Segmented Shells

[Kelly408]

How common place were Confederate segmented shells? And did the Union army ever catch on?

 

[Ben Ford 987]

How common place were Confederate segmented shells? And did the Union army ever catch on?

Not common at all. Late war only and in limited number of battles. Mobile among them maybe?
Two different types of segments: "trapezoidal" - 4 sided diamond shape and pentagonal shape 5 sided.
I have frags of each type. The 4 sided ones are significantly thicker and heavier than the 5 sided (more than you would think)
Somewhere I have an intact unfired 12pdr shell. A Captain Mallett was the inventor or creator.

As far as I know the US never produced any.

That's all I can dredge up from my memory right now.

 

[Manassas 1861]

How common place were Confederate segmented shells? And did the Union army ever catch on?

What is a segmented shell?

 

[redbob]

What is a segmented shell?

Segmented Shells had lines of weakness cast into the carcass of the shell so that it would fragment into a certain number of pieces where an ordinary shell might only fragment into a couple of pieces.

 

[Manassas 1861]

Segmented Shells had lines of weakness cast into the carcass of the shell so that it would fragment into a certain number of pieces where an ordinary shell might only fragment into a couple of pieces. View attachment 550615

Thats neat, thanks