shell is carefully positioned into the projectile elevator of the French battleship Bretagne in 1916.
The Bretagne-class battleships were equipped with 10 powerful 340mm/45 Modèle 1912 naval guns. These massive guns fired the 340 OPf Mle 1912 perforating shell, which weighed a formidable 540 kg and contained 21.7 kg of highly volatile Melinite.
The propellant charge, packed into bags, weighed 155 kg of powder, propelling the shell to a range of up to 14,500 metres with a maximum elevation of 12 degrees.
Under optimal conditions, the guns could execute a full firing cycle every 35 seconds. However, if the critical ammunition or propellant charge elevators failed—mechanical faults not uncommon in the heat of battle—the rate of fire would plummet to a dismal one round every 7 minutes, severely limiting the ship's combat effectiveness.
"These things must be done delicately-- or you hurt the spell." - The Wicked Witch of the West.
"We've got the torpedo damage temporarily shored up, the fires out and soon will have the ship back on an even keel. But I would suggest, sir, that if you have to take any more torpedoes, you take 'em on the starboard side." Pops Healy, DCA USS Lexington.
