British Ammunition Handing Practices

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Cordite Handling

Magazine cases for the heavy guns were made out of brass and painted a stone colour, with information pertaining to the cordite batch number stencilled on both the case and the lid of the case. Each case contained two quarter charges of cordite. With the pre-war decision to increase the ammunition allowance for ships, excess cordite cases were placed on the floor between the magazine racks. This contributed to the build up of bare charges in the handing room as the temptation was to remove the charges from these as soon as possible and clear the cases out of the way of the main racks.[1]

Notes

  1. Private correspondence with John Roberts.