The New Gun.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13602, 23 May 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

The New Gun.

ITS APPALLING POWKItS.

TIIISUWS SHELLS ACKOSS THE

CHANNEL

U war now. »r likely soon, to become 'Tetlicltion which M. 81..H.-1. U.e rich ex 1 anker of Warsaw, asked » h»™ri* famous work, "The Future of Wai, w elated in another form of words by Co .el F N- Maude, C.8.. late of the Rvl Engineers, in a remarkable article which he "contributes to the April issue of the "Contemporary l.eview. For the ««»ment it is not neewsaryto discus, the theories ami ™«<*™»»%, f r of M. lilocl. or Colonel Maude 11le: .unpo,,n„t point i, that, in his article Maude refers to a weapon winch, he says, W in existence, and " can impart bj 1 1he applies.!i«n of electricity, an init.nl velncuy of 50 000 H. » second to projectiles of all •limensions. which .can be l>n«cli«,any handled under war condition*, ami on board ship, or in immanent defences, ?..0001b. weight lies fairly within t iese ""il 8 ; J uc:e,di..g ps.s>s.ge Colonel Mauri, declaim that, if the rule with «locuies ..., to 2.500 ft. a second—viz., that the .."iistence increases as the square of the velocitv-holds good at higher fates, then pvactiJallv there u. nothing to prevent tlic-e weapoite-one can hardly call them •guns'—from throwing shells from London, to Paris, or vice versa, at the rate of s. few thousand a day." . London bombarding Pans; or lan?, London! Berlin shelling the capital of France, or Paris, instead of shouting A has Berlin,"' as of old. and taking the high road to the Prussian City, pouring a. rain of shell into its streets, raking the Unter den Linden with its red-hot fire, wrecking its " bier-garteus" and aestroving its population! Incredible as it msvy seem-, these are the possibilities of the warfaue in the future if the weapon, to which Colonel Maude refers, should ever come into use. THK INVENTOR.

What is the amazing weapon, and. who is the inventor of it? lb owes its origin to Mr W. S. whose name is will known in connection with metallurgical researches and discoveries, and with whom a representative of the " Daily Chronicle" was privileged to have a long and interesting conversation. Mr Simpson is a "kindly Sc.pt, with Mowing white locks and a pride in his nationality as interne as Is his devotion to the science of metallurgy. A gentlemannered scientist, he is the hist person one might associate with the invention of surh a deadly weapon of warfare. And yet that- would be a superficial observation, for Mr Simpson's interest in his weapon is purely that of the man of science, for whom problems of gunnery, and especially those connected with the velocity of projectiles, have a deep fascination. There is. too, a profounder thought and feeling behind Mr Simpson's researches into the scientific aspects of velocity than is implied in his discovery of this new force in war. What led him to invent such an awful weapon? What effect will it have on international strife in the future?

"Ah," Mr Simpson replkis, "the question is not 'ls war to be ended?' but 'ls the possibility of war to be lessened?' We have not yet readied the time when the nations "shall beat their swords into ploughshares siud their spears into pruning hooks.' But at the same time we ought to be getting nearer to that millenial period, and the fact- that the man in Paris or in London has before him the knowledge that a projectile from either of ll.fsc cities msiy land on his break fasttable, instead of his breakfast, will make him think furiouslv."

" Yon mean." suggested our representative, "that the knowledge of the possibilities of this weapon will hsive the effect, which M. Gustavo Bon describes in his ' Psychology of Crowds,' in connection with other mailers, and that people will be less pcone to rush into war?" • " I mean," «iid Mr Simpson emphaticallv. "that the existence of this weajxm of mine makes the contingency of war more remote. If there is anytuing which will help to bring about the times when 'swords will be beaten into ploughshares.' it is this invention." APPRAISED BY EXPERTS.

Hasty critics may be inclined to shake their heads and suggest that a weapon of such powers is beyond the'possibilities of science. Let nie assure them (wrii.es our representative) that the greatest expests in the country have seen and examined and witmtssed the working of a model, and have expressed their enl.re satisfaction with its practicability. Here is the considered opinion supplied to me by Colonel Maude, a most dispassionate clitic, who, as the author of "The Evolution of Modern .Strategy." "The Evolution of Infantry Tactics." " War and the World's Life," speaks with authority. "The influence of inventions upon tactile and strategy, on land and sea," says Colonel Maude. " Ims been my constant study during the past thirty years, and, in the wliole of my experience, I have never known of so important and revolutionary an invention as the new electric gun and projectile, designed by Mr Simpson. I have examined the model and the whole principle involved, and do not Jiesitato to say that the practical results claimed by the inventor are certain .to be realised.

"The fact thai with this weapon is is po.'bible to confer upon a projectile a velocity of 30,000 f.s. (feet per second) and upwards, and that, too, without either flash, smoke, or recoil, will ultimately compel all navies to abandon armour and devote their energies to the attainment of speed as the prime factor of success, and, because there ia no recoil, practicallv anv ship will suffice ae a gun platform." "It would need a volume to work out ail the possibilities of this gun in held or siege warfare, but it will be sufficient to indicate that, since the velocity is under complete control, the same weapon will serve the purpose of the gun or howitzer equally well, and since a single gun can deliver an almost continuous stream of projectile, it will be at least equal in fire to a whole batten- of modern quickfirers.

