ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake
Didn't they wear some kind a protective gear? Were there no embers when they opened the breech after firing? Could be the combustion was total I suppose.
While we're at it, how about some friggin' ear protection?
Also, that gunner needs to get back in line for seconds when they are serving Sh** on a shingle.
Probably they aren't actually involved in firing the gun right now. If they were, that guy (at least the one in my photo) is going to have a blister down the length of his forearm (in contact with the breech block). They guys in the
Arkansas photo don't seem to be wearing anything special, though.
I have read that anti-flash gear was actually not standard in US ships until after the Falklands war and they analyzed what happened there. I have never been able to verify if this is correct, or if it was voluntarily used by some ships or crew members. It was standard on Commonwealth ships back in WW2.