SCIENCE AND WAR.

Colonist, Volume LXII, Issue 15309, 24 February 1920, Page 2

SCIENCE AND WAR.

A CENTURY'S DEVELOPMENTS ON

LAND AND SEA

Among the valuable papers read before the Brtish Association were several wJiich dealt with recent developments in naval science. These were discussed by Sir Charles Parsons in his presidential address, and in the paper by Professor J. E. Petavel, president of the engineering section. Another instructive contribution was that of Commander A L. Gwynne, R.N., on submarine mines. Sir Charles Parsons gave some extraordinary figures to illustrate the multiplication of destructive energy in land and sea fighting since the Napoleonic wars. At the battle of Waterloo in 1815 the artillery fired 9,044 rounds, representing 37.3 tons of metal (cast iron). Compare this with a single day's expenditure in the last Allied offensive against the Germans in 1918, when the British guns alone fired 943,837 rounds, 'weighing 18,080 tons! In the whole of'the South African War 273,000 artillery rounds were fired, weighing about 2,800 tons; the corresponding figures for the Great War, on the Brtish front alone, were more than 170,000,000 rounds and 3,500,000 tons. Even these stupendous figures are surpassed by the power of modern naval ordnance. According to the published report Sir C. Parsons said that the Queen Elizabeth, when firing all her guns, discharged 18 tons of metal, and developed 1,870,000 foot-tons of energy. The published figures are obviously incorrect, for the Queen Elizabeth carries 8 loin guns, the projectile of which, is 1,9201b, and 16 Gin guns, firing 1001b projectiles, so that at a simultaneous discharge of-all guns the total weight of metal thrmyffirvs'duld be 16,8601b, or about Vi tons. -,Tlio author went oil to say that the ship is capable of repeating this discharge every one, minute, and when, doing so develops an average of 127,000 effective horse-power, or more than one «nd a-half times the horse-power of her propelling machinery. This energy is five times greater than the average maximum enery developed on the western front by British guns. Furthermore, if "Big " Lizzie" fired a.ll the guns together they could for the instant be developing enerv at the rate of 13,132,000 horse-power. What a pity that some of this energy cannot be collected and conserved and applied to propulsion or other use! Professor J. E. Petavel gave some statistics in regard to the British wartime output of artillery, machine guns, and aeroplanes. From begininng to end British industries produced 20,000 guns of all sizes, from the smallest built pieces to the largest howitzers. We are not told, however, whe+Jier this total includes deliveries of naval ord-

nance, which were very large. Between August, ]917, and November, 1918, we turned out 200,000 .machine guns—an amazing achievement in itself when we consider the complicated nature of the weapon. Towards the end of the war we were delivering aeroplanes at the prodigious rate of 1,000 per week. The "largest aeroplane of which quantities were built was the famous HandleyPage V.'1,500, which turned the scale at 11 tons, and had engines of 1,300 li.v. It is difficult to repress a sigh of regret when we .learn that just Uirce days before the armistice was signed -several of those planes stood fully equipped waiting to start- for Berlin with a load of bombs, including some weighing a ton. . As for the war-time development of air-craft for naval purposes, it is no longer a secret tliat the aeroplane, apart from its immense value as a scout and for gunnery observation, was beginning to make good as a torpedocarrier, for which work it has great j possibilities. After protracted experiments a type of machine was evolved, swift and.not too lieavy, which could transport an 18in torpedo at a speed of 80 miles per hpur, and launch it with remarkable accuracy at a hostile ship. Since the war ended further progress has been made- with this new weapon of offence, winch already promises to become a formidable rival to ■the submarine. As for the tornedo itself, it has been greatly improved during, the. war in power, speed, and range. Long befoi-e the armistice the range of tho. torpedo had become equnl to that of a (run at July, 1934, so" that it is not safe for ■a- battle fleet to fight an action at less than 10,000 yards, a :\t tlint time considered suitable to b*£rm rgun action. The necessity to nirlit «•* j •such long range enhances the vslne r\9 \ the aeroplane and dirigible ship for ■observation not only of gunfire, Hit to, filter--!- ih'; tracks cf torpedoes during an attack. !