cutaway artillery shell
Report a Mistake- Object Number 19940001-505
- Event 1914-1919 First World War
- Affiliation --
- Artist / Maker / Manufacturer --
- Date Made 1906-1918
- Place of Use Continent - North America, Country - Canada
- Category Tools and equipment for science and technology
- Sub-category Armament, ammunition
- Department Arms and Technology
- Museum CWM
- Earliest 1906/01/01
- Latest 1918/12/31
- Inscription (projectile/projectile) TROTY-;24559; (shell/obus) W9/12/20 (primer/ amorce) No.1/IIA 1/18
- Pattern Name 13 PDR.II
- Materials Brass, Steel, Plant fibre
- Branch Royal Canadian Horse Artillery
- Service Component Canadian Expeditionary Force
- Measurements Length 48.5 cm, Width 9.1 cm, Thickness 4.6 cm
- Caption High Explosive Shell
- Additional Information This is a cutaway of a Quick Firing 13-pounder high explosive (HE) shell, the smallest caliber of its type during the war. The yellow portion would have been filled with the explosive Amotol. The strands of fibre represent the cordite propellant, which launched the shell from the gun barrel. It spread steel fragments of the metal casing over many metres, causing ghastly injuries to troops and animals. High explosive shells could also damage earthworks and dugouts, exploding only after they had penetrated the ground. HE shells came in a wide variety of calibres, but most were delivered by 18-pounder guns or 4.5-inch howitzers. One British gun attached to a railway car fired a 14-inch shell weighing 1,586 pounds (719 kilograms).