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What do we mean by the term Ammunition?
Microsoft Encarta defines it as: Ammunition includes high-explosive shells, anti-tank shells, smoke and signal shells, shells containing chemical agents, and shells with nuclear warheards. Shells filled with propaganda leaflets and shells that deliver vital medical supplies to isolated troops are also fired by cannon. All of the above shows a remarkable ignorance of what ammunition really is, which is: All of those items that are filled or intended to be filled with explosives. All those items that are thrown, dropped, placed or projected with the intention of doing damage to a thing, place or person These things are in any one of the following groups:
And these groupings are very broad indeed encompassing several sub branches of the ammunition field. Initially the ammunition field consisted of what isnt really considered to be ammunition at all, for example: Rocks and StonesAmmunition you ask? Yes! What did the ancient people throw at one another if not rocks and stones? What was loaded into the sling that was used to kill Goliath? A stone! What was dropped through the machicolations in castle walls? Stones and boiling oil and other horrible things thats what. What was hurled in the baskets of trebuchets? Big stones thats what. And someone had to select the stones and give them a rough dressing to a round shape, or go around the river bank and select the right size stone for throwing or dropping. I contend that all these people in their own way were ammunition workers. Arrows and SpearsAmmunition you ask? Yes! What did the ancient people fire at one another if not arrows? What did the ancients throw at one another if not spears? I contend that the ancient village blacksmith making arrows or spear heads was just as much an ammunition worker as Sadie the munitions worker at Woolwich in 1915. The ancient Fletcher putting flights on arrows was surely an ammunition worker. Did not the Romans develop the one-shot spear, the pilum? It bent on impact and was useless for throwing back. Was this not an ammunition item with a great deal of thought put into its manufacture? QuoitsAmmunition you ask? Yes! Did not the Sikhs use steel quoits with sharpened edges to hurl at the enemy? Each soldier carried half a dozen of these things and surely these must be considered ammunition! Greek FireAmmunition you ask? Yes! These mixtures were designed to drench the enemy in fire, burn his ships, set fire to his buildings and generally discomfit his troops. Isnt this just an early version of incendiary ammunition? I believe so! I think that where the definitions above err is in connecting the term ammunition and explosives together and making the assumption that ammunition is automatically explosive in some way. For example would you describe an armour piercing shot consisting of a specially shaped piece of hardened steel as explosive? No, yet it is a piece of ammunition used extensively during WWII! Would you describe a long rod, fin stabilised armour piercing shot as explosive? No, yet it was destroying tanks at 2000metres in Iraq not so long ago. During WWI the airmen used to drop small arrow shaped pieces of steel from great heights onto the troops below. They used the effects of gravity for their propulsion system. None of them were explosive but they certainly caused casualties. Surely these must be considered as ammunition! Just where the connection between ammunition and explosives occurred is not a date but a gradual blending of two ideas. It all commences somewhere in China where gunpowder was invented at a time and place unknown. The substance and its formula passed to Europe probably through the medium of the Spanish or Portuguese explorers. It was certainly known in Europe by 1326 as there are extant documents detailing the method of manufacture and some of its properties. It is from this point that the story of ammunition becomes welded to explosives where it has remained ever since. For the first 500 years gunpowder was the explosive and the propellant, it was the medium of fuzes and pyrotechnics. It provided vast amounts of entertainment via fireworks displays and, in later more enlightened times it provided huge nights of entertainment in Guy Fawkes memorials. In the 19th century major movements began to take place in chemistry, metallurgy, optics and allied subjects. There began to take place huge movements in knowledge as people began to gain education and read more. Books proliferated, each book adding a small increment to the growing body of general knowledge. All this added up to a great advance in the sciences of the time. This meant that suddenly new substances were being invented; old substances were being applied to new uses. And swiftly there appeared new explosives to be used along side the old and venerable gunpowder. But these new explosive were different not only in type but in kind. These new explosives didnt just explode they detonated. The difference between detonation and explosion is chalk and cheese. They are vastly different phenomena. Now all of a sudden projectiles were being filled with these new explosives and were demonstrating wonderful new power and violence. So much so that within twenty years of the appearance of the new explosives, gunpowder was swept from the position of pre-eminence that it had held for 500 years. Mind you gunpowder is still with us and will probably never be completely dispensed with as it has some applications in which it is unmatched by any other substance. The new explosives forced the explosives engineers to create a new branch of explosives, high explosives. The old gunpowder was relegated to the new position of, low explosive. Amongst all of this new development was the creation of newer and better propellants. This was because the chemical engineers were learning more and more every day. Suddenly propellants could hurl projectiles great distances with an increase in accuracy hitherto undreamt of a scant decade before. The new metallurgy of the day made guns of vastly increased strength so that the new propellants could be utilised to the fullest. The 19th century began with gunners shooting at one another over open sights at ranges of one or two kilometres. It ended with them shooting at one another at twenty or thirty kilometres where they couldnt see each other. Later, in the next century the Germans developed guns that put projectiles into the edge of space and had to take into account the earths rotation while the projectile was in flight. Serendipity played a part in the world of ammunition just as it does everywhere else. An engineer noticed that the name carved into a block of explosive was imprinted into the plate on which he was doing some experiments. This led to the development of hollow charge ammunition which gave unbelievable penetration of armour plate, making the tank a less formidable adversary. Explosives now being more chemically stable could be stored for longer periods and in the case of things like mines they could be laid somewhere and confidently expect that some time in the future they would work as intended. The greater stability meant that great stocks could be put aside for future use thus providing an emergency reserve in time of peril. All of these new explosives and ideas were applied to the ammunition field and a whole range of new items appeared and are still appearing today. This is what most people mean when they say ammunition: the cartridges that are used in rifles, pistols, sub-machine guns and machine guns. They are one of the following:
GrenadesThe hand grenade has a long and distinguished career. It originated in the siege warfare of yesteryear but when more mobile warfare came into being they dropped out of favour. Their resurgence came about in WWI when the horrible trench warfare demanded a means of getting at troops in protected bunkers and trenches. The grenade was the answer and since that time they have been part of every soldiers equipment. The come in a variety of styles the main types being: Anti-Personal: These are of two types the defensive and the offensive
Some grenades are designed to be both, being provided with only a blast effect for offensive work and a fragmentation sleeve for use when defending. The thrower puts on the fragmentation sleeve as and when the circumstances dictate. All anti-personnel grenades are about a kilo in weight and almost all have a high explosive filling with a time fuze to control its detonation. Most of them today have a smooth body with the fragmentation embedded in a matrix inside. Anti-Tank: These are designed to attack tanks and are almost all provided with a hollow charge. Some are provided with a very large high explosive charge to attain the same result. It is a bit difficult to throw these heavy grenades any great distance. Many of these types are launched from service rifles, meaning that the operator can tackle tanks at a reasonably safe distance. Some of the early versions were designed to be attached to the tank by means of a sticky substance, a very dangerous exercise. Smoke: These are designed for several purposes and these are signalling and screening.
