Technical Manual (TM 4-205) for Coast Artillery Ammunition Feb. 1940
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Technical Manual (TM 4-205) for Coast Artillery Ammunition
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This Technical Manual TM 4-205 covers Coast Artillery Ammunition and is dated February 1940. For collectors of U.S. Army technical manuals, coast artillery material, pre-World War II military publications, and historic ordnance references, this is an important period document tied to the ammunition used with America’s fixed harbor-defense artillery systems in the years just before the United States entered World War II.
Issued in 1940, this manual belongs to the final prewar era of the U.S. Coast Artillery Corps, when permanent seacoast defenses still played a major role in protecting major harbors, channels, and strategic coastal positions. Manuals like this were working references, intended to support the identification, understanding, and service use of ammunition for the heavy guns, mortars, and related weapons that formed the backbone of the nation’s coast-defense network.
Coast Artillery Ammunition
The subject of this manual places it squarely in the world of U.S. harbor defense and fixed seacoast artillery. Coast artillery ammunition was not the same as ordinary field artillery ammunition. It belonged to a specialized branch of Army ordnance associated with permanent fortifications, large-caliber guns, disappearing carriages, barbette mountings, railway artillery in some contexts, and coast-defense mortars.
By February 1940, the United States still maintained a substantial system of coast-defense installations, and ammunition for those systems remained a serious logistical and technical subject. That makes TM 4-205 especially useful for collectors and researchers interested in the ammunition side of coast artillery history, not just the guns and emplacements themselves.
For collectors, this manual is significant because it helps document the technical side of a branch of ordnance that was already nearing the end of its classic service era. Within only a few years, wartime changes in strategy, aviation, and naval warfare would begin to reduce the long-term importance of traditional fixed coastal gun systems. That gives this 1940 manual added historical value as a snapshot of U.S. Army coast artillery doctrine just before that shift.
What This Manual Covers
As a technical manual devoted to Coast Artillery Ammunition, TM 4-205 would have served as an official Army reference for the ammunition associated with coast-defense weapons.
In practical terms, a manual like this is especially relevant for:
- nomenclature and identification
- ammunition types and service context
- handling, storage, and issue reference
- technical and historical research
- archival use for coast artillery collections
- supporting displays of harbor-defense ordnance and equipment
That makes it useful not only as a collectible, but also as a practical reference for anyone studying U.S. coast artillery ammunition in the late interwar and early World War II period.
Historical Significance
The date February 1940 places this publication at a very important point in American military history. It sits in the last full year before the United States entered World War II, at a time when the Army still relied on the organizational framework and technical literature of the traditional Coast Artillery Corps. Manuals like this reflect the Army’s effort to maintain a standardized body of technical knowledge for the guns, emplacements, and ammunition that guarded the nation’s coastline.
For collectors and historians, this manual is especially relevant to subjects such as:
- U.S. Coast Artillery Corps
- harbor-defense ammunition
- pre-World War II Army ordnance
- fixed seacoast artillery systems
- dated military technical publications
Because it covers coast artillery ammunition rather than a single weapon or carriage, it also has broader appeal than many other manuals. It can complement collections focused on forts, seacoast guns, mortars, ammunition, and early twentieth-century U.S. Army ordnance doctrine.
About This Manual
This listing is for Technical Manual TM 4-205 for Coast Artillery Ammunition, dated February 1940.
It is especially well suited for:
- U.S. Army technical manual collections
- coast artillery and harbor-defense displays
- pre-World War II military paper collections
- museum exhibits on fixed seacoast defenses
- archive and research libraries focused on American ordnance history
Because manuals were working documents, surviving examples are valued not only for their content, but also for their connection to real military training, issue, and service practice.
Why This Manual Matters
Many military manuals focus on vehicles, small arms, or field artillery. This one documents a more specialized and historically important subject: the ammunition used by America’s coast-defense artillery system just before World War II. That makes it especially useful for collectors who want to preserve the broader technical and logistical picture of U.S. harbor defense rather than only the guns or fortifications themselves.
For collectors, it is a strong stand-alone prewar Army technical manual with clear historical value. For researchers, it offers a useful reference point for coast artillery ammunition terminology and service context. For museums, it helps explain the technical side of the fixed-defense systems that once guarded major American ports and coastal approaches.
Ideal For
This manual is a strong fit for:
- U.S. Army technical manual collections
- coast artillery and fortification displays
- harbor-defense and seacoast ordnance collections
- museum and archival reference libraries
- collectors of military paperwork and dated technical publications
Approx length 9", Approx width 6", Approx height .2", Approx weight .2lbs.
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