It looks like it is a 38cm Spgr. L/4,5 HE shell. But something does not fit here, the black arrow pointing at the nose obviously denotes a nose-fused shell, however, as far as I know 38cm Spgr. L/4,5 shells were all base fused. The 38cm nose fused shells were L/4,6 calibers long not L/4,5. Any thoughts?
The L4.5 was also a capped projectile, like the APC L4.4,and so would have had a similar external appearance. This is probably the Spgr.m.Kz. L/4,6 fuzed with Z.Z s60 nA time fuze for use in anti-aircraft barrages.
Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood and Earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned these defended;
And saved the sum of things for pay.
RF wrote:What were the circumstances of the find? Underwater? If not it would seem rather a large object to hide and not be found for such a long time....
...here´s a translation of the Norwegian text below the photo of Jose´s most recent post:
Denne granat ble skutt ut fra det tyske slagskipet "Tirpitz" som var ankret opp i Håkøybotn under flyangrep den 29. oktober 1944.
"This shell was fired from the German battleship "Tirpitz" while at anchor at Håkøybotn during an airstrike 29 October 1944"
I flyangrepet deltok 39 stk. engelske bombefly av typen Lancaster fra RAFs 617. og 9. skvadron. Flyene kom direkte fra England, over Lyngsfjellene og Sjursnes mot Tromsø.
"The airstrike consisted of 39 Lancaster bomber planes from RAF´s 617th and 9th squadron. These planes came from England, arriving above Lyngfjellene (nearby mountains) and Sjursnes (this shell is displayed at Sjursnes in Ullsfjord) heading towards Tromsø."
Granaten falt ned i en myr omlag 800 meter herfra uten å eksplodere. Den ble funnet under nybrottsarbeid høsten 1967.
"The shell struck down in a bog about 800 meter from here (Sjursnes) without detonating. It was recovered during excavation work in the autumn of 1967."
tommy303 wrote:The L4.5 was also a capped projectile, like the APC L4.4,and so would have had a similar external appearance. This is probably the Spgr.m.Kz. L/4,6 fuzed with Z.Z s60 nA time fuze for use in anti-aircraft barrages.
From a discussion in a norwegian forum (Kystfort) I found this info on the shell:
The markings of the shell is remade post-war, the ballistic cap not being part of the findings. When the shell was recovered from the bog it did not have a cap due to the shell being equipped with a time fuzed fire detonator (?) when fired against the incoming airstrike.
TSA is short for “Tromsø Sjøforsvarsavnitt” (section of the naval command, seated in Tromsø) and these were the ones responsible for clearing the shell of explosives, repainting it and add new markings.
Colors
Panzersprenggranate- blue
Sprengranate -yellow
Übungsgranate-red
Tip of projectile - black means charged projectile but only the tip not the complete ballistic cap
Arrow -where is the fuze situated also wrong position should be on the ballistic cap
white ring-center of gravity
Identifier
800 kg mass of projectile
+- weight class
380mm SPRGR as far as i know not used
L 4,5 seems wrong should be 4,6
TNT as identifier definately not used should be somewhat cryptical like
Spl-c- Rdf-2.41 - Sprengladung c fabricated in Rheinsdorf 1941 2nd. delivery
german burster charges were composed from different TNT Wax Compositions depending on the position in the projectile
example: 10/80, 5/80, 100
meaning (10 (wax) 90 (TNT)
front partialcharges contain more wax to decrease impact sensitivity
Terje Langoy wrote:
"The shell struck down in a bog about 800 meter from here (Sjursnes) without detonating. It was recovered during excavation work in the autumn of 1967."
A rather unusual and unexpected fate.... Norway being mountainous and deep valleys, there is surely little surface relief for boggy terrain.
''Give me a Ping and one Ping only'' - Sean Connery.
front partial charges contain more wax to decrease impact sensitivity
I think, but could be wrong, only in APC and base-fuzed HE. Nose-fuzed HE would have had a uniform composition throughout as there was no need to desensitize the forward TNT blocks, and since these were around the gaine, it would not have been desirable in any case.
Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood and Earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned these defended;
And saved the sum of things for pay.
front partial charges contain more wax to decrease impact sensitivity
I think, but could be wrong, only in APC and base-fuzed HE. Nose-fuzed HE would have had a uniform composition throughout as there was no need to desensitize the forward TNT blocks, and since these were around the gaine, it would not have been desirable in any case.
Tommy is correct sorry
Meine Herren, es kann ein siebenjähriger, es kann ein dreißigjähriger Krieg werden – und wehe dem, der zuerst die Lunte in das Pulverfaß schleudert!
