47 
RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF ARMOUR AND ITS 
ATTACK BY ORDNANCE. 
BY 
CAPTAIN C. ORDE BROWNE, late R.A. 
The object of the following papers is to continue the subject of 
“ Armour and its Attack,” which was dealt with in a series terminating 
in 1887, bringing it up to the present date. 
The chief features of the development which has taken place in 
plates between the years 1887 and 1893 have been : first, the measure 
of success attained in giving a face so hard as to break up forged steel 
projectiles to the same extent as those of chilled iron broken on the 
earlier steel-faced plates 1 2 ; and secondly, increased toughness imparted 
to the mass of the plate chiefly by the use of nickel, though occasion¬ 
ally by the employment of steel of specially tough quality. 
The effects of these two improvements may not always be clearly 
distinguished, but they are in their nature entirely different. The 
hard face enables the plate to defeat the shot by sudden check and 
rupture before the point enters sufficiently deep to obtain support from 
the surrounding metal. This without question occurs before a con¬ 
siderable part of the strikiug energy is delivered on the point of 
impact, for the fragments fly forward violently, though harmlessly, 
against the plate, and then, as it were, skate over its surface, still 
retaining enough energy to cut into any comparatively soft material 3 
which they may encounter. This is clearly the most hopeful form of 
resistance. The really mischievous work impressed at the point of 
impact is limited to that delivered before fracture, so that it is con¬ 
ceivable that a projectile which might theoretically far outmatch the 
plate might be thus defeated. The improvement in toughness is more 
limited in its scope. These features will be dealt with in detail under 
the head of individual experiments. On the other haud, the manu¬ 
facture of forged steel projectiles has been extended and considerable 
numbers have been made in this country : the chief development, how¬ 
ever, in the way of projectiles has been in the construction of shells 
capable of carrying high explosives through a considerable thickness, 
even of steel and steel-faced armour. These are termed “ armour- 
piercing common shell.” They are made of steel and, as their name 
implies, they may be briefly described as a cross between armour- 
piercing and common steel shell. Although still in the experimental 
stage, at the end of 1892, they bid fair to influence the attack of 
armour considerably. They have about the same power of penetration 
as Palliser chilled iron shell. 
1 See Trials of Tresidder and Harvey plates, pp. 58, 60, and 64. 
2 See Trial of Ellis-Tresidder plate in August, 1892, given hereafter. 
1. VOL. XX. 
