Original Item. Only One Available. This is an enormous and scarcely seen Japanese naval artillery shell projectile for the 10 cm/65 Type 98 naval gun. This is the first example we have had to offer. As deactivated ordnance it is NOT AVAILABLE FOR EXPORT.

The projectile has length of about 16”, a diameter of 10cm, and a weight of 14.55 kilograms. The projectile has markings both on the brass band and on the bottom. The brass band has several naval anchor insignia, with ACD written next to one. There was many markings below this but have since been X’d out by the Japanese military. The markings on the bottom of the projectile are difficult to read, but you can make out a lot number, 287.

The 10 cm/65 Type 98 naval gun (六五口径九八式一〇糎高角砲), also known as the long 10cm high-angle gun (長10センチ高角砲), was a light caliber naval gun of the Imperial Japanese Navy used during World War II, employed on the aircraft carrier Taihō, the light cruiser Ōyodo, and Akizuki-class destroyers.

The 100 mm (3.9 in) L/65 caliber Type 98 gun utilized a horizontal sliding breech, in addition to either monobloc (made from a single forging) or replaceable liner construction of the barrel. The gun featured a spring-powered rammer that was cocked by means of the recoil of the gun being fired; this allowed the rammer to load the gun at any elevation.

116 guns went to ship based mounts: 12 for Taiho and 8 each on Oyodo and the 12 Akizuki-class destroyers. A shortcoming of the gun was that it had a service life of only 350-400 full charges, due to its high muzzle velocity.

This is a very rare piece that doesn’t show up often. Don’t miss it!