96 
ARMOUR AND ITS ATTACK BY ORDNANCE. 
respectively. Both projectiles passed through, bursting in their pas¬ 
sage. Some Palliser fragments were left behind, but the whole of the 
steel shell fragments passed through the plate. 
On December 8th, 1891 (Min. No. 29,048), a Hadfield 6-inch forged 
steel projectile, weighing 100 lbs. (No. 2669), and also a R.L. Palliser 
45 °» shot, were fired at the same plate at an angle of 45°, with a striking 
velocity of 1909 f.s. and an energy of 2502 foot-tons. Both projectiles 
made holes, broke and carried part of their fragments through the 
target. 
The calculated perforation for the 6-inch projectile through steel at 
75°, 55°, and 45°, are respectively 9’5, 8*1, and 7*0 inches, so that the 
plate was considerably out-matched. Had this not been the case, the 
projectile would probably have glanced off at 45°. 
On March 3rd, 1892 (Min. No. 29974), two 5-inch B.L. Palliser shot 
were fired at the same target, weight of projