WW1 German Naval 15cm Ammunition

[musadv]

Hi everyone,
I am a newcomer to BOCN, and this is my first post. I'm helping Scarborough Museum to tell the story of the Kaiserliche Marine bombardment of the town in December 1914, and having established from German records that one of the types of gun used was the 15cm SK L/45, I've looked in vain for images of the ammunition used by this gun. The Museum would like to commission a mock-up of the most likely nature used (HE?), so images of the drawings of the shell, cartridge (it was apparently a pretty large brass affair) and fuze would be great. Can anyone out there help, even if it's to point me in a fresh direction?

 

[butterfly]

Hi,
welcome to BOCN, I am sure someone on here will be able to help with your request. Perhaps member thekees is the person to ask, he has an interest in large cases (see link below)

http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum/threads/83620-a-Few-German-cases

all the best Kev

 

[TonyE]

These drawings are from "Notes on German shells 1918" and are for the 15cm Sk L/40 gun, but I suspect were the same shell as used in the L/45 which simply had a longer barrel.

They cover both the original naval gun and the adapted version used by the army.

Regards
TonyE

 

[TonyE]

The first picture is the base fuze used with the original HE projectile for the 15cm shell with ballistic (false) cap. The fuze is a very simple design with a set-back collar which on firing releases the striker to hit the detonator pellet on impact.

The second is for the nose fuze (Dopp. Z.S/43) of the other HE shell.

They are from a French manual and I am afraid the quality is rather poor.

Regards
TonyE

 

[musadv]

Thank you very much indeed for this, TonyE, and looking at the three shell arrangements, I'm pretty sure that the ammunition used on Scarborough was nose- rather than base-fuzed, as the Museum has what looks like a 15cm shell in its collection (which is empty, but they've no FFE certificate - should they look at getting one do you think?) with a solid base and no fuze in the nose. It has 2 driving bands, (grooved) and no apparent 'shoulder' onto which a false cap might have sat. From my limited French, can I presume that the nose fuze was a timing and percussion affair? Again, it seems that some of the shells fired at Scarborough exploded on impact, while others detonated in the air, peppering buildings with shrapnel scars. Now, for the cartridge case details, should I be posting a query on another part of the site?
Once again, thank you for this most useful information,
musadv

 

[TonyE]

My pleasure. I will PM you about the FFE for the Museum.

The nose fuze could be set for time up to 43 seconds but would also detonate by percussion on impact.

Regards
TonyE