Did some "Googleing" and yes it does burn hotter than the modern powders and it also presented a serious explosion risk to navy ships that used this stuff for their cannons, since Cordite will burn, and explode if confined, when wet (ie underwater). I'd imagine that if a ship were torpedoed, it would still require a portion of the cordite to be above the water level for a a fire (from fuel?) to ignite it initially.