General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Re: What is this horizontal pipe?
Posted by:
Hansel
()
Date: April 20, 2011 07:08AM
U683 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello all,
> In my opinion it would seem the placement of the
> pipe happens to be the most logical place to put
> the gun cleaning kits. Although I still think its
> very possible extra gun barrels might be stored
> there as well.
My guess would be that you'd find both spare barrels and cleaning kits in there, and possibly other spare parts as well.
As I'm sure we all know, saltwater is very corrosive. I assume the outside of the barrels were either blued, phosphated (Or "Parkerized"), painted, or treated with paint over the bluing or phosphate. However, these coatings simply CAN'T be used on the inside of the barrels! As no WW2 German weapons that I know of had chrome lined bores, I've got to assume that the U-boat Flaks didn't have it either, which means that without a good coat of oil on the inside of the barrels, they'd rust out pretty quick. Furthermore, essentially all WW2 ammunition (The only exception being M1 carbine ammunition) was primed with primers that produce corrosive salts, so if the weapons weren't cleaned shortly after firing, the barrels would pit and rust rapidly.
So, obviously, keeping the weapons in good shape so that they'd be accurate and reliable must have took quite a bit of work...
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello all,
> In my opinion it would seem the placement of the
> pipe happens to be the most logical place to put
> the gun cleaning kits. Although I still think its
> very possible extra gun barrels might be stored
> there as well.
My guess would be that you'd find both spare barrels and cleaning kits in there, and possibly other spare parts as well.
As I'm sure we all know, saltwater is very corrosive. I assume the outside of the barrels were either blued, phosphated (Or "Parkerized"), painted, or treated with paint over the bluing or phosphate. However, these coatings simply CAN'T be used on the inside of the barrels! As no WW2 German weapons that I know of had chrome lined bores, I've got to assume that the U-boat Flaks didn't have it either, which means that without a good coat of oil on the inside of the barrels, they'd rust out pretty quick. Furthermore, essentially all WW2 ammunition (The only exception being M1 carbine ammunition) was primed with primers that produce corrosive salts, so if the weapons weren't cleaned shortly after firing, the barrels would pit and rust rapidly.
So, obviously, keeping the weapons in good shape so that they'd be accurate and reliable must have took quite a bit of work...
