This article explains terms used for the British Armed Forces ' ordnance ( weapons ) and ammunition . The terms may have different meanings depending on its usage in another country's military.
76-471: CRH may refer to: Calibre radius head , a traditional British ordnance term for a concept in ballistic projectile design Celtic Resources Holdings , an Irish mining company China Railway High-speed , a high-speed railway service operated by China Railways Choate Rosemary Hall , a private boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut Coin roll hunting ,
152-510: A 1 ⁄ 4 charge, to make up the full service charge. Howitzer cartridges, both BL and separate QF, contained a central core of cordite surrounded by several stacked ring-shaped bags of cordite. To obtain the appropriate "charge" for the required range and angle of elevation, the gunner discarded one or more rings before loading. See charge for how Ordnance QF 25-pounder charges varied in World War II. The case, usually brass, holding
228-536: A building materials company, based in Ireland Crimean Tatar language 's ISO 639-2 and 639-3 code Crouch Hill railway station , a railway station in England (National Rail station code: CRH) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title CRH . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
304-420: A cartridge case containing a reduced charge, and an attached star shell. British explosive shells filled with Lyddite were initially designated "common lyddite" and beginning in 1896 were the first British generation of modern "high explosive" shells. Lyddite is picric acid fused at 280 °F (138 °C) and allowed to solidify, producing a much denser dark-yellow form which is not affected by moisture and
380-461: A cloth bag, usually silk. The "stick" nature of cordite gave the cartridges a degree of rigidity and hence they retained a tubular shape and could be handled and loaded as a solid unit even without a case. With BL, cordite is contained in one or more cloth bags joined together. The complete unit is termed a cartridge. The empty bag was termed an "empty cartridge". Heavy naval guns may require up to four separate cartridges to be loaded, each consisting of
456-523: A complete deployable gun might be described as "Ordnance QF 18 pdr gun Mk II on carriage, field, QF 18 pdr gun Mk I". Britain employed gunpowder as a propellant until superseded by Cordite Mk I from 1892, and as an explosive filling in common shells until slowly superseded by lyddite from the late 1890s. In World War I gunpowder was still in wide British use : British gunpowder designations were : Armstrong Whitworth#Elswick Ordnance Company Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd
532-644: A conflict of interest as Armstrong was then Engineer of Rifled Ordnance for the War Office and the company's main customer was the British Government. Armstrong held no financial interest in the company until 1864 when he left Government service, and Elswick Ordnance was reunited with the main Armstrong businesses to form Sir W.G. Armstrong & Company. EOC was then the armaments branch of W.G. Armstrong & Company and later of Armstrong Whitworth. Elswick Ordnance
608-525: A consistent decline in newsprint and pulp prices after 1923, which was caused by overexpansion of the Canadian industry and wasn't predicted by either party of the project, both lacking experience in paper trade. Since on a falling paper market longtime players with established customer bases had a clear advantage, shareholders sold their well-working but overleveraged and loss-making business to International Paper & Power Company in 1927. The deal left AW with
684-403: A full service charge for his gun, and cartridge Z to fire a star shell. Cartridges were sometimes made up of fractions of charges e.g. a 6-inch (152 mm) gun cartridge may be made up of two half charges or one two-fifths and one three-fifths laced together. A gun normally fired all rounds using the full charge, and varied the range by elevating or depressing the barrel. A howitzer gunner's job
760-465: A loss of £2.8M, and the whole group collapsed. Shipbuilding was the major division of the company. From 1879 to 1880 the predecessor shipbuilding company of Charles Mitchell laid down a cruiser for the Chilean Navy at Low Walker Yard. This vessel was later supplied to Japan as the 'Tsukushi' of 1883; the ship was launched as of Armstrong Mitchell build. Between 1885 and 1918 Armstrong built warships for
836-556: A mile (about 2 km) along the bank of the River Tyne . Armstrong Mitchell merged again with the engineering firm of Joseph Whitworth in 1897. The company expanded into the manufacture of cars and trucks in 1902, and created an "aerial department" in 1913, which became the Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft subsidiary in 1920. In 1927, it merged with Vickers Limited to form Vickers-Armstrongs . The Armstrong Whitworth
