scottmi@ncar.UCAR.EDU (SCOTT MICHAEL C) (04/10/90)
From: boulder!boulder!scottmi@ncar.UCAR.EDU (SCOTT MICHAEL C) They stopped using black powder in large naval guns before the turn of the century. They've been using cordite ever since. The cordite propellant is the reason why magazine explosions in most ships produces very intense, bright, high (~1000 feet high during the explosion of HMS Hood) flames and voluminous clouds of brown smoke. Initially, the cordite manufacturers used vaseline as a solvent for the cordite, but the presence of the solvent actually destabilized the cordite to the point where slightly inadequate magazine refridgeration could cause spontaneous explosion of the cordite charges in the magazines. France lost the battleships Iena and Liberte in 1907 and 1911 to precisely this type of disaster. Sometime before World War One, the Germans developed solventless cordite, and other nations began to follow that lead after the war was over. --don't like snow, miss Deirdre, and wish I was still in Santa Cruz.