Cordite: Difference between revisions

Cordite was used initially in the [[.303 British]], Mark I and II, standard [[rifle]] cartridge between 1891 and 1915 .{{Not_verified_in_body|date=November 2023}} Shortages of cordite in [[World War I]] led to the creation of the "Devil's Porridge" munitions factory ([[HM Factory, Gretna]]) on the English-ScottishEnglish–Scottish border, which produced around 800 tonnes of cordite per week. The UK also imported some United States–developed smokeless powders for use in rifle cartridges. Cordite was also used for large weapons, such as [[tank gun]]s, [[artillery]], and naval guns. It has been used mainly for this purpose since the late 19th century by the UK and [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]] countries. Its use was further developed before [[World War II]], and as {{convert|2|and|3|in|mm|adj=mid|-diameter}} [[Unrotated Projectile]]s for launching [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft weapons]].<ref name="brown-chapter17">{{Harvnbharvnb|Brown|1999|loc=Chapter 17}}</ref> Small cordite rocket charges were also developed for [[Ejectionejector seat|ejector seats]]s made by the [[Martin-Baker|Martin-Baker Company]]. Cordite was also used in the detonation system of the [[Little Boy]] atomic bomb [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|dropped over Hiroshima]] in August 1945.<ref>Coster-Mullen, John (2012). ''Atom Bombs: The Top Secret Inside Story of Little Boy and Fat Man''. Waukesha, WisconsinWI: J. Coster-Mullen. OCLC 298514167.</ref>

The term "cordite" generally disappeared from official publications between the wars. During World War II, [[Double-baseSmokeless propellantpowder#Chemical formulations|double-base]] propellants were very widely used, and there was some use of triple-base propellants by artillery. Triple-base propellants were used in post-war ammunition designs and remain in production for UK weapons; most double-base propellants left service as World War II stocks were expended after the war. For small arms it has been replaced by other propellants, such as the [[Improved Military Rifle (IMR)]] line of extruded powder or the WC844 [[ball propellant]] currently in use in the [[5.56×45mm NATO]].<ref name="The Great Propellant Controversy">{{citation |last=Watters |first=Daniel |title=The Great Propellant Controversy |url=http://www.thegunzone.com/556prop.html |url-status=dead |work=The Gun Zone |access-date=30 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722235300/http://www.thegunzone.com/556prop.html |archive-date=22 July 2013}}</ref> Production ceased in the United Kingdom around the end of the 20th century, with the closure of the last of the World War II cordite factories, [[ROF Bishopton]]. Triple-base propellant for UK service (for example, the [[L118 light gun|105&nbsp;mm L118 Light Gun]]) is now manufactured in Germany.

[[Gunpowder]], an explosive mixture of [[sulfur]], [[charcoal]] and [[potassium nitrate]] (also known as [[saltpeter]]), was the original propellant employed in [[firearm]]s and [[fireworks]]. It was used from about the 10th or 11th century onward, but it had disadvantages, including the large quantityamount of smoke it produced. With the 19th-century development of various "nitro explosives", based on the reaction of [[nitric acid]] mixtures on materials such as [[cellulose]] and [[glycerin]], a search began for a replacement for gunpowder.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer C. |author-link=Spencer C. Tucker |title=Almanac of American Military History |date=2013 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, CA |isbn=9781598845303 |page=1170}}</ref>

The first smokeless powder was developed in 1865 by [[Johann Edward Schultze]]. At the time of this breakthrough, Schultze was a captain of Prussian artillery. Schultze eventually rose to the rank of colonel. His formulation (dubbed ''Schultze Powder'') was composed of [[nitrolignose]] derived from nitrated wood grains, impregnated with [[saltpetre]] or [[barium nitrate]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Schultz White Gunpowder |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-schultz-white-gunpowder/ |access-date=17 April 2022 |website=Scientific American|date=22 May 1869}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Schultze powder – Big Chemical Encyclopedia |url=https://chempedia.info/info/schultze_powder/ |access-date=17 April 2022 |website=chempedia.info}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=No text – Big Chemical Encyclopedia |url=https://chempedia.info/page/211093075100072185201130029045085251003094141219/ |access-date=17 April 2022 |website=chempedia.info}}</ref>

