Total weight: 11.0 pounds.

DESCRIPTION. This rocket is constructed of steel in four sections; Projectile body, pa-racontainer, cable container, and rocket motor. (See fig. 209.)

Projectile Body. The projectile body consists of a cylindrical container, internally thread-ed aft to receive the rocket motor and open at the forward end to receive the parachute container. The body of the projectile has a raised pressing near the center of its length to provide a forward bearing surface while in the projector.

Parachute Container. The parachute container is divided longitudinally into two halves held together by adhesive tape and is a sliding fit in the forward end of the body. The parachute measures 20 inches deep by 36 inches in diameter when open, and is made of yellow silk with a red stripe running down the center of each gore.

Cable Container. The cable container is loacted in the body just aft of the parachute container. The cable container is nothing more than a steel cylinder filled with 310 feet of steel wire. The forward end of the wire is attached to the parachute shrouds. Sepa-rating the cable container from the head of the motor is a perforated wooden distance piece, which is recessed to form a seating for an ejection charge and centrally bored to house a delay tube containing black powder.

Rocket Motor. The motor consists of a steel tube 1/8-inch thick, closed at its forward end, which is drilled centrally and threaded to receive the delay tube. The propellant grain is a single solid cylinder, and is primer at the base end with gunpowder. The motor is closed at the after end by a threaded venturi assembly drilled around the outer peri-phery to form 8 jets. A percussion cap is fitted in a central hole in the base of the ven-turi assembly.

OPERATION. Near the end of the burning period of the rocket motor, the delay tube is initiated by the heat of the burning propellant and eventually ignites the ejection charge at the base of the cable container. The explosion of this charge ejects the cable and pa-rachute containers from the forward end of the body and splits open the parachute con-tainer. The parachute opens and withdraws the coiled cable from its falling container.

REMARKS. (1). This round was originally designed to protect small naval vessels and merchant shipping from low-level attack, but it may have played a ground role as well. The ceiling of the rocket is estimated at about 8,000 feet.

Figure 209 – 8.6-cm Antiaircraft Rocket (Naval)