RECENT PROGRESS IN NAVAL ARMAMENTS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7979, 9 December 1911, Page 6

RECENT PROGRESS IN NAVAL ARMAMENTS

Commander C. N. Robinson, in his review of armour and ordnance in the "Naval Annual/' lias very properly, says ‘‘Engineering," a vigorous protest against the tendency, , even in British papers, to. depreciate the quality of the .British guns or the system of manufacture. The depreciation is not justified, apart altogether from its policy, in view of foreign competition. Commander Robinson says the Germans have great confidence in their guns, but in addition to the proper pride in their own guns, it may bo remembered also .that there is a foreign market for war material, and it is no new thiug in. commercial rivalry to depreciate the wares of a competitor in the same line of business. It has been claimed that German guns are lighter, but, as has been pointed out rejieatedly in ‘■‘Engineering,” when high ballistics are obtained from a light.gun, a greater velocity of recoil is communicated to the gun, and this must be resisted. The mountings and the -ship's structure adj acent to the mountings must consequently bo made stronger, so that the saving in weight in the gun itself may ho more than absorbed in the additional- strength required. Moreover, the barbette may have to he increased in area, and, in view of the heavy armour of the walls, there is probably another increase, in weight. In fact, as Commander Robinson points out, the expedient is sometimes adopted in the ‘ British practice of making the guns even heavier than necessary at the breech end in order to bring the centre of grav. ity to the rear, and so effect a reduction in the diameter of the barbette armour, thereby saving more in . the. weight of the mounting than is added to the weight of the gun, in consequence of the increased diameter of the breech end. As regards the wire-wound versus solid-steel construction. Commander Robinson is quite satisfied of the efficiency of the former method. There seems at the moment a tendency towards increased bore. We.have adopted the 13.5-in; America the I-i-in; Germany is said to be contemplating the adoption of, the 13.95in. gun, and Japan the 11-m. gun. Other Powers will, no douot, follow. suit, because'of the greater destruction , power of the larger projectile.. Moreover, the heavier shell does not need such a high muzzle velocity per fooUton of striking energy-, so that there is less erosion in the bore. In this connection, it is interesting to note that the Chief - of the Bureau of Ordnance of the United States Navy-, Rear-Admiral N. E. Mason, states that, owing to erosion, the life of the larger guns is not more-than 100 to ISO rounds. There is no idea to increase " the range possible with the larger gun; Admiral Mason points out that at 10,000 yards nearly all of .a battleship is above the horizon, as_ seen- from the sights of a gun 2oft above the water. At the best no one would think of firing at a greater range than 12,000 yards. At 15,000 yards all, or nearly all, the actual hull of a ship drops below the horizontal level, leaving only the superstructure and upper works'visible. At 20,000 yards the strip of the upper works which would show above tbe horizon would be too narrow to be of any real value as a target. At 25,000 yards the whole of the battleship is below the horizon, except, perhaps, the top of the smoke stacks. In 'connection with . the torpedo-repelling armament there seems to be a remarkable difference of opinion. W.e have confined ourselves to the 4in gun. America had advanced from - the Sin to the Sin; Germany hhs adopted the 5.9 in behind armour and 3.4 in guns in the superstructure, and, it is reported, is contemplating an increase to 6.7 in, if not B.2in. The Japanese have a. secondary armament of Gin and 4-7 in, and so with other Rowers. The view is that, given sufficient stopping power in the projectile to repel attack by destroyers, rapidity of fire is of primary importance; but if destroyers increase in size and in the extent of the protection adopted in their design, we may have, adds “Engineering,” to move towards .a more powerful gun than the •tin breech-loader. -