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#1732848928828912-566: A reputation for reliability and solid workmanship. The company maintained a London sales outlet at New Bond Street. When Armstrong Whitworth and Vickers merged, Armstrong Whitworth's automotive interests were purchased by J D Siddeley as Armstrong Siddeley , based in Coventry . An Armstrong Whitworth car is displayed in the Discovery Museum , Newcastle upon Tyne . Armstrong Whitworth established an Aerial Department in 1912. This later became
988-464: A subsidiary company known as Vickers-Armstrongs . The aircraft and Armstrong Siddeley motors business were bought by J. D. Siddeley and became a separate entity. Production at the Scotswood Works ended in 1979 and the buildings were demolished in 1982. The forerunner companies, W. G. Armstrong & Co. and later, from 1883 Sir WG Armstrong Mitchell & Company , were heavily involved in
1064-402: A system by which multiple small metallic-cased charges were loaded and fired at the same time. Using multiple small fabric bags also allows the gunners to use a reduced charge if need be. The term "BLC" stood for "BL converted" and referred to a breech and breech mechanism modified from an early long-screw three- or four-motion to modern short-screw single-motion. An example is the conversion of
1140-533: A totally different breech mechanism, and since then the term breech-loaders BL has applied exclusively to the type of breechloader introduced from 1880 onwards, using an interrupted-screw breeches. Early British Elswick breechloaders in the 1880s used a steel "cup" obturation method. This was quickly superseded in guns designed by the Royal Gun Factory by the French de Bange method, the basic principle of which
1216-562: Is assigned an effective full charge (EFC) value of "one*. Other round combinations are assigned lesser values derived from testing and experience. If a gun barrel is capable of firing three different round types: round A (EFC = 1); round B (EFC = 0.75); and round C (EFC = 0.25), and if 100 of each round type is fired, then the barrel is said to have fired (100×1.00) + (100×0.75) + (100×0.25) = 200 EFCs. If it had previously been determined from testing and experience that this type of barrel has an estimated wear life of 250 EFCs, this specific barrel
1292-458: Is at about 80% of its useful life. Plans would be made to order a replacement barrel within the time an additional 50 EFCs were expected to be fired. However the actual decision to retire any specific barrel would be made on examination and measurement of actual wear rather than that predicted by the EFC count. In practice, a barrel might be replaced before reaching its EFC life, or the limits of wear. In
1368-443: Is easier to detonate than the liquid form. Its French equivalent was "melinite", Japanese equivalent was " shimose ". Common lyddite shells "detonated" and fragmented into small pieces in all directions, with no incendiary effect. For maximum destructive effect the explosion needed to be delayed until the shell had penetrated its target. Early shells had walls of the same thickness for the whole length, later shells had walls thicker at
1444-608: Is still in use and is substantially original. In 1925 the company tendered unsuccessfully to construct the South Brisbane-Richmond Gap (on the New-South Wales-Queensland border) section of the last stage of the standard gauge railway linking Sydney and Brisbane . This was a heavily engineered railway which includes a long tunnel under the Richmond Range forming the state border and a spiral just south of
1520-492: Is still in use today. In British service this became a Crossley pad with an interrupted thread screw block e.g. a Welin screw . The shell was loaded via the breech, followed by the propellant charge in a cloth bag. A single-use " vent sealing tube ", a type of primer not dissimilar in appearance to a blank rifle round, was inserted into the breech for firing the gun. While originally, the term "BL" contrasted with "ML", or " muzzleloader " guns, after muzzleloaders were discontinued,
1596-433: Is synonymous with " round ". For separate QF artillery, cartridge referred to the cartridge case, its primer, propellant charge, and the disposable lid and fastener of the case. In BL artillery terminology, cartridge referred to the propellant unit only – there was no case. British cartridges contained gunpowder until about 1892, and thereafter sticks of cordite bound together with an igniter pad, if necessary, in
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#17328489288281672-505: Is usually equivalent full charge) Gun barrels naturally experience internal wear when fired, caused by mechanical wear from the projectile moving along the barrel, and thermal and chemical wear from propellant gases. This wear can reduce muzzle velocity and hence range, affect accuracy, produce unstable projectile flight, and, eventually, cause the gun barrel to fail. Most guns are capable of firing different types of ammunition with varying charges, and not all of these combinations produce
