UNDERWATER GUNNERY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13558, 31 March 1908, Page 7

UNDERWATER GUNNERY.

.-on-,- : h:MvS: hero. , A .curious gunnery* test, to- form, a tEeqiieT to the experiments to which' the bid battleship Hero was subjected last November, is-to be undertaken by the officials of the Portsmouth Gunnery. School; in H.M.S. Revenge. After four bombardr ments the Hero- sank, but the examination of the interior of • <the ship, as she rested on the sands of' the: Kentish Knock, failed to reveal' to the gunnery experts of the Channel Fleet and First Cruiser Squadron the reason for her sinking. All the visible damage ; was confined" to' the part of- the ship above the waterline armour' belt, 'and, since no armour-piercing projectiles were used/' all which struck the belt itself splintered' harmlessly. ; The probable explanation"op' sinking; of ,tbe ship, whrch has given rise to the Revenge trials, is as follows of, the high-ex-plosive shells r fell some distance short of the ship, desfaende'd -under the.water a. few .feet and struck the Hero in the most vulnerable part—below 'tHfe edge of the waterline armour—the effect of which would be much this same as that of a torpedo.". It is possible that, as a. result of the Revenge ■ experiments, this method of. attack will be developed. The Revenge is ,to fire at a target 'which descends some distance below the surface of tho.watei\ and the guns will be aimed at the various points short of the .target in order to discover : what allowances should for deflection. It has always been held that a shell went some distance below ,>the water before rising for ricochet,. but before' t-he Hero trials no one ever thought of applying this circumstance to the conditions of battle; Most'of the gunnery people, are still sceptical, but the Revenge experiments should finally, settle the question ' ' -