- mike_DuplessisMaybe someone here can help. I'm getting all kinds of conflicting information.
Back in the old Crow & Icks days it was often repeated that the M10 TD mounted an old naval 3" gun design. After several years the tide turned and the navy origins of the weapon came into disrepute. No less a figure than Phil Dyer wrote to chide me when I included the 3" gun-navy link in an old AFV News article. And on this forum members brought out the fact that the navy 3" gun and M10 3" gun have different length chambers for different shaped shell casings.
BUT, also on this board someone mentioned an anecdote about M10 TDs after Normandy using clandestinely obtained 3" navy star shells in the direct fire role! And a book I'm now reading on the TD force states outright that the M10 got the 3" gun because the U.S. submarine force was transitioning from its old 3" to 4" deck guns. And I must admit a navy 3" gun I spotted on gate guardian display really really did look like the M10 TD's weapon.
So, what gives? Is the old Crow & Icks era M10 = navy gun idea coming back? Anyone care to venture an opinion about the differencs in chambering?
I remember a discussion a while back about the Marines on one of the Pacific Islands running into a shortage of either M4 75mm ammo or 75mm Pack Howitzer ammo and repackaging projectiles and charges from one into brass form the other. I think Oscar Gilbert or Ken Estes was the source- C_ShermanHi all,
It may have been on another topic altogether, but I recall a similar discussion on the old board. My memory is of a discussion regarding the 75mm or 76mm ammunition for the M4 tank (maybe the Firefly version?). The expert consensus was that the tankers took the projectiles from the Navy and put them into cartridge cases that fit the tank's gun.
Perhaps a similar situation resulted in star shells for the 3" TD guns?
C
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