ITALIAN AND FRENCH EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCE |
Chapter 4 |
ITALIAN PROJECTILE FUZES |
Introduction |
Nose Percussion Fuzes (Field Equipment) |
These are known as "spoletta percussione" by the Italians. The fuzes were the most widely used in the Italian projectiles. Many of the fuze types are unmarked and, as a re-sult, identification is often difficult. |
The fuzes vary slightly in design, but all are quite simple in operation. One type has no arming operation and functions in impact. The others use set-back or centrifugal force as part of the arming operation. The following abbreviations may be encountered in nomen-clature of these fuzes: |
I | Instantaneous |
p.c. | For small caliber |
m.c. | For medium caliber |
g.c. | For large caliber |
m.c.e.g.c. | For medium and large caliber |
Nose Percussion Fuzes (Naval and Coastal Defense) |
These fuzes are similar in design to the fuzes for field equipment, but differ in nomencla-ture: |
O.K. 2S | Krupp nose fuze with 2 safety devices |
O.K.Bo.Sc | Krupp nose fuze with clockwork safety devices |
O.Bo. | Nose fuze with clockwork |
Time Fuzes (Field Equipement) |
Time fuzes are of two types: |
A tempo | combustion type |
Meccanica a tempo | mechanical type |
Time Fuze (Naval and Coastal Defense) |
O.T. | Nose Time Combustion |
O.M.T. | Nose Mechanical Time |
Time and Percussion Fuze (A.D.E.) |
The fuzes are very similar to the time fuzes, but have a percussion feature incorporated in them. |