"The simplicity of construction is *,> gicat that the resources of any engineering workshop will suffice for its erection, and there will l>e no longer any necessity for •Governments to sink great "sums of money in special plant of use only for the preparation of war material.

"If the gun po&sessed no oilier advantage over existing weapons than the two last named ones, these alone would suffice to compel every nation to adopt it forthwith."

To acsunie my interview with Mr Simpson. I asked him if he could favour me with a description of his invention. To this request he returned a-firm but courteous refusal.

"If I were to clo so," he explained, "foreign powers would 'nt once get an inkling id the principle, and would set about coiiet! ucting, or altempling to eonriruct. a weapon on their own account. All I can say is that my weapon—it- in not copied to call it a gun —i.s without recoil, noise, smoke or smell. What more do you want? What more can you have? The noisy, dirty, smelling gun of to-.i-tv b* not creditable to a nation or a world of progress, h it? If science i.s to do anything in warfare, why not Jet it di. the thing in the best and mosii proper WilV ?

■"''mine!:- and military tacticians' and sliategists will at once raise many <|ites tions relating to the practical working ot this formidable weapon. One obvious question ha.«> reference to range-finding. Assuming—although it seems a wild assumption at this moment of time—that

it i." dioired to direct one of these weapons ;ig;iiust Paris. ifc is pointed towards the French capital and -Hied ; how is the gunner to know liial he lias "touched the .vpol,' as it. were." Colonel Maude, to whom this <[Uestion was put, gave an interesting icplv. I'AXCK FINDERS.

The range might he given," lie i,aid, "by during men in Paris- or London at> the csioe might be. If the two countries wereat war, and one or both had weapons of this type, there are men of both nationalities willing to take their life in their hands, and from either capital communicate, with their re.specUvo Governments, and inform them of the precise location of the shots. They might do thiii by means of wirehrii telegraphy, or by post; at any rate there would be no difficulty in finding nun to take the risk." A reference was made to M. Bloch's monumental work, and to one of his dicta, which is worth ([noting in full: " War,"' he once .said in an interview with Mr. Stead, "has- been possible, no doubt, but it- lias at hist become impc«sible. and those who are preparing for war, and basing sill their iicheniu> of life on the expectation of war, are visionaries of the worst kind, for war is no longer possible."

Since then there has been the RussoJapanese War, to mention only one event. M. Bloch based his theories as to the iinpreiiibility of Avar on the ground that "the very developement that Ik:is taken place in the mechanism of war has rendered war an impractical operation." Can he have foreseen Mr Simpson's weapon? Colonel Maude, to whom I put the question sis to ihc possible abolition of war through such inventions, looks to economic and commercial cousiderationi> ai> the most likely deterrent of the future. He pul& his position very clearly in his " Contemporary Review " article. " New," he writes, "a.s long as the use of this new weapon is confined to the sea —the question of extreme range is of minor importance—the .fifteen mikis or thereabouts already attainable suffice amply. But, once the pressure of our sea power began to tell, our enemies would of necessity be compelled to seek the utmost extension of its destructive radiusas an answer to our threat of starvation. Tf you insiiit upon starving us, we will destroy London, and as many other towns as are worth the expenditure of our shells' —and again our reply must be to proceed to the destruction of Paris. The result Avould then depend on which nation could stand the punishment with the least derangement of internal law and order; or rather, which Government- could trust its people the mosL implicity. The answer to this question only the future can give, for, though under quite normal conditions the reply may be obvious, a nation in a great war is like a man in a delirium—no one can forecast his actions. . . . The new factor, a recoilless gun carmble of sending its projectiles through any armour afloat, or which can be made turns the scale of war in our favour; for no preexisting conditions of warfare since the days of the long-bow have afforded as such opportunities of. developing the full fighting power of the individuals of our race. As the battleships settle to the bottom of the sea, or crawl back to their docks the coolntss and tenacity of the man behind the gun assumes a higher value and that this coolness and tenacity remain the leading characteristics of our people the record* of every shipwreck or mining disaster annusilly demonstrate. On land we may modify and restrain these qualities "of ill-considered tactical methods and misunderstood experiences of other nations but on the sea danger is the same for all, and there is not a merchant seaman of any nationality' in the world who does not readily concede to the Anglo-Saxon the pride of place."

PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE. In a striking closing passage Colonel Maude briefly diseuescs some of the problems of the future. " There remains," he writes, "only to be considered the influence which this new weapon will exert on the future of the aeroplane. The problem is too involved to be unravelled here in all its convexity, but this much seems worth saying—though the new weapon will be far the most formidable danger airships will have to face, airships may prove to be a necessary complement of the new weapon, only by their u<-e can the full advantage of its accuracy be developed. Over the land, therefore, the command of the air will still have to be fought for. Over the sea on the other hand, tile advantage will rest, at any rate for some years to come, with the airships belonging to the fastest fleet, on condition that the latter has adequate sea room, or can choo.se its own time to attack; more than this is impossible to predict at present." It' only remains to be added that .steps are being taken to get a suitable range for an experimental trial with the model which Mr. Simpson has constructed. Like the true inventor, he is proud of the creation of his brain, and believes with Colonel Maude that it will revolutionise warfare. That it will diminish the possibility of war he is certain ; that itr will lead to the abolition of war is another question. "What man." lie asks, '"who knows the world as it as present is can liave any hope of abolishing war? His faith in mankind must be enormous."