522 Modem British Ordnance and Ammunition. [October, 



to be doubted if the famous iooo-pounder of 50 tons, 

 constructed (of cast-steel subsequently densified by forging), 

 by Herr Krupp, at his Titanic Essen establishment, would 

 stand such a crucial test as that to which the 35-ton Fraser 

 has been so successfully submitted. 



The last startling sensation in propositions of new guns 

 has been made by Captain Morgan, Royal Artillery, in his 

 " Proposal for a very heavy breech-loading gun of novel con- 

 struction." 



This novel arrangement is certainly original, and consists 

 in the gun being formed of a barrel with a movable 

 and extraordinarily heavy breech, which is to be blown 

 to the rear by the explosion ; in other words, the gun is to 



Fig. 14. 



Captain Morgan's Proposed Monster 15-inch Breech-Loading Gun. Charge 200 lbs. 

 of Powder. Weight of Projectile, 1200 lbs. (From Minutes of Proceedings of 

 the Royal Artillery Institution, vol. vii., p. 145. 



fire at both ends, the force of the discharge partly expending 

 itself upon the heavy breech-piece, which is to recede up an 

 inclined plane. A model was exhibited lately at the Royal 

 Artillery Institution, on a scale calculated for a 15-inch 

 gun, firing 200 lbs. of powder with a projectile of 1200 lbs. 

 weight. 



Captain Morgan is perhaps too sanguine when he states 

 that he is " confident that on his system a 20-inch gun 

 might be obtained firing a i-ton shot, with a breech-piece 

 and barrel of 50 tons each." If foreign naval constructors 

 commence putting 20-inch iron plating on their armour- 

 clads, we shall need 20-inch guns to pierce them. 



Outsiders appear to have very vague ideas of the time in 

 which such heavy guns as we now have in the Service can 

 be loaded, run up, laid with accuracy, and fired ; and 

 perhaps the best way of affording information on this point 

 will be to quote the results of ^actual experiments for rate of 

 firing made at Shoeburyness. 



