NEW WAR INVENTION.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 15, Issue 38, 13 May 1904, Page 7

NEW WAR INVENTION.

DEADLY SHELLS AS)tOR:CHES

A new and important functi\on* has been added to the already deadly shell—visibility of its flight at night. By means of a torch/ attached to the base of the shell, it is possible to ! watch it throughout its entire course, and to see clearly tke exact point at which it strikes. With the automatic guns now fast coming into' general use and firing one-pounder shells at the rate of four shots second, a practically continuous stream of fire is thrown, which cani be directed like water from-a hose, without using the sights of the gun and without knowing the range. The illuminated shell was invented and developed by Mr. J. B\ Semple, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, who owns all the patents, and it has been' taken up for extensive tests by different Governments, including that of Br i tan. ■ In repelling the attacks of torpedo, boats, it is easy to . imagine how difficult is the work of the gunner when suddenly the searchlight of the-, battleship "picks up" an incoming torpedo-boat, whe*e t>ut a moment before the sea was bionk. There is* no time to find the range or elevate, the sights. The swiftly-moving des-' troyer must be hit, and hit hard, 'before it reaches the 800-yard mark, where it will discharge its first 18in. Whitehead. The time allowed the gunner in which to strike some vital part |is a little- over one minute. Behind ; him are the lives of 600 men, his y>wn life, a £1,000,000 batttleship, and the cause for which ha is fighting. In front is the desperate destroyer, certain of accomplishing its end un- j less stopped before it gets too close. The knowledge of the result if he fails, the short time, the suddenness with which he is called inio action,' all tend to make his work. extremely .| difficult. The combined attack of ; several destroyers at once would, under present conditions, prove al- j most impossible to rtosist. It is for 1 those emergencies, when accuracy and extreme rapidity of lire are demanded, that the illumanated shell' here described is expected to be most effective. Exhaustive tests have shown that by the aid of the new illuminated shell, field batteries can go into action at night without any previous knowledge of ',the range, and that it promotes the effectiveness of; fire from coast artillery by showing the exact trajectory of the shell, tho drift of the wind, and tho amount of "lead" necessary to strike a swift-ly-moving vessel at long range. Without the data gained by watching the flight of the first shell the corrections for the wind and the speed of a moving target would bo largely a matter of guess, and while the range can be correctly given and' the sights accurately set, it still requires uniform velocity of the shell for accurate work. The object of a fort or a battleship is to carry and protect the guns while the sole purpose of the gun is to hit. Any dovice therefore, which aids in increasing the number of hits in a given time cannot be too highly valued.