Stability and Safety
The earliest "Poudre B" tended to eventually become unstable, which has been attributed to evaporation of the volatile solvents, but may also have been due to the difficulty in fully removing the acids used to make guncotton. In the early years of their use both the original Poudre B and guncotton led to accidents. For example, two French battleships, the Iéna and the Liberté, blew up in Toulon harbour in 1907 and 1911 respectively with heavy loss of life. By the end of the 1890s, safer smokeless powders had been developed, including improved and stabilized versions of "Poudre B" (e.g. Poudres BN3F and BPF1), ballistite and cordite. The guncotton problem is not completely solved even today, as an occasional batch of smokeless powder will still deteriorate, although this is extremely rare.
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