1748-461: The BL 15-pounder to BLC 15-pounder . Calibre radius head: the radius of a circle with the curve of the shell's nose on its circumference, expressed in terms of the shell's calibre. The longer and more pointed (and hence streamlined) the shell's nose, the higher the C.R.H. Typical C.R.H. for British shells leading up to World War I was two: e.g. the curve of the nose of a two C.R.H. 6-inch (152 mm) shell
1824-553: The Humber River ) received support from the local government and loan guarantees both from it and the UK; Squires even campaigned on it, making "Hum on the Humber" his slogan for the 1923 Newfoundland general election . The company was heavily involved with the establishment of the town of Deer Lake. The hydroelectric station there was built between 1922 and 1925, while the canal system used by
1900-589: The Royal Navy , Beiyang Fleet , Imperial Russian Navy , Brazil Navy Imperial Japanese Navy , and the United States Navy . Amongst these were HMS Glatton which, due to bodged construction, suffered a magazine explosion in Dover Harbour less than one month after commissioning. Armstrong Mitchell and later Armstrong Whitworth built many merchant ships, freighters, tank-ships, and dredgers; notable among them
1976-502: The Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Company . When Vickers and Armstrong Whitworth merged in 1927 to form Vickers-Armstrongs, Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was bought out by J. D. Siddeley and became a separate entity. The Elswick Ordnance Company (sometimes referred to as Elswick Ordnance Works, but usually as "EOC") was originally created in 1859 to separate William Armstrong's armaments business from his other business interests, to avoid
2052-555: The 1900s. The owners of the Reid Newfoundland Company convinced AW to invest in building a second paper mill at Corner Brook , to be supplied with hydroelectricity from a generating station 50 km away at Deer Lake . A joint venture , the Newfoundland Power and Paper Company, was founded in 1923. After much fighting between Harry Reid and then-PM of the dominion Richard Squires , the so-called Humber project (after
2128-460: The 2.7-litre 15/20 to the 3.7-litre 25.5 . The first six-cylinder model, the 30/50 with 5.1-litre 90 mm (3.5 in) bore by 135 mm (5.3 in) stroke engine came in 1912 with the option of electric lighting. This grew to 5.7 litres in 1913. At the outbreak of war, as well as the 30/50, the range consisted of the 3-litre 17/25 and the 3.8-litre 20/30 . The cars were usually if not always bodied by external coachbuilders and had
2204-437: The 3.7-litre 25 , which seems to have shared the same chassis as the 30 and 40 . In 1911, a new small car appeared in the shape of the 2.4-litre 12/14 , called the 15.9 in 1911, featuring a monobloc engine with pressure lubrication to the crankshaft bearings. This model had an 110-inch (2,800 mm) wheelbase compared with the 120 inches (3,000 mm) of the 40 range. This was joined by four larger cars ranging from
2280-432: The base and thinning towards the nose. This was found to give greater strength and provide more space for explosive. Later shells had 4 c.r. heads , more pointed and hence streamlined than earlier 2 c.r.h. designs. Proper detonation of a lyddite shell would show black to grey smoke, or white from the steam of a water detonation. Yellow smoke indicated simple explosion rather than detonation, and failure to reliably detonate
2356-475: The border. AW's tender price was £1,333,940 compared with Queensland Railway's tender price of £1,130,142. In the mid-1920s the company clearly was trying to break into the booming Australian market, but was stymied by a preference for local companies. The Dominion of Newfoundland , an island country then mostly dependent on its fishery, had plenty of pulpwood but only one paper mill at Grand Falls-Windsor and one pulp mill at Bishop's Falls , both built in
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2432-455: The case of the 15-inch (381 mm) guns fitted to the World War I Marshal Ney-class monitors a gun was generally condemned when wear reached about 0.74 in (19 mm) at 1 in (25 mm) from the start of the rifling. However it was the usual practice to replace guns when their projected remaining life fell below the ship's normal full outfit of ammunition per gun, which ensured that
2508-622: The common shell's nose fuze. The ogival two C.R.H. solid pointed nose was considered suitable for attacking shipping but was not armour-piercing - the main function was still explosive. They were of cast or forged (three- and six-pounder) steel and contained a gunpowder bursting charge slightly smaller than that of a common shell, a tradeoff for the longer heavier nose. In British service common pointed shells were typically painted black, except 12-pounder shells specific for QF guns which were painted lead colour to distinguish them from 12-pounder shells usable with both BL and QF guns. A red ring behind
