Artillery Ammunition - List of British Ordnance Terms, Shell, Proximity Fuze, High Explosive Anti-Tank Warhead, Limbers and Caissons (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 41. Chapters: List of British ordnance terms, Shell, Proximity fuze, High explosive anti-tank warhead, Limbers and caissons, High explosive squash head, Sabot, Grapeshot, Caliber, Canister shot, Magazine, High explosive incendiary, Base bleed, Linstock, Chain-shot, Round shot, Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition, Driving band, Area Denial Artillery Munition, Rocket Assisted Projectile. Excerpt: This article explains terms used to describe the British Armed Forces' ordnance (i.e.: weapons) and also ammunition used in the late 19th century, World War I and World War II. Note that the terms may have slightly different meanings in the military of other countries. Between Decks: applies to a naval gun mounting in which part of the rotating mass is below the deck, and part of it is above the deck. This allows for a lower profile of turret, meaning that turrets need not be superfiring (i.e. they can be mounted on the same deck and not obstruct each other at high angles of elevation.) Breech mechanism of BL 9.2 inch Howitzer Mk II, showing position of obturating pad at far rightBL, in its general sense, stood for breech loading, and contrasted with Muzzle Loading. The shell was loaded via the breech (i.e. the opening at the gunner's end of the barrel) followed by the propellant charge. BL in its formal British ordnance sense served to identify the gun as the type of rifled breechloading gun in which the powder charge was loaded in a silk or cloth bag and the breech mechanism was responsible for "obturation" i.e. sealing the chamber to prevent escape of the propellant gases. The term BL was first used to describe the Armstrong breechloaders introduced in 1859. Following the demise of Armstrong breechloaders and the period of British rifled muzzle-loaders (RML), British breechloaders were re-introduced in 1880. At this point the t...