michaeldr Posted 3 January , 2023 Share Posted 3 January , 2023 (edited) Bill Sellars [hereabouts aka Eceabat] has kindly passed on this interesting item of news from the peninsula A 15mm (?) shell which has just gone off 108 years late For the action see the video from 2.46>https://www.yenicaggazetesi.com.tr/canakkalede-108-yillik-top-mermisi-imha-edildi-614610v.htm [on-line translation works if needed (?)] Perhaps that should have been translated as 150mm Edited 3 January , 2023 by michaeldr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open Bolt Posted 3 January , 2023 Share Posted 3 January , 2023 Very good. They seemed happy to dig around it and hammer in the pickets, but used the robot to carry the charge over to it... Google gives 15'lik as 15's or 15-piece. @trajan ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 3 January , 2023 Author Share Posted 3 January , 2023 5 minutes ago, Open Bolt said: Very good. They seemed happy to dig around it and hammer in the pickets, but used the robot to carry the charge over to it... I liked the way the robot drops the charge rather than laying gently 6 minutes ago, Open Bolt said: Google gives 15'lik as 15's or 15-piece. @trajan ? Quote: "unexploded 42 cm long and 15 mm diameter" I think that Google probably got the 42cm right, so going by the proportions, then 15mm must in fact be 15cm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 3 January , 2023 Share Posted 3 January , 2023 (edited) Well, a better and less misleading title would be from the Turkish as 'A Gallipoli/Çanakkale shell detonated after 108 years' rather than goes off! '15'lik' in this one really means 'of/with a 15mm cm diameter'. Julian Edited 3 January , 2023 by trajan correct mm to cm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 3 January , 2023 Author Share Posted 3 January , 2023 12 minutes ago, trajan said: a better and less misleading title would be from the Turkish as 'A Gallipoli/Çanakkale shell detonated after 108 years' rather than goes off! Sorry Julian 13 minutes ago, trajan said: '15'lik' in this one really means 'of/with a 15mm cm diameter'. Google are not entirely to blame - see the second para: quote Çanakkale'nin Eceabat ilçesindeki Şehitler Abidesi'nde devam eden teknik alt ve üstyapı çalışmaları sırasında bulunan Çanakkale Savaşı'ndan kalma patlamamış 42 santim uzunluğunda ve 15 milimetre çapındaki top mermisi, jandarma ekiplerince uzaktan kumandalı bomba imha robotuyla kontrollü bir şekilde imha edildi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interested Posted 3 January , 2023 Share Posted 3 January , 2023 That can of Red Bull on wires certainly did the job alright... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 3 January , 2023 Share Posted 3 January , 2023 1 hour ago, michaeldr said: Sorry Julian No need to be - and I have made many a mistake meself on things in this back-to-front language! My two half Brit-half Turk boys laugh when I try to speak never even mind translate Turkish, while my Turkish wife looks away in shame... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenbecker Posted 3 January , 2023 Share Posted 3 January , 2023 As a former DEMO, you have not much to worry about these old shells All ammo is bore safe when fired, and will remain so in the ground, unless you do some thing stupid. 155, 105 and 5.5 shells (WWII) along with 18 pdr and others from the great war, we use to blow up all the time, when clearing the ranges here. A few blocks of C4 will make a nice bang of it Of cause that's not to belittle how dangerous they are, if not handled correctly, and all safety have to be done to ensure all are keep safe. Some unexploded bombs are worst then others, but these older types are better then the new stuff with pizo fuzes which are highly bad. S.B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 4 January , 2023 Author Share Posted 4 January , 2023 Thanks Steve - Interesting to hear your insights Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted 4 January , 2023 Share Posted 4 January , 2023 I`ve never been close to a sizeable shell exploding but I did expect a bigger bang. It didn`t seem to change the landscape at all. Is that typical for that size of shell? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 4 January , 2023 Author Share Posted 4 January , 2023 Phil, I look forward to hearing a more technically correct explanation from others, however my first thought is that the shell is at least half uncovered and therefore much of the blast's force is dissipated into thin air. Were it to have exploded when it originally fell and buried itself underground, then I imagine that the force of the blast would have been dramatically different Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenbecker Posted 4 January , 2023 Share Posted 4 January , 2023 (edited) Micheal A shell in the photo is how we always found them, which means they failed to function for what ever reason (blow up) when blowing a bomb like that, always leave in place and blow, the only time you move them is when they are in an built up area S.B Edited 6 February , 2023 by stevenbecker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted 4 January , 2023 Share Posted 4 January , 2023 So, is that typical of a 15cm shell exploding? