GERMAN GUNS AND ENGLISH SHIPS.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VIII, Issue 2227, 17 December 1875, Page 3

GERMAN GUNS AND ENGLISH SHIPS.

The military contributor of the Oologno Gazette, referring to.the trials which have .; taken place this summer on Herr Krupp's shooting -.ground at Visbeck, near j)ulmon, observes that it has now been proved that even ironclads of the class of i the ■ 1 Devastation' would be powerless to force, an- entrance into a harbor'guarded with, the new navy gun's worked by the German. navy. "The condition,- lie..'.preoeeds, "in;.which the target, an iron plate 16iu thick, was left after. 11 shots from the 26* centimetre coil gun and 'ten. from the new! 30|'Centimetre : :gun, shows\.that-any': further strengthening of th£ iron plates of armored ships-;would be: appears from-the 'photographs taken.'of .. the itarget after each shot that even when, the; firing was;; only half, bvpr'.the target •■ was;a mere wreck, so that a plate of 18iu or 20in would be equally incapable of; resisting the new guns as the one on whiob. '•'. the experiment .was made. These.trialshave also proved that there is no necessity' -; for increasingfthe. sizo.of ourgunej as, if, the system of simultaneous discharges by. : means of electricity were-applied to.th'o ;■, guns on our ironclads, ;m&\ ; twenty.-six centimetre guns. would be / sufficient to penetrate the strongest platesknown. Howfar the results, ot the trials will.have an influence pu naval construe-.; tion remains to, be seem -That in fighting ; atotoso quarters'^^a;broaQslOo~fi'igtt^oallufe- w, - , its guns simultaneously at one point must' ]■ produce a much more powerful offe.ot than. \( a turret-ship, whicli can only/fire two;, 7. guns at a time, is beyond doubt. .'The latter, however, ensures a more' accurate aim'at distant objects, and it is therefore " probable that a certain number of turret"'' -J, ships will continue to'bo usedinoUt iron*,':. clad fleet. The Bomnzeitung'njitht 7 the 26, centimetre Krupp, withachargo ' of 35 kilogrammes and;a.projectile of 175.. ; kilogrammes,-is now regarded, by'the 7 German Admirality as the best ship • andthat the larger calibre, of 28 and . ; centimetres, .will only be used for coast ! defences. As' to the ships'with 24iu plates, such as the : new English, turret ship 'Inflexible,' Herr Krupp has already , laid; before the German; Admirality plans .7 for the construction of guns with calibres. ; of 35.5 centimetres; 40 and ■; '46 centimetres, the latter, at a distance , of 2,ooopaces, shooting 24in > plate, and its teak- backing.- Another powerful gun which is to be used.both pa. ; board ship and for ooast defences'is the 28-centimeire howitzer.. This gun is eharged with 20 kilogrammes of prismatio; \ powder, and its projectile weighs 192 kilo- V grammes... Its range, at.an-olevation'of;' .52 degrees is • 5,800. metres, and at 60 ,- degrees 6,300 netres; and if it be raised ; ;7 to an angle of.»'o degrees,a projectile fired,'.;', from it will penetrate' to; a depth'of 3 ''< metres, when falling on a ship's ■■ deck, v The Borsenzeitung adds that the oora«v petition which has existed-between English and the German guns since 1868 \ may now be regarded as'definitely closed ; in favor of the latter;'"The'English ' guns have been driven step by step from the Continental markets, and there is now; ? not a single State which will use-English guns for its'navy or the defence of its coasts. Only the other day a trial took, place in Japan of the English heavy Wool*, wich guns and the German breeoh-loaders, in which the former proved decidedly; inferior,-and the English gunmakers have , ' thus lost their last. customer-•exoept; Brazil';*'—-Pflfrt Mall Gazette. ••*• '. ' ■;