GUNMAKING 375 



face when the, rifle recoils on firing. The sight radius is thus increased and greater ease 

 and accuracy of alignment are consequently secured. Again, the fact that the firer 

 looks through the aperture and has not to focus his eye for anything nearer than the 

 foresight removes the main cause of the eye-strain felt with the open sight. The method 

 of aiming is easier to learn than that with the open sight, while, if the aperture is large 

 and is not surrounded with a mass of metal it is effective when the light is bad or the 

 target indistinct. The system has of course long been in use for sporting rifles, but the 

 only military rifle at present equipped with it is that of the United States. Its applica- 

 tion to that rifle is however so defective that all the advantages named above seem to be 

 lost. (G. BROWNE, Major.) 



IV. NAVAL ORDNANCE CONSTRUCTION 



During the past lew years, nearly every maritime nation has been making great ef- 

 forts to increase the power of its naval armament. Larger ships with greater speed 

 and heavier guns have been built, and the progress made even in two or three years has 

 been considerable. The Dreadnought type has developed into the " super-Dread- 

 nought." Some authorities contemplate still larger ships, whilst others think the risk 

 of putting so many eggs into one basket too great, and that therefore smaller vessels, 

 but more of them, are what would suit existing conditions best. Both admit, however, 

 that the armament should be made as powerful as circumstances allow. 



- The power of the armament depends on four factors: (i) the calibre and weight of the 

 projectile; (2) the initial velocity; (3) the maximum weight of the bursting charge which 

 can be exploded behind the armour of a hostile vessel; and (4) the number of guns; but 

 various considerations arise in connection with these, which must be taken into account. 



The diameter of the bore of the gun is governed to a great extent by the thickness of 

 armour borne by the rival ship; this armour, owing to its weight, is however strictly 

 limited both as regards thickness and extent; in consequence the thick plating is confined 

 to a belt along the water line, to the protection of the ammunition hoists, the necessary 

 working gear of the guns, and of the guns and gun's crew. 



Of late years, much has been done to increase the resistance of armour, and to this 

 must be added the difficulty of obtaining direct hits in action, owing to the target being 

 almost always an oblique one. Moreover, improvements have enabled the range of 

 torpedoes to be greatly increased, and this has helped to increase the probable battle 

 ranges from the 3,000 or 4,000 yards of a few years ago to 8,000 yards or perhaps more. 

 Even with the aid of telescope sights and the modern devices applied to the sighting gear 

 for correcting for wear of gun, for temperature, for wind etc., much experience and 

 practice are required to ensure hitting the target at these distant ranges. 



It is now well known that in the Russo-Japanese war the thick belt armour was never 

 perforated in any of the Russian or Japanese vessels', even at the short ranges of 3,000 

 metres to which the Japanese finally closed at the battle of Tsu-shima; this remarkable 

 fact was no doubt due to the projectiles striking the armour obliquely and not at right 

 angles. Had the firing been direct, no difficulty would have been experienced in per- 

 forating the armour on the latest built ship at this short range, and still less difficulty 

 with the armour of the older ships. 



Until recently, too, it was generally taken as an axiom that armour would be attacked 

 by a gun of a calibre somewhere near its thickness, and armour was tested from this point 

 of view; thus a 9-inch plate would be tested by a 9. 2-inch gun and a 6-inch plate by a 6- 

 inch gun. After all, the actual perforation of the armour of a ship would not, in all 

 probability, seriously damage any vital structure unless the projectile was provided with 

 a large bursting charge of high explosive which could be detonated behind the armour. 

 The real damage to the Russian ships was done, not by armour piercing projectiles from 

 the heavy guns, but by the incessant rain of high explosive shell from the Japanese 

 secondary armament of 6-inch guns. These were fired at the unarmoured portions of 

 the Russian ships, and, bursting with terrible effect within, greatly damaged the ship 



1 See E. B. xx, 189-218, 230-235. 



