NOEN 20 MM MK4 from WW2

D

DJC6518

New member
Hello,
My Grandfather was a foreman in a factory located in Kentucky that made these rounds. When the Millionth shell rolled off the assembly line the factory presented it to my Grandfather as an award. It hung in his garage for many years on a plaque. I took off the tip, and there is nothing inside. Can someone tell me if this is live, or just a dummy round?
assembled.jpg

botttom.jpg

Inside.jpg
 
Last edited:
The round appears to have a live (unfired) primer. 20mm shells had an explosive charge in the bullet (unless they were training or dummy rounds). There seems to be no powder in the case, and if it was a presentation by the factory, I doubt there is, or ever was, any explosive inside the bullet.

Do not, however take my best guess as absolute proof.
 
What I was thinking. No powder, good; primer, not much risk.
Question is, what is the shell, does it contain fuze, charge, tracer?
We wouldn't hand out a souvenir with any "energetic material" now, but in 1944, who knows.
 
I find it to be kind of doubtful that your Grandfather would have been given a fully live shell.

That said, anything is possible.

I'd be very careful with it.


The third picture... what is that? The interior of the projectile?
 
As a brief example of Bamaranger's comment. The USS North Carolina, selected as an example of completion just before WW2 commissioned 9 Apr 1941 had 0 20mm as designed.
In 1942 it had 46 20mm Oerlikons added. 1944 2 more added. Apr 1945 added another 8.

In one engagement in the Eastern Solomon Islands about 7,425 rounds of 20mm were fired which I find interesting compared with 8,641 for .50 machine gun (https://www.worldwar2facts.org/uss-north-carolina-bb-55.html)
 
But then there was a program of replacing the old 1.1" Pom Poms and a number of the 20mms with 40mm Bofors guns. I think they replaced a lot of the .50s with 20s.
 
Jim Watson said:
But then there was a program of replacing the old 1.1" Pom Poms and a number of the 20mms with 40mm Bofors guns. I think they replaced a lot of the .50s with 20s.
Click to expand...
The 1942 refit included 40 of the Bofors 40mm in addition to the 20mm.

At the end of the war the 20mm had been reduced to a paltry 36 guns.
 
AAA

Bit off track, but by wars end in the Pacific, some Fletcher (?) class destroyers had deleted a torpedo rack amidships and replaced it with quad-Bofors 40mm. On the battleship USSAlabama down in Mobile, there is (was?) displayed a memo written by an officer discussing this very modification to Pacific warships to combat the kamikaze threat. The destroyer USS Kidd down in Baton Rouge, LA, has such modification performed..

I have in my collection of trinkets a presentation 20mm Orlikon round given to my grandfather by one of his brothers in that era. Unfortunately it is unclear if said relative was in Navy service, or was in the war industry.

My late father-in-law, was enlisted on the USS Intrepid and among other likely duties, was a 20mm assistant gunner. He was washed overboard in Tokyo Bay and fortunately, caught a line. Deaf as a post in his later years, the Orlikons the primary contributor I would bet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top