Incendiary: These grenades are designed to destroy targets by fire and they are usually filled with Thermite or some other incendiary material. They burn with an exceedingly hot flame sufficient to melt the best of steels. They can under the right circumstances be used in the anti-personnel role although not intended as such. Practice: These grenades are designed to replicate the functioning of the standard anti-personnel grenades with the exception that they have a very small gunpowder charge that provides no lethal fragmentation. They are designed for use over and over again, each time being recharged and re-fuzed. They are very clearly marked as to being a practice item. Dummy: These are designed to replicate the anti-personnel grenade in all respects except that they have no explosive components and are used purely to train troops in the safe handling and throwing of grenades. Artillery AmmunitionArtillery has come a long way from the days of the round cannon ball, a heap of gunpowder and a crude cannon being fired by a hot stick. Today we have a range of projectiles with specific targets in mind and these are: High Explosives: This is the standard projectile fired by most artillery pieces. It is filled with high explosive and is designed to attack personnel, materiel, bunkers and trench systems. It achieves its aims via two effects and these are:
Armour Piercing: Armour piercing shells come in two types and these are: Kinetic Energy Projectiles:
These are designed to attack armour plate whether it is on a tank or a ship using only the energy gained from high velocity. They consist of a very hard core protected at the point by what are called penetrative caps and another cap provided to give the projectile a nice ballistic shape. APDS gains great velocity by providing a carrier for the hard core that falls away at the muzzle leaving just the core to fly to the target. APFSDS are the latest versions and are known as magic bullets. They use tungsten carbide as the metal or sometimes depleted Uranium. They possess very high velocity and, being very thin the penetration is very deep. In the case of depleted Uranium there is an added benefit in that the depleted Uranium is Pyrophoric which means it gives off great showers of sparks and flame on impact. Chemical Energy Projectiles:
It should be noted that any one of these projectile provides a very large danger area around the outside of the target because the blast is quite large. The fragmentation is minimal as they arent designed to provide fragmentation. Carrier Projectiles: There are a variety of these such as:
It should be noted that all of the above projectiles carry an added hazard in that the empty body after ejecting its contents represents a lethal piece of steel. They fall to earth from a great height with lots of remaining velocity and as a result can and do cause casualties. Mortar Projectiles: These are the only remaining muzzle loading artillery in use today. They are designed to attack troops in deep trenches and fortifications and behind natural obstacles such as hills. They fire a projectile at a large angle so that it comes to earth in a plunging manner. They fire the following types:
MinesThese are found in two very distinct families: Naval mines and Land mines. Naval Mines Naval mines are those mines laid in water and are all designed to attack ships. All of them use large high explosive charges to achieve their effect. They come in a variety of types:
Land Mines Land mines are found in two distinct families: Anti-personnel and Anti-tank. Anti-personnel are designed to attack the soldier and are usually small, easily concealed and intended to wound more than kill. They come in several types and these are:
Most anti-tank mines rely on a large high explosive charge to attack the underbelly of a tank where the armour is the thinnest. The large charge can also be expected to damage the track system of the tank thus rendering it immobile. Anti-tank minefields are normally sown with anti-personnel mines to provide a nuisance value to the minefield. Anti-tank mines come in several varieties and these are;
TorpedoesTorpedoes are designed to attack ships by either striking the ship directly or exploding beneath the ship. Those that strike the ship utilise the effect of a large quantity of explosives detonating against the steel plates of the ship and letting in the water. Those that explode beneath the ship utilise the effect of suddenly taking away the supporting water from beneath the ship, this action causes the weight of the ship to break its own keel. They come in several varieties today and these are: Acoustic Acoustic torpedoes come in two types active and passive:
Wire guided Wire guided torpedoes are attached to the launching platform by a wire system thatenables the torpedo to be guided to its target. In modern terminology the type of torpedo that does its own searching is called a Fire and forget. Torpedoes are also characterised by the method of launching;
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