In 1882, the [[Explosive Company of Stowmarket]] introduced ''EC Powder'', which contained nitro-cotton and nitrates of potassium and barium in a grain gelatinised by ether alcohol. It had coarser grains than other nitrocellulose powders. It proved unsuitable for rifles, but it remained in long use for shotguns<ref name="artillery">Hogg OFG, 'Artillery: Its Origin, Heyday and Decline', Hurst & Company, London, 1989</ref> and was later used for grenades and fragmentation bombs.<ref>http://www.aeragon.com/o/me/ni.html#ecpowder {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126001449/https://www.aeragon.com/military-technology-transfer/1865-1914/nitrocellulose-smokeless-powder.html#ecpowder |date=26 November 2022}} Aeragon Site Index > Ordnance > Military Explosives > Nitrocellulose > EC Powder</ref>

Abel, Sir [[James Dewar]] and W Kellner, who was also on the committee, developed and jointly patented (Nos 5,614 and 11,664 in the names of Abel and Dewar) in 1889 a new ballistite-like propellant consistingin 1889. It consists of (by weight) 58% [[nitroglycerin]], 37% [[guncotton]] (nitrocellulose) and 5% [[petroleum jelly]]. Using [[acetone]] as a [[solvent]], it was extruded as [[spaghetti]]-like rods initially called "cord powder" or "the Committee's modification of Ballistite", but this was swiftly abbreviated to "Cordite".{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Cordite began as a ''double-base'' propellant. In the 1930s, ''triple-base'' was developed by including a substantial proportion of [[nitroguanidine]]. Triple-base propellant reduced the disadvantages of double-base propellant – its relatively high temperature and significant flash. [[Imperial Chemical Industries]]'s (ICI) World War 2II double-base ''AN'' formulation also had a much lower temperature, but it lacked the flash reduction properties of N and NQ triple-base propellants.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Alfred Nobel sued Abel and Dewar over an alleged [[patent]] infringement. His patent specified that the nitrocellulose should be "of the well-known soluble kind". After losing the case, it went to the [[Court of Appeal of England and Wales|Court of Appeal]]. This dispute eventually reached the [[House of Lords]], in 1895, but it was finally lost because the words "of the well-known soluble kind" in his patent were taken to mean the soluble collodion, and hence specifically excluded the insoluble guncotton.<ref name="life of nobel-7">{{Harvnb|Schuck|Sohlman|1929|pages=136–144}}</ref> The ambiguous phrase was "soluble nitro-cellulose": soluble nitro-cellulose was known as ''Collodion'' and was soluble in [[ethanol|alcohol]]. It was employed mainly for medical and [[photograph]]ic use. In contrast, insoluble in alcohol, nitrocellulose was known as ''gun cotton'' and was used as an explosive.<ref name="life of nobel-7"/><ref name="life of nobel-I">{{Harvnb|Schuck|Sohlman|1929|loc=Appendix I: ''Alfred Nobel's English lawsuit. Mr justice Romer's judgment in the "Cordite Case"''}}</ref> Nobel's patent refers to the production of [[Celluloid]] using [[camphor]] and soluble nitrocellulose; and this was taken to imply that Nobel was specifically distinguishing between the use of soluble and insoluble nitrocellulose.<ref name="life of nobel-I"/> For a forensic analysis of the case, see The History of Explosives Vol II; The Case for Cordite, John Williams (2014). However, in her comprehensive 2019 biography of Alfred Nobel<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Carlberg |first1=Ingrid |title=Nobel: Den gåtfulle Alfred, hans värld och hans pris |year=2019 |publisher=Norstedts |place=Stockholm |language=sv|isbn=978-91-1-306939-5 }}</ref> [[Ingrid Carlberg]] notes how closely Abel and Dewar were allowed to follow Nobel's work in Paris, and how disappointed Nobel was with how this trust was betrayed. The book argues for Nobel as the original inventor and that the case was lost because of an unimportant technicality.

