Tampions
I was surprised in my readings on the U-Boat War how many times gun crews on U-boats were injured and/or killed from forgetting to remove the tampions from the muzzles of Deck Guns and AA guns during the course of the war.
So, yes both the Deck Guns and AA guns had muzzle stoppers (tampions), and yes, during the heat of action they were occasionally forgotten with predictably bad results. They were considered vital enough, however, to be used during the duration of the war.
An example: U 123 on one of her American patrols had their correspondent badly wounded when the 20mm barrel burst because the tampion had not been removed by the gunner.
David I
|