ORION'S GREAT GUNS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14835, 11 November 1911, Page 2 (Supplement)

ORION'S GREAT GUNS.

TEST OF MONSTER WEAPONS SUCCESSFUL.

The gun trials of the tremendously powerful H.M.S. Orion, the new super-Dread-nought, seem to have been more successful from the Admiralty standpoint than from that of the man in the Portsmouth, street. Windows 12 miles away gave'testimony to the shock the din penetrated 20 miles inland, and the ship herself did not escape scot free of damage. The Orion is the first ship to be equipped with the 13.5 in guns, and the news that the hull had withstood the shock of the firing of the broadside caused great elation in Whitehall. The fact that every member of the ship's company on deck at the time of the firing had to have his ears padded, that almost everything breakable and left unattended to on the vessel was smashed, and that the bottom of one of the boats foil • clean out does not cause dismay in,' official quarters. _ "An entire broadside La only fired once in a lifetime," that is the general view token. The firing took place off Ovvers Lightship, to the south of Selsoy Bill. All the 10 big guns are, for the first timo in a Dreadnought, placed on the centre line, to secure a full broadside fire, and even the inner guns have an angle of fire of HOdcg. First with half charges, and then with full charges of common and armour-piercing shell each gun was fired singly, and the mountings, which are nearly half as heavy again' as those of .the 12in ordnanoe, developed no defects. The supreme test, however, was the firing of all 10 big guns on the beam with full charges. The seamen and marine gunners and every person on deck or tho upper works had their ears covered in with wool-padded leather flaps. Tho

Guns Were Fired Simultaneously. by pressing a trigger of a new patent appliance connected with the range-finders, and operated from a fire-control station at the .apex of the solitary tripod mast and in electrical connection with each gun. The 13.5 in gun fires a shell of 12501b— an enormous increase upon the 8501b of tho 12in gun—and the force of the discharge would be sufficient to drive the shell, fit the maximum elevation, from Dover to Calais. Below dock all loose crockery and pieces of lighter furniture had been stowed away, and they rattled ominously in their places, and dozens of plates, cups, saucers, etc., were smashed by the fore© of the concussion, which was even sufficient to burst open tins of golden syrup in the canteen. Th© hull itself withstood the shock well, and showed no signs of damage. The thick glass of dozens of skylights and portholes was, howeve?, splintered or fractured, though the skylights were protected by armoured plates fastened down tightly with butterfly screws. The most amazing damage of all was that, under the force of the concussion, chiefly from the central barbette, the bottom of a boat fell clean out. .The force of the concussion was so tremendous that the. windows of th© houses at Southsea, ov«r 12 miles distant as the crow flies, were heavily shaken in their frames. Th© Orion has come through all her trials with flying colours, for on her full-power steam trials she maintained for eight hours nearly 22 knots, or nearlv a knot over the designed speed. She "has now displaced an older Dreadnought in the First Battle Division of tho Home Fleet.