2584-567: The construction of hydraulic engineering installations. Notable examples include: Between 1880 and 1925 they built a number of warships: They built oil tankers , including: Armstrong Whitworth built a few railway locomotives between 1847 and 1868, but it was not until 1919 that the company made a concerted effort to enter the railway market. Contracts were obtained for the construction and supply of steam and diesel locomotives to railway systems in Britain and overseas, including those detailed in
2660-428: The correct dimensions but progressively weakened the case. Charge was a concept or category label rather than a specific item. It can be described as "the standard amount of propellant specified to carry out a particular purpose": For practical purposes, specific cartridges were specified for use to obtain the required charge. A gunner dealt with cartridges and would know that he could load (e.g.) cartridge X or Y for
2736-423: The crankshaft had intermediate bearings between each pair of cylinders. Drive was to the rear wheels via a dual helical epicyclic gears and helical bevel axle. The cars were listed at £735 for the four and £900 for the six. They were still theoretically available until 1907. According to Automotor in 1904, "Even the first Wilson-Pilcher car that made its appearance created quite a sensation in automobile circles at
2812-591: The engineer William George Armstrong founded the Elswick works at Newcastle, to produce hydraulic machinery, cranes and bridges, soon to be followed by artillery, notably the Armstrong breech-loading gun, with which the British Army was re-equipped after the Crimean War . In 1882, it merged with the shipbuilding firm of Charles Mitchell to form Armstrong Mitchell & Company and at the time its works extended for over
2888-421: The entire magazine could be safely fired in action. This was the term for a gun together with its gun carriage , i.e. the complete set of equipment needed to be able to fire the gun, as the gun could only be fired when mounted on its correct carriage. The carriage could be a wheeled carriage, a static siege carriage or include both a traversing mounting and railway wagon in the case of a railway gun. For example,
2964-453: The explosive shell designation. Common lyddite shells in British service were painted yellow, with a red ring behind the nose to indicate the shell had been filled. For shellite, a successor of lyddite, see HE below. Common pointed shells, or CP were a type of common shell used in naval service from the 1890s to the 1910s which had a solid nose and a percussion fuze in the base rather than
3040-399: The general sense, but in the formal nomenclature it separated 6-inch (152 mm) guns with breeches designed for charges in brass cartridge cases for quick-firing QF from those designed for cloth bag charges for breech-loaders BL . Shells designed for one type were not necessarily suitable for use in the other type; for instance, a BL shell relied upon the tight fit of its driving band in
3116-404: The gun bore to prevent it slipping back when the gun was elevated, but a QF shell could rely upon the cartridge case, either fixed or separate, to prevent it slipping back. This presented difficulties for BL guns at high angles. A special cartridge was developed for BL 9.2-inch (234 mm) guns on HA mountings, with provision for a wooden ( beech ) stick to be inserted through the centre to prevent
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3192-428: The gunner's end of the barrel, which opened) followed by the propellant charge, and the breech mechanism was closed to seal the chamber. Breech loading, in its formal British ordnance sense, served to identify the gun as the type of rifled breechloading gun for 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
3268-600: The hobby of searching change pulled from circulation for collectible coins Combat Rescue Helicopter (HH-60W), being developed for the US Air Force based on the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk Corticotropin-releasing hormone , a polypeptide hormone and neurotransmitter involved in the stress response Council on Religion and the Homosexual , an American LGBT rights organization CRH plc ,
3344-535: The hydroelectric station helped to expand the forestry operations in the area. Some of the equipment used in the construction of the Panama Canal was shipped to Newfoundland. The pulp and paper mill in Corner Brook began operations in 1925. Overall, AW spent about £5M (equivalent to £360 million in 2023) on the development, which went significantly over the original budget and led to an overdraft, only to witness
3420-400: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=CRH&oldid=1226592277 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Calibre radius head Between decks: applies to a naval gun mounting in which part of
