This is a USN 3-pounder rapid-fire gun cartridge case which had been cut down and loaded with a blank charge. It is about 2.5” diameter and about 11" long. The battery of four 3-pounder salute Guns that fired this blank charge is still guarding the main gate of the Washington Navy Yard. Engraved on the side of the brass case is: “One of the shells fired in giving a naval salute to King George VI of Great Britain at the Washington Navy Yard June 9, 1939 Only naval salute ever given a king by United States Navy"

(Artifact from private collection, Beltsville, MD)