NAVIES OF EUROPE. 



577 



of twenty inches or more. England began 

 arming her fleets and fortresses with rifled can- 

 non in 1858. A system of breech-loading was 

 adopted at the same time, but so many acci- 

 dents occurred in the working of the guns that 

 the system fell into disfavor with the navy, and, 

 after a long investigation and competitive tri- 

 als, both the War Office and Admiralty deter- 

 mined to return to muzzle-loading ordnance. 

 That system has continued to prevail until 

 within a year or two ; but another change of 

 opinion has taken place, and it is generally ad- 

 mitted that there must be a rearmament of 

 the British navy and forts with breech-loaders. 

 The great steel-clad vessels of the present Eng- 

 lish fleet are armed with muzzle-loaders, some 

 of which have great power : the 80-ton guns of 

 the Inflexible have a caliber of sixteen inches, 

 carry a projectile of 1,700 pounds, with a pow- 

 der-charge of 370 pounds, and will penetrate 

 27'5 inches of iron at 500 yards. The muzzle 

 velocity is 1,520 feet per second, and the muz- 

 zle energy 27,213 foot-tons that is, the equiv- 

 alent of 27,213 tons of metal falling one foot. 

 The 25-ton guns, such as are carried by the 

 Temeraire, the Monarch, and the Alexandra, 

 have a twelve-inch caliber, 600-pound projec- 

 tile, 85 pounds powder-charge, and penetrate 

 13-9 inches of iron at 500 yards. Their muzzle 

 velocity is 1,180 feet per second, energy 7,030 

 foot-tons. The 18-ton guns forming part of 

 the armament of the leading vessels of the fleet 

 have 10-inch caliber, 400-pound projectiles, 70 

 pounds charge, penetrate 12'7 inches at 500 

 yards, have muzzle velocity of 1,364 feet per 

 second, and energy of 5,160 foot-tons. The 

 12-ton guns are 9-inch caliber, 250-pound pro- 

 jectile, 50 pounds charge, 10-4-inch penetrating 

 power, 1,420 feet per second muzzle velocity, 

 and 3,496 foot-tons muzzle energy. The most 

 common gun of all, the chief armament of cruis- 

 ers, is the 6|-ton rifled cannon with a 7-inch 

 bore, 115-pound projectile, 30 pounds charge, 

 capable of penetrating 7'7 inches of iron at 500 

 yards, with a muzzle velocity of 1,525 feet per 

 second, and energy of 1,246 foot-tons. These 

 all load at the muzzle. 



GERMAN ORDNANCE. Germany adopted 

 breech -loading ordnance at about the same 

 time with Great Britain, but, instead of aban- 

 doning it after trial, endeavored so to improve 

 its construction as to avoid the defects which 

 caused disaster to the guns. The German sys- 

 tem has been adopted by Russia, Austria, Den- 

 mark, and Holland. The present Krupp gun 

 is breech-loading and consists of a steel body 

 strengthened by hoops. The largest class has 

 a twelve-inch caliber, and is bound with three 

 tiers of hoops. Its projectile weighs 715 

 pounds, its powder-charge is 158 pounds, and 

 it develops a working effect of 12,584 foot-tons. 

 The French have a type of breech-loaders of 

 their own, which have been adopted 'by Spain 

 and Sweden. The largest of these have a cali- 

 ber of 32 centimetres (12-6 inches), and throw a 

 shot of 770 pounds with 132 pounds of powder, 

 VOL. xxii. 37 A 



developing an energy of 10,390 foot-tons. The 

 prevailing manner of construction is to cut off 

 the base of the breech from an iron body, in- 

 sert a steel lining as far as the trunnions, and 

 shrink hoops of steel around the exterior ; but 

 experiments with all-steel guns have been go- 

 ing on for some time. 



ITALIAN ORDNANCE. The standard naval 

 ordnance of Italy is the Armstrong muzzle- 

 loader, though there are some batteries of 

 French breech-loaders. The newly ordered 

 100-ton guns are to be breech-loading, with 

 the Armstrong mechanism for closing the 

 breech. These are the largest afloat, being 32 

 feet long, having a caliber of 17 inches, and 

 weighing 222,300 pounds each. The projec- 

 tile is of steel, weighing 2,000 pounds, and is 

 driven by a charge of 471 pounds of powder, 

 with a velocity of 1,584 feet per second, and a 

 working effect of 34,550 foot-tons. 



TENDENCY OF CONSTRUCTION. The tendency 

 of construction is clearly toward steel guns of 

 great length, rifled bore, of moderate caliber, 

 using large charges of slowly-burning powder, 

 and loading at the breech. Various devices 

 have been tried to re-enforce the metal used, 

 in such a way as to counteract its defec- 

 tive tendencies. Certain degrees of cohesive 

 strength, elasticity under violent strain, and 

 ductility, to prevent rupture, are desirable. 

 As no limits are assignable to the force which 

 it is desirable to impart to a projectile, it is 

 impossible to define any bounds for the caliber 

 and strength demanded in artillery. The prob- 

 lem is, therefore, the production and selection 

 of a material combining in due proportions and 

 in the highest degree cohesive strength, elastic 

 extensibility, and ductility and malleability. 

 No one of these properties is found in the high- 

 est degree in any metal possessing either of 

 the two others in an equally high degree, and 

 as yet no fixed relation is known between 

 them. Of all the metals available for gun-con- 

 struction, some of the varieties of steel, espe- 

 cially the low steel, combine the qualities de- 

 sired in the greatest degree. These metals 

 have been combined, and the strains have been 

 sought to be overcome, first, by the method of 

 initial tension, which is effected by shrinking 

 heated iron bands around the parts in danger 

 from pressure, as in the "Woolwich system, or 

 by slipping a tube into the bore after it has 

 been enlarged by heat, as in the Palliser sys- 

 tem, and, second, by the method of varying 

 elasticity, which places the metal that stretches 

 the most within its elastic limit around the 

 surface of the bore, so that by its enlargement 

 the explosive strain is transmitted to other 

 parts. Among the methods of re-enforcement 

 which appear to be growing in favor is that of 

 winding the body of the gun with steel wire, 

 in spirals of considerable obliquity, alternate 

 layers running in opposite directions, and so- 

 lidifying with a more fusible metal used as a 

 solder. The walls of the bore may be the man- 

 drel around which the wire is woven, then the 