3496-519: The interior of shells had to be varnished, the exterior had to be painted with leadless paint and the fuze-hole had to be made of a leadless alloy. Fuzes containing any lead could not be used with it. When World War I began Britain was replacing lyddite with modern "high explosive" (HE) such as TNT. After World War I the term "common lyddite" was dropped, and remaining stocks of lyddite-filled shells were referred to as HE (high explosive) shell filled lyddite. Hence "common" faded from use, replaced by "HE" as
3572-430: The late 1890s, but some stocks remained as late as 1914. In British service common shells were typically painted black with red bands behind the noses to indicate the shells were filled. Central pivot: was applied to a naval gun mounting that rotates around a central pivot that could be bolted to the deck without any structural alterations being required. The abbreviation cwt stands for hundredweight , which, despite
3648-838: The locomotive market due to its modern plant. Its two largest contracts were 200 2-8-0s for the Belgian State Railways in 1920 and 327 Black 5 4-6-0s for the LMS in 1935/36. AW also modified locomotives. In 1926 Palestine Railways sent six of its H class Baldwin 4-6-0 locomotives to AW for conversion into 4-6-2 tank locomotives to work the PR's steeply graded branch between Jaffa and Jerusalem. PR also sent another six H Class Baldwins for their defective steel fireboxes to be replaced with copper ones. AW's well-equipped works included its own design department and enabled it to build large locomotives, including an order for 30 engines of three types for
3724-713: The modernisation of the South Australian Railways in 1926. These included ten 500 class 4-8-2 locomotives, which were the largest non-articulated locomotives built in Great Britain, and were based on Alco drawings modified by AW and SAR engineers. They were a sensation in Australia. AW went on to build 20 large three-cylinder "Pacific" type locomotives for the Central Argentine Railway (F.C.C.A) in 1930, with Caprotti valve gear and modern boilers. They were
3800-481: The most powerful locomotives on the F.C.C.A. AW obtained the UK license for Sulzer diesels from 1919, and by the 1930s was building diesel locomotives and railcars. An early example is the Tanfield Railway 's 0-4-0 diesel-electric shed pilot, No.2 , which was built by AW as works number D22 in 1933. In the same year, the company launched the UK's first mainline diesel locomotive, the 800 bhp "Universal". It
3876-611: The name, is equal to 112 pounds (51 kg), and signifies the weight of the gun barrel and breech. It is sometimes included in the name of a gun to differentiate it from other guns of the same calibre or weight of shot. For example, the QF 12-pounder 18 cwt naval gun is a different (and heavier) weapon than the QF 12-pounder 8-cwt Mk I naval gun , though they both fire shells of the same approximate weight (12 pounds (5.4 kg)). The director-control tower (DCT in British usage or "director" in US usage)
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#17328489288283952-550: The nose indicated the shell was filled. By World War II they were superseded in Royal Navy service by common pointed capped (CPC) and semi-armour piercing ( SAP ), filled with TNT. "Common shell" is a designation for early 19th century British explosive shells filled with "low explosives" such as "P mixture" (gunpowder) and usually had the fuzes located in the nose. Common shells on bursting (they did not "detonate") tended to break into relatively large fragments which continued along
4028-410: The propellant charge. Used with small arms and QF artillery ammunition. The QF cases in 1915 could be cleaned and then reloaded up to a maximum of six firings with Cordite charges, with the record detailing the "life of the case" marked on the base. The limitation on the number of firings was due to the case expanding on firing, having to be "rectified" by turning metal off the lower part, which restored
4104-458: The propellant gases. The term BL was first used to refer to the Armstrong breechloaders , introduced in 1859. Following the discontinuation of Armstrong breechloaders and the period of British rifled muzzle-loaders RML , British breechloaders were re-introduced in 1880. At this point the term rifled breech-loaders RBL was retrospectively introduced to refer to the Armstrong breechloaders, which had
4180-400: The rear wheels. A larger car was listed for 1908 with a choice of either 5-litre 30 or 7.6-litre 40 models sharing a 127 mm (5.0 in) bore but with strokes of 100 mm (3.9 in) and 152 mm (6.0 in) respectively. The 40 was listed at £798 in bare chassis form for supplying to coachbuilders. These large cars were joined in 1909 by the 4.3-litre 18/22 and in 1910 by
4256-411: The rotating mass is below the deck, and part of it is above the deck. This allows for a lower profile for a turret , meaning that the 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). The term BL, in its general sense, stood for breech loading , and contrasted with muzzle loading. The shell was loaded via the breech (i.e.
