50 
ARMOUR AND ITS ATTACK BY ORDNANCE. 
French 
JBelliqueui 
trials. 
when it arose. The compound plate interest, nevertheless, seized at it, 
as was its right, and since this remote period whenever it presented 
itself abroad it took care to boast, on the one hand, of its qualities, 
and to relate, on the other hand, the story of the Terrible cracks. On 
the part of English makers this proceeding is legitimate : they seek 
orders, and employ all means to get them ; but what one cannot under¬ 
stand is the infatuation which puts French writers on the side of the 
foreigner in such things/’ The writer afterwards refers to the adoption 
of steel at the Terni works in Italy, and observes that Vickers pro¬ 
duced a steel plate in the Nettle trials as good as the best compound. 
It may be admitted that without question the French compound 
plate makers, as well as those in England, are interested in making 
the most of any failure in steel plates, but it is, indeed, difficult to 
believe that small cracks perceived only in the bottoms of the bolt¬ 
holes of three plates were the only foundation for the definite statements 
quoted in the earlier discussion of this question, namely, that out of 
about 90 plates made for the Terrible, 14 broke spontaneously at 
Creusot, one at time of dispatch to the port of Brest, and three in the 
port. It may probably be that M. Weyl considers that the first 15 
were a private affair concerning the makers only. It, however, can 
hardly be doubted that the retrograde action as to hardness spoken of 
had a cause beyond the discovery alluded to of slight cracks at the 
bottom of bolt-holes. The fact is that the results of the firing trials 
of the Terrible plates were such that the plates might well have been 
rejected. 
M. Weyl 1 at the same time gave some valuable information on the 
action of high explosives against armoured ships. Speaking of the 
return to a greatly increased quantity of side armour for the new 
armoured cruiser, Bupuy cle Lome, of 6300 tons—French—which the 
Navy were driven to by the experiments against the Belliqueuse, he 
gives a valuable extract from a paper obviously written, he says, by an 
officer who had access to the official reports. This is too important to 
miss ; it is as follows :—“ The rounds at the Belliqueuse were fired with 
guns of 14 cm and 16 CTU (5*5 inches and 6*3 inches) model 1881, throwing 
shells of cast-iron of 30 kilos, and 45 kilos. (66 lbs. and 99 lbs.), con¬ 
taining only bursting charges of 2*8 kilos, and 4 kilos. (6*17 lbs. and 
8*82 lbs.) of melinite. Here are the results obtained :—The bursting 
often took place after perforation, sometimes in the actual side. Frag¬ 
ments of from 10 grammes to 40 grammes, of which the number 
reached about 1500, and which are animated with enormous velocity, 
were projected in all directions, and even backwards, destroying all 
the personnel not under cover. The rest of the projectile was reduced to 
metallic powder, penetrating all surrounding objects. To these effects 
are to be added those of the explosion, which is local, but which has 
great energy. If it is produced while the projectile is passing through 
the side, holes of l*3 m diameter (59 inches) are formed ; when occur¬ 
ring near the decks, they are destroyed by fracture of beams, bolts, 
and planks. It may also set fire to them, as was the case three times 
out of 12 rounds, on board the Belliqueuse. Lastly, the movement 
1 See “Engineer,” August 9th, 1889. 
