THE NEWEST GUN.

Colonist, Volume LIII, Issue 13052, 11 March 1911, Page 4

THE NEWEST GUN.

The Socialist newspaper <'Vorwaerts'1 states that an ' automatic quick-hnng cannon has been designed and constructed for use in the German iNavy. There is nothing .new ip th Q principle of the weapon, which "is really an enlarged Maxim, but the adaptation of the automatic mechanism to a gun of large B ize had been thought impossible, owing to the anormous amount of heat generated »y even half-a-dozen shots following one another in rapid succession, The German experts, it seoms. have not' yet succeeded in solving the problem entirely, by they have been experimenting with a 3-inch or 4-inch gun fed by a bandolier strung with large cartridges and actuated' by the recoil The "Vorwacrts" says that a "torpedo repeller" of this description has been introduced into the navy and has justified itself as far. as the mechanism is concerned, but it cannot be. kept cool. The barrel becomes so. hot in a few seconds when firing is started that there is a danger of explosion. This trouble has been overcome* to some extent by the "use of water-jackets and sprays. A r eeen| report §l'ggegtg that a th'flrgughjy -patisfaptory inethof}' of cooling suitable for use even with fieM artillery, lias been evolved at the Krupp works in Essen. Part of the force of the recoil is used to send a jet of water through the barrel after each shot, and tho necessary apparatus adds only twelve per cent, to the weight of the gun and carriage. The newspaper adds that under ordinary circumstances such a gun would only waste ammunition, but it will prove invaluable for repelling an attack by torpedo-boats or cavalry. No doubt the German .experiments are foejng watehef] with tltfse attention by the other Powers, which will be quick to adopt for tlieir own use any successful davice.