4332-399: The same firing damage per round fired. The concept of ‘effective full charge’ provides a means of estimating the remaining life of a gun barrel taking into account the varying charges that can be fired from it before it becomes so worn as to be unusable, or no longer safe. To illustrate, the round (i.e. the combination of projectile and propelling charge) that produces the most firing damage
4408-447: The shell slipping back on elevation. Although fixed ammunition allows for a rapid rate of fire in small to medium guns, BL is a better choice for heavy calibre guns; propellant was loaded in a number of small fabric bags, because a single bag holding the full charge would be far too big and bulky for the handlers to lift. Using fabric allows for the charge to be broken into small, easily handled units, while it would be difficult to design
4484-557: The shell's trajectory rather than laterally. They had some incendiary effect. In the late 19th century "double common shells" were developed, lengthened so as to approach twice the standard shell weight, to carry more powder and hence increase explosive effect. They suffered from instability in flight and low velocity and were not widely used. As at 1914, common shells 6 inches (152 mm) and larger were of cast steel, smaller shells were of forged steel for service, and cast iron for practice. They were replaced by "common lyddite" shells by
4560-468: The standard 25-pound (11 kg) shell came ready-loaded with a red bag at the bottom containing the basic charge (charge one), together with white and blue bags laid lengthwise, as in a conventional gun charge, to make up the full service charge (charge three). The blue and white bags could be removed to provide progressively reduced charges (charge two and charge one). From 1944 one or two 4-ounce (110 g) "intermediate charge increments" could be added to
4636-469: The standard charge (replacing the blue bag) for high-angle fire and to provide greater control over angle of shell descent. For small arms or fixed QF ammunition, where the charge could not be varied by the gunner, the term charge was used to identify the Cordite propellant within the cartridge case, and the round as a whole was referred to as a full or reduced charge. E.g. an 18-pounder star round consisted of
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#17328489288284712-432: The term came to distinguish between traditional, non- obturating guns with fabric propellant bags and separately loaded shells , and quick-firing QF guns which used self-sealing brass cartridge cases, and which usually had the propellant and projectile fixed together as a unit for faster handling and loading. For instance, Britain before World War I had both QF and BL 6-inch (152 mm) guns. Both were "breech loading" in
4788-405: The time on account of its remarkably silent and smooth running, and of the almost total absence of vibration". The first Armstrong Whitworth car was the 28/36 of 1906 with a water-cooled, four-cylinder side-valve engine of 4.5 litres which unusually had "oversquare" dimensions of 120 mm (4.7 in) bore and 100 mm (3.9 in) stroke. Drive was via a four-speed gearbox and shaft to
4864-439: Was a feature of naval ships. It was a trainable turret incorporating the gun-laying sights and often a rangefinder . From here the gunnery officer could select targets and take the range, bearing and rates of change. This data would be provided to the transmitting station (TS), where a firing solution would be calculated and passed on to the gun turrets as the correct degree of training and elevation. (Note: The British Army term
4940-520: Was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick , Newcastle upon Tyne , Armstrong Whitworth built armaments , ships , locomotives , automobiles and aircraft . The company was founded by William Armstrong in 1847, becoming Armstrong Mitchell and then Armstrong Whitworth through mergers. In 1927, it merged with Vickers Limited to form Vickers-Armstrongs , with its automobile and aircraft interests purchased by J D Siddeley . In 1847,
5016-645: Was a major arms developer before and during World War I . The ordnance and ammunition it manufactured for the British Government were stamped EOC, while guns made for export were usually marked "W.G. Armstrong". The 28 cm howitzer L/10 which played a major role in the Siege of Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War was developed by Armstrong. After the Great War, Armstrong Whitworth converted its Scotswood Works to build railway locomotives. From 1919 it rapidly penetrated
