BIG NAVAL GUNS

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 76, 31 March 1934, Page 5

BIG NAVAL GUNS

INCREASED RATE OF FIRING

.Remarkable developments in : naval gunnery which may lead to 'important modifications in' .warship design, and tactics are proceeding, writes Hector Bywater in the/London '.'Daily Telegraph." •'■. - x■'.':■. • . - ■ ' ■ , ~

Gormany is mounting in her "pocket battleships", a neTv^.type of llin . gun which is claimed to be equal to the British loin gun—representing the main armament'of all - except • two of our capital ships-—in ever y ; . respect, save weight of shell.

The German gun, built, of Krupp steel produced* by a-now * secret process, weighs only 38 tons. Tho mounting is of novel design, and renders possible a rate •of fire never previously attained with heavy naval ordnance. Only 15 seconds are needed to load tho gun. At the gunnery trials of the Deutsehland, tho .'first ppeket battleship to bo' commissioned,,each of the: two < -triple turrets achieved a maximum rate of 12 rounds in 65 seconds, so that the total volume. of: fire ■ from -the ship exceeded 20 rounds ■ a minute. As each shell weighs 6701b, the weight of. metal discharged per minute was six tons. In the United . States navy a new Bin gun is; being, installed in the later group of 10,000-ton cruisers. The mountingsi and ammunition hoists, worked by; electricity, embody- a new system of quick-loading which enables a round tojbe fired every X) seconds. As each tcruiser.is armed' with nine of these gins in triple turrets, the volume of 'fire is 5i 2501b shells per minute. i '

These . developments reflect the modern tendency to convert the heavy naval gun'into a quick-firer. Treaty restrictions ', aro impeding similar progress in the British Navy. The gunmountings in all except three of our capital ships are of prerwar pattern, and while the Bin armament of the County class cruisers is fairly up-to-date, it does.not incorporate tho latest Improvements in quick-loading gear.