During World War I, acetone was in short supply in Great Britain, and a new experimental form was developed for use by the [[Royal Navy]].<ref name=ministry>Ministry of Munitions of War</ref> This was ''Cordite RDB'' (= ''R''esearch ''D''epartment formula ''B''); which was 52% [[collodion]], 42% [[nitroglycerin]] and 6% [[petroleum jelly]]. It was produced at [[HM Factory, Gretna]];<ref name=ministry/> and the [[Royal Navy Cordite Factory, Holton Heath]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Research on solvent-free Cordite RDB technologically extremely similar to ballistite continued primarily on the addition of stabilizers, which was based on German RP C/12 propellant featuring significant amounts of [[centralite]] (Called "carbamite" in British parlance) and led to the type commonly used in [[World War II]] as the main naval propellant. In Great Britain this was known as ''Cordite SC'' (= Solventless Cordite), and it required production facilities separate from classical cordite.

Cordite SC was produced in different shapes and sizes, so the particular [[geometry]] of Cordite SC was indicated by the use of letters or numbers, or both, after the SC. For example, SC followed by a number was rod-shaped cord, with the number representing the diameter in [[Thou (unit of length)|thou]]sandths of an inch. "SC T" followed by two sets of numbers indicated tubular propellant, with the numbers representing the two diameters in thousandths.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

In Great Britain, cordite was developed for military use at the [[Royal Arsenal]] by Abel, Dewar and Kellner, [[Woolwich]],<ref name = zukas>Zukas (2002)</ref> and produced at the [[Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills]] from 1889 onwards.<ref name = hogg>Hogg (1970)</ref>

At the start of World War I, cordite was in production at [[Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills]] and by seven other suppliers (British Explosives Syndicate Ltd, Chilworth Gunpowder Company Ltd, Cotton Powder Company Ltd, Messrs Curtis's and Harvey Ltd, National Explosives Company Ltd, New Explosives Company Ltd and Nobels Explosive Company Ltd).<ref name = "ministry of munitions">Ministry of Munitions (1922)</ref> Existing factories were expanded and new ones built, notably by Nobel's at Ardeer, [[HM Factory, Gretna]], which straddled the [[Scotland]]-[[England]] border at [[Gretna, Scotland|Gretna]], and the [[Royal Navy Cordite Factory, Holton Heath]]. A factory was also established by the Indian Government at Nilgris. Both the Gretna and the Holton Heath cordite factories closed at the end of World War I.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

By the start of World War II, Holton Heath had reopened, and an additional factory for the Royal Navy, The [[Royal Navy Propellant Factory, Caerwent]], opened at [[Caerwent]] in [[Wales]]. A very large [[Royal Ordnance Factory]], ROF Bishopton, was opened in Scotland to manufacture cordite for the British Army and the Royal Air Force. A new cordite factory at Waltham Abbey and two additional ROF's—[[ROF Ranskill]] and [[ROF Wrexham]]—were also opened. Cordite produced in these factories was sent to [[filling factories]] for filling into ammunition.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

[[File:Bird’s-eye view of a portion of Canadian Explosives Ltd., Nobel, Ontario - Vue à vol d’oiseau d’une partie de l’entreprise Canadian Explosives Ltd., Nobel (Ontario) (39057463364).jpg|thumb|right|Bird’sBird's-eye view of a portion of Canadian Explosives Ltd., Nobel, Ontario]]

===Pre–WorldPre-World War I===

* {{cite book |last=Rotter |first=Andrew J. |year=2008 |title=Hiroshima: The World's Bomb |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-280437-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/hiroshimaworldsb00rott_0 }}

* {{cite book |last1=Zukas |first1=John A. |last2=Walters |first2=William P. |year=2002 |title=Explosives, Effects and Applications |publisher=Springer}}

* [http://nigelef.tripod.com/ammo.htm#PROPELLANT AMMUNITIONAmmunition]