5092-453: Was a problem with lyddite, especially in its earlier usage. To improve the detonation "exploders" with a small quantity of picric powder or even of TNT (in smaller diameter shells, such as in 3-pounder and 12-pounder guns) was loaded between the fuze and the main lyddite filling or in a thin tube running through most of the shell's length. Lyddite presented a major safety problem because it reacted dangerously with metal bases. This required that
5168-449: Was an advanced car, originally with a 2.4-litre engine, that had been made in London from 1901 until 1904 when production moved to Newcastle. When Armstrong Whitworth took over production two models were made, a 2.7-litre flat four and a 4.1-litre flat six , the cylinders on both being identical with bore and stroke of 3.75in (95mm). The engines had the flywheel at the front of the engine, and
5244-400: Was designed so that one or more rings could be quickly removed and discarded before loading, hence providing progressively smaller charges. E.g. if the gunner on a QF 4.5-inch howitzer was ordered to load charge four, he would know he had to remove the top ring from the cartridge, leaving four rings; for charge three he would remove two rings. Discarded rings were burned after the action. This
5320-410: Was equivalent to the curve of a circle with a radius of 12 inches (300 mm). Shells of four C.R.H. were soon developed in World War I, identified by an A following the shell mark number, B for six, and so on. For modern streamlined shells post-World War I, two numbers were necessary to more correctly denote a shell's C.R.H. characteristics. For instance, the World War I 6-inch 26 cwt howitzer shell
5396-569: Was manufactured from 1904, when the company decided to diversify to compensate for a fall in demand for artillery after the end of the Boer War . It took over construction of the Wilson-Pilcher , designed by Walter Gordon Wilson , and produced cars under the Armstrong Whitworth name until 1919, when the company merged with Siddeley-Deasy and to form Armstrong Siddeley . The Wilson-Pilcher
5472-411: Was more complicated because the range table would specify different "charges", or fractions of the full service charge, for different ranges and angles of shell descent. The standard cartridge for his gun, which as a whole made up the full service charge, would consist of a central "mushroom" cordite core and several smaller cordite rings in bags stacked around the core like doughnuts, all tied together. It
5548-483: Was successful in trials, but not repaired after an engine crankcase explosion a year later. A total of 1,464 locomotives were built at Scotswood Works before it was converted back to armaments manufacture in 1937. After the end of WWI demand for armaments and naval ships all but evaporated, and Armstrong Whitworth had to look into diversifying its business. The company built a hydroelectric station at Nymboida, New South Wales , near Grafton, Australia in 1923–1924. This
5624-510: Was the ice-breaking train ferries SS Baikal in 1897 and SS Angara in 1900, built to connect the Trans-Siberian Railway across Lake Baikal . The company built the first polar icebreaker in the world: Yermak was a Russian and later Soviet icebreaker, having a strengthened hull shaped to ride over and crush pack ice. In 1927, the defence and engineering businesses merged with those of Vickers Limited to create
5700-512: Was the standard procedure for howitzers up to and including World War II. In World War II a different system was introduced for varying charges for the QF 25 pounder gun-howitzer , which used separate-loading QF ammunition. A separate 2.7-pound (1.2 kg) "super charge" cartridge was available for firing the 20-pound (9.1 kg) high-velocity anti-tank AP shot, and an additional 4.5-ounce (130 g) "super charge increment" could be added to that for even higher velocity. The cartridge for firing
5776-515: Was two C.R.H., and the World War II Mk 2D shell was referred to as "5/10 C.R.H.". "Cartridge" in British ammunition terminology typically refers to the physical object containing the propellant that a gunner loads. For small arms and fixed QF artillery ammunition, e.g., the .303 or 18-pounder respectively, this denoted the complete round, that is, the cartridge case, percussion cap or primer, propellant charge and projectile. In this use it
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