoned Chemical Weapons sites in China, but hundreds of thousands were sea dumped as well.

 

[US-Subs]

Here are some photos giving an idea of what the burster tubes look like, in and out of the projectiles. The cutaways still have the tubes installed, you can barely make out the small gap between the wall of the tube and the inner wall of the projectile. All of the rusted items are live projectiles/bursters, as I photographed them at recovery locations in China. There are many different size variations, on reflection (its been over 10 years since I worked with these) I would say it is closer to the size/shape for one of the 105mm variations.

 

[AussieBri]

Thanks Ron, you're correct. we've had a fair few of them pop up. 3" stokes.

 

[US-Subs]

Here is a bomb version with the annular design.
The top item in photo 3 is very similar in shape and design to some of the 50mm launched flare bodies that I've seen, but if I recall correctly they were all heavy cardboard bodies. I'll have to look and see what I can find.

 

[US-Subs]

Here are the only flares I have photos of that are similar in design.

 

[AussieBri]

Thank you all for your replies. The closest match so far has been the concrete bomb. Im doing some more research into that today. Thanks for your assistance folks.

 

[AussieBri]

Here are some photos giving an idea of what the burster tubes look like, in and out of the projectiles. The cutaways still have the tubes installed, you can barely make out the small gap between the wall of the tube and the inner wall of the projectile. All of the rusted items are live projectiles/bursters, as I photographed them at recovery locations in China. There are many different size variations, on reflection (its been over 10 years since I worked with these) I would say it is closer to the size/shape for one of the 105mm variations.

Good Morning US-subs, thanks for your photos. Are you able to send me a phot of the text below the last photo you sent where it mentions the burster is popped out due to pressure inside the projectile please on the 75mm please. This may possibly be the case here.

 

[US-Subs]

Here it is, but I suspect it will be of limited value. When I put the handbook together it was not as a deep technical evaluation, but as a simple field guide for inspection teams (OPCW). One of many of the recovery sites, hundreds to thousands of items were recovered during any single event. These could include (on the Chinese sites) period ordnance from China, Japan, Russia and the United States. Many of our inspections teams had very limited experience with ordnance, especially chemical ordnance in a field recovery condition. I produced the identification handbook in an effort to assist with basic identification. Prior to that we had nothing. It was far from perfect as it was something done in precious spare time, with often limited support/tolerance by the countries we were in at the time. With the limited capacity I focused on simply documenting the existence of the items and basic identification information, which was frequently sadly lacking. The burster tubes were a sideline item, something that we saw frequently, but they were only a component which did not contain agent, our primary focus at the time.