This 16 inch projectile is used by the U. S. Navy Battleships, a 16 inch naval gun. The projectile body is hollow one piece steel forging with a streamlined curve and a very thin metal rotating band usually filled with Explosive D (an explosive mixture that can withstand high heat and friction of the projectile passing through the long gun barrel).

The large-caliber guns were designed to fire either an armor-piercing projectile for anti-ship or a high-explosive projectile for use against unarmored targets and shore bombardment.

The yellow band designates the shell as a High Explosive round, with a Point Detonating (PD) Fuze. A black band designates: the shell is an anti-ship round, or Armor Piercing Round (AP). The AP rounds use a Base Detonating Fuzes (BD).

 A blue band designates the shell as a Practice Round, Used for training and has a spotting charge to indicate where the projectile had impacted

 The projectile is shipped to and stored at depot level with a nose protective cap Installed for safety purposes. 

With installation of the MT (Mechanical Time) fuze, the projectile is ready to fire utilizing the standard, 8 bag black powder propelling charge loaded behind the projectile, and a suitable cannon primer in the breechblock of the 16 in naval gun.  Below is a practice projectile with 6 powder bags, which can be reduced, depending on the range to the target.   A maximum charge consisted of six silk bags, each filed with 110 lb. of black powder. 

Tabulated Data:  

 Type --------------- HE : (Explosive D)

  Weight -------------1,880 lbs. 

 Length ------------- 65.6 in.

Cannon used with ---- Naval Rifle, 16-inch/50

Projectile:

Body material------- Forged steel

Maximum range ----- 36,576 meters (23 miles)

Muzzle velocity ---- 822.96 mps (2,700 fps)