Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in Britain since 1889 to replace black powder as a military firearm propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burning rates and consequently low brisance.

Jan 6, 2025 · The British Navy at last had a satisfactory stable Cordite, its performance in accelerated corrosion tests far surpassing that of Cordite MC, but a cooler propellant was desirable and SC also gave a bright muzzle flash in most guns.

The actual charges used to fire the guns were cordite (Colloidal-propellant) and in British use consisted of a blend of nitrocellulose and nitro-glycerin with stabilizing additives. During WW1 we seemed to have used vaseline as a plasticiser (C15-C20 normal paraffins), which has the distinct disadvantage of being quite temperature sensitive.

Mar 16, 2015 · Cordite, the propellant that once hurled British bullets and shells, is notoriously unstable and less than six months later there was a second explosion on ocean liner Princess Irene built at Dumbarton in 1914 for Canadian Pacific Railways.

Cordite is a member of a family of gaseous chemicals used to make smokeless explosives for the military. From the late 19th century it replaced black gunpowder as the main propellant for firearms and artillery, and during the First World War huge quantities of it were needed.

During World War One, Gretna was the site of the Britain’s largest cordite factory. Women workers came from all over the UK to help make “Devil’s Porridge”, a mixture of gun cotton and nitro-glycerine that was used to produce cordite as a shell propellant.

The manufacture of Cordite from its component materials was essentially that of combining a fairly stiff paste (nitrocellulose) with an oily liquid (nitroglycerine) and converting the resultant material into the appropriate form.

Jul 28, 2014 · Cordite was a solid propellant used in various grades by the Royal Navy from 1889, replacing brown powder propellant. It has received a somewhat poor reputation, being widely held responsible for the loss of a number of warships owing to catastrophic magazine explosions.

The Royal Naval Cordite Factory (RNCF) was built between Poole and Wareham during the First World War to make Cordite, which is classed as a propellant, not an explosive. In 1914 Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, decided that the Royal Navy needed its own plant to produce high quality material.

Cordite. Cordite was made by mixing guncotton or nitrocellulose with nitroglycerine. The resulting solid was rolled and cut to fit hydraulic presses. The extruded cordite would then be cut to the required length. During World War I, Cordite MD was manufactured and consisted of 30% NG, 65% GC and 5% mineral jelly.