1943 Depth Charge Pistol ? Box --

[Gspragge]

Picked this one up today, very heavy - Does any one know what this held
exactly. Not sure what I will do with it yet. Looks like some later paint is on it.
Hopefully it can be cleaned off some what.

 

[Gspragge]

Does any one know anything about this or what it held -

Is W 99 1 the box designation --- certainly the large N=Navy.
It was obviously last filled in 1944, can any one identify where ?

 

[LCplCombat]

You are correct in thinking Navy, its not in any of my lists

 

[Michel]

I have seen a similar box but with the marking W80 N (navy) but also marked in front of the box : 10 depht charge primers.

and now I see it is also in your no 4 picture.

maybe the primer and it's holder 10x ( right part of the photo)

 

[Gspragge]

So not the whole assembly that you show but part of it.

 

[Gspragge]

After a cleaning all is revealed ~

After a cleaning all is revealed, nice markings and nice dating.

 

[kahu1]

You did a good job on the cleaning,lots of elbow grease?

 

[Gspragge]

Yes and a very careful application of paint remover. I hoped that the overpaint
would be less stable than the original and it was. Though some of the black smudged
and I am now removing carefully all I can around the stenciling. You can see that there
were two labels, one in the indent provided and another circular seal type on the lid
and body. The red stripes were also pretty much covered over. The problem being that the cleaned areas
especially on the lid were much lighter than the surrounding dirty bare wood so I had to do some light sanding
to bring things back into harmony. The bit of cord is original, I have no idea what was at the end of it.
The heavy brass fittings are riveted on. I'm trying to do the least possible to get it back to 1944, thankfully
the whole thing wasn't repainted. It would be fun to fill it up with empty examples of what went inside, but I think
that an impossible project.

 

[Dronic69]

It seems the box held 10 x Boosters as suggested by this indirect reference to US Depth Charges p69, point 1:

http://www.hnsa.org/doc/depthcharge6/part4.htm

However, I'm assuming the box is British /Canadian as there is a "Primer" reference (Boosters /Booster Extenders) under British Depth Charges - just that HNSA seems to be missing the links to chapters 1-4 for verification.

Cheers

 

[Gspragge]

Does any one have a schematic drawing of a British Depth Charge.
Then I might better understand what went in the box.
I rather think the primers were long and cylindrical from
the design of the holders in the box, two rows of five.

 

[Michel]

I think there is a difference between the hydrostatic pistol as a whole assembly and the primer
/detonator part. In the photo I disassembled the primer part from the hydrostatic pistol the booster charge was on the other side of the inner tube that runs across the hole length of the depth charge.

measurements in centimeters. The whole primer hydrostatic pistol part is 49 cm long.
Some one will have a good pic of a sectioned depth charge.