WW2Talk

6" (152mm) and 5" (127mm) shell casings litter the forward deck of the Cleveland class light cruiser USS Miami (CL-89) on 7 September 1944. Miami was bombarding Peleliu, and this photo was taken during a pause in the bombardment. Two bits of interesting trivia with this photo: How were the shell casings ejected? For both the 6" and 5" guns on the Cleveland class, the shell casings were ejected through ports at the rear of the turret/mount. These empty cases could actually be tossed for quite a distance, posing a risk for any crew who happened to be on deck under the guns. On certain warships, this often meant erecting netting over positions where the crew would be stationed. The netting erected over the 20mm positions in the photo is there to catch any ejected brass casings. What happened to all of the spent brass? This is a very common question that I am asked quite often. The short answer is it depends. In the Atlantic, United States warships were expected to collect the brass afterwards for reuse. In the Pacific, the Brass was to be collected if practical. If it was not practical, the brass was to be tossed overboard. This policy was due to warships in the Atlantic typically being in closer proximity to ports where the brass could be turned in. In the Pacific, warships would be operating far away from port, often for extended periods. It would make less sense to collect and hold onto the brass for any length of time, especially when ships were typically expending more spent brass than they could store.