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikB Posted 5 January , 2023 Share Posted 5 January , 2023 23 hours ago, PhilB said: I`ve never been close to a sizeable shell exploding but I did expect a bigger bang. It didn`t seem to change the landscape at all. Is that typical for that size of shell? Yes, I wondered how much of the bang was from the shell, and how much from the stout-looking charge they dropped in the 'ole... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenbecker Posted 5 January , 2023 Share Posted 5 January , 2023 (edited) Mate, Hard to get an idea from that photo, and having never seen a 15cm/150mm shell go off, its hard the say The effects are as you may know are different for every shell, and the type of ground used, But I sure others more then my poor self, can enlighten you more. S.B Edited 6 February , 2023 by stevenbecker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interested Posted 5 January , 2023 Share Posted 5 January , 2023 Interesting to have the benefit of your experience, not something most of us have experienced in our daily lives. Thanks for the info S B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 5 January , 2023 Share Posted 5 January , 2023 The husband of one of my Antika Pazar sellers was in charge of what he said was the largest blow-up ever of Iraqi bombs, etc., after the war there. An experienced long-time ex- Logistics Corps man who dealt with UXO as a speciality, I'll ask him what he knows about this size of shell - possibly nothing, but even so, could be worth a try! Julian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 5 January , 2023 Author Share Posted 5 January , 2023 In the meantime, if you want to watch the disassembly process but without the bang, then go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi4YW8652jQ (& skip the ads) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 5 January , 2023 Author Share Posted 5 January , 2023 There is a good description of the German assistance to the Ottoman shell production effort of 1915, in the final three paragraphs here https://www.gallipoli1915.de/info-1-c1t7z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 5 January , 2023 Share Posted 5 January , 2023 1 hour ago, michaeldr said: In the meantime, if you want to watch the disassembly process but without the bang, then go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi4YW8652jQ (& skip the ads) Thanks! That was fun to watch! But I doubt my two Ottoman fuzes would come apart that easily... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenbecker Posted 5 January , 2023 Share Posted 5 January , 2023 Yes not something I would advise you do, take apart an old shell like that better to leave them and let someone who know what there doing dispose of it. S.B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 6 January , 2023 Author Share Posted 6 January , 2023 Unexploded Ottoman artillery rounds were not such an uncommon find on Gallipoli. At the end of the campaign the RND occupied what had previously been the French Sector on the right of the line (an area which includes the spot where this recent 150mm shell was found). On Christmas Day 1915, Lt. F. S, Kelly [Hood Battalion] records that after “an excellent Christmas lunch” (plus some Port wine, probably supplied from Malta by his brother-in-law, Capt. Joe Kelly RN) he went off with fellow officers Heald and Freyberg for some sport, “sniping an unexploded 6-inch [150mm] shell that was lying out in the open a little way from our headquarters.” Each had some shots at the shell in an upright position but without penetrating the casing, so they then lay it down with the fuse pointing towards them. “At about the fourth shot the thing went off with a tremendous burst just as I was preparing to have a shot myself and I discovered a splinter had gone through my cap. We felt exactly like school boys. It was 15 yards away but we had a good buttress of sandbags from behind which to fire.” [from 'Kelly's War – the Great War Diary of Frederick Kelly 1914-1916' edited by Jon Cooksey & Graham McKechnie] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevenbecker Posted 6 January , 2023 Share Posted 6 January , 2023 Mate, The records also show that Ottoman shells were prone to not working. Much of the Otttoman Ammo supply were older shells for there many older guns, that failed to fuction So bad were there old shells that German ammo tech's had to be sent to go through the Ottoman works. Röpnack Adolf Lt (Capt) Deutsche Militäry Mission Türkei - Heavy Artillery Instructor 10-15-16 to att Fußartillerie-Regiment No 59 11-16 to 1-17 to Ammo Tech officer Baghdad and Damascus 1-17 to Ammo Tech officer Aleppo 9-17 to Artillery staff Yilderim 10-17 to 5-18 to Artillery Workshop Damascus 6-18 to 9-18 - Sam'da 6. Topçu müfrezesi komutani (6th Artillery detachments commander in Sam (Damascus) (1881 at Belin died 7-7-64) from Adjt Fußartillerie-Regiment No 9 to Turkey 10-15 to Colonel in the Bolivian Army 1923-27 later WWII LtCol to Generalmajor der Flakartillerie Munitions Inspector in the Supply Office of the Luftwaffe RLM retired 1945 PoW 1945 Much like the American supplied ammo used on the western Front at places like the Somme in 1916, where many rounds failed to function and now litter the ground of France. S.B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryn Posted 6 February , 2023 Share Posted 6 February , 2023 After the big fire (1994/5) went through, unexploded shells were easier to find. Shrapnel Valley (Courtney's Post in background), 1995. Don't try this at home! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now