Description
4"/50 Mark 10 Mod 1 Common Projectile – Unfired and Empty
Item Overview
This unfired, empty 4-inch/50 Mark 10 Mod 1 projectile is an inert U.S. Navy common-projectile body for collectors of naval ammunition and shipboard gun equipment. The design belongs to the ammunition family used with the Navy's 4-inch/50 guns, which served aboard destroyers, submarines, and other vessels. This example allows collectors to study the projectile body itself and build a display around a gun system with a history stretching from World War I into World War II.
Identification and Features
Mark 10 identifies the projectile design, while Mod 1 identifies its modification. These numbers belong to the ammunition component and are separate from the gun's own mark and modification. OP 1664 illustrates the Mark 10 Mods 1–3 family, which includes this model.
- Projectile designation: Mark 10 Mod 1.
- Projectile class: common.
- Nominal caliber: 4 inches, or 101.6 mm.
- Parent weapon: U.S. Navy 4-inch/50 gun.
- Configuration: unfired, empty projectile body.
- Base fuze and tracer: absent.
Period Design Details
The Navy's period table lists the Mark 10 family at 15.80 inches long, with a nominal loaded weight of 33 pounds and a rotating-band width of 1.33 inches. Its design has a closed nose, an internal charge cavity, and a fuze position at the rear. The band and forward bearing surface helped guide the projectile through the barrel. The 33-pound figure is for loaded service ammunition.
Function
Common projectiles were developed to engage lightly protected vessels and ship structures. Their steel bodies carried a bursting charge intended to act after impact. The service design used a black-powder and TNT filling, a Mark 10 Mod 4 base ignition fuze, and a tracer built into that fuze. The tracer helped crews observe the projectile's flight. The rotating band engaged the barrel's rifling and caused the projectile to spin, helping it remain stable in flight. These functions describe the original service design.
Documented Applications
OP 1664 specifically lists the Mark 10 common-projectile family for the 4-inch/50 gun. The Bureau of Ordnance's wartime history records that gun and its mounts aboard destroyers, submarines, auxiliary vessels, and merchant ships. Official photographs document installations on USS Little (DD-79), USS Ward (DD-139), and USS Flier (SS-250). These examples show how one naval gun family served several kinds of vessels. They document the parent weapon's applications without assigning this individual projectile to a particular ship.
Product History
The Navy listed the Mark 10 Mods 1–3 as obsolete in May 1947, while still documenting practice versions. These used inert filling with a plug or tracer. A later record appears in MIL-STD-444, dated February 6, 1959. That standard specifically names a Mark 10 Mod 1 BL&T 4-inch/50 cartridge with a Mark 6 Mod 1 tracer. Together, these references document the design's place in service ammunition and its continued presence in postwar practice-ammunition records.
Equipment History
The Navy's 1916 gun reference, revised in January 1918, describes the 4-inch/50 Mark 7, Mark 8, and Mark 9 guns. The early Mark 7 and Mark 8 used gun steel, while the Mark 9 used nickel steel. Later modifications introduced changes to liners and rifling as the Navy maintained the family. During World War II, Mark 12 mounts included dry types for surface ships and wet types adapted for submarines. The latter used corrosion-resistant parts and watertight covers. Wartime submarine-gun procurement eventually shifted toward the larger 5-inch/25 system.
Weapon-System Background
The designation 4-inch/50 describes a 4-inch bore and a barrel length measured in 50 bore diameters. This was a naval gun system using fixed ammunition, with the projectile and a propellant-filled cartridge case handled as one assembled round. The weapon worked with deck mounts, sights, ammunition storage, and crews trained to serve the gun. Navy references show several ammunition types for the family, including common, high-capacity, illuminating, and target rounds. That range supported surface engagements, illumination, and gunnery training within the same broad weapon system.
History of Use
The parent gun's documented history includes training at sea and wartime action. A 1918 photograph shows USS Little firing its port midships 4-inch/50 gun during target practice off France. On December 7, 1941, USS Ward attacked a Japanese midget submarine outside Pearl Harbor with its 4-inch guns before the main air raid. A later Navy photograph records Ward's No. 3 gun and crew. USS Flier was photographed with a 4-inch/50 deck gun at Mare Island on April 27, 1944. These records trace the weapon from World War I destroyer training to World War II surface and submarine use.
Condition
This projectile is unfired, empty, and inert. No base fuze or tracer is installed or included. The historical fuze, tracer, and loaded-weight details above describe period ammunition configurations, while this listing is for the empty projectile body.
Ideal For
This Mark 10 Mod 1 projectile suits collections focused on naval ammunition, shipboard artillery, and the equipment used to train gun crews. Its model designation also makes it useful for comparing Navy common-projectile designs.
- U.S. Navy ordnance collections
- Destroyer and submarine displays
- Naval projectile identification studies
- Gunnery-training history collections
Approx length 16", Approx width 4", Approx height 4", Approx weight 30lbs.
Pictures are stock images of our inventory. Unless otherwise noted, you will not be receiving the exact item shown in the pictures. The pictures are representative of the item’s general condition. The item you receive might be slightly better, or worse, condition than was shown in the pictures.
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