Groups team up to reproduce WWII-era shells for museum ship (PHOTOS)

By Chris Eger

The USS Kidd has been working for the past four years to assemble 1,200 40mm Bofors shells for display. (Photo: Tim NesSmith/USS Kidd Veterans Museum)
A historic U.S. Navy destroyer is close to having a full set of ready “ammo” for the ship’s 40mm gun battery. The USS Kidd, a Fletcher-class destroyer that earned an impressive 12 battle stars during her Naval career, has been a museum ship in the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge since 1986.
The ship is unique in the respect that, although other WWII-era ships have survived, they were later modified — often greatly — from their original appearance, Kidd was left almost in the same condition as when she was helping to shoot down kamikazes. This has translated into the vessel recently being chosen by Tom Hanks as a set for his upcoming wartime destroyer drama “Greyhound.”
To help further restore the ship to her “correct” WWII look, the museum has been working since 2014 to build 1,200 replica 40mm shells to fill the ready service ammunition racks in the ship’s five 40mm gun tubs. The tubs, containing 14 Bofors cannons, were among the destroyer’s primary anti-aircraft defenses, with each capable of firing a 2-pound 40x311mm shell as

Source: Guns.com