Darwin

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Interesting image Mike.



The projectile appears to be a 6 inch High Explosive Practice round, indicated by the black band around the body about half way up. HE is indicated by the buff colour of the projectile.



The 2 inch wide black band around the body immediately above the driving band indicates the shell is suitable for both the 6 inch gun and 6 inch howitzer, ie is common to both. I cannot see a red filling ring near the top of the body/base of the fuze, so this may be an inert prac round.


The belt worn by the gunner has the brass 'Tube, Vent-sealing..' either percussion or electric, depending upon the weapon set-up. These are used in Breech Loading (BL) guns firing bag charge - the propellant charge is contained in a bag, often of silk cloth, with an igniter at the end placed nearest to the vent. When the vent tube is set off, it flashes forward and sets off the igniter, which in turn ignites the cordite propellant charge.


Thanks for posting the link.


Mike

Yes the East Point battery apparently changed to larger type guns later on. Thanks for the detailed description of the pic. The Darwin history FB page often has interesting posts relating to its WW2 history ,somebody uploaded a amazing series of pics taken by a chap there , scenes of the port area. The WW magazine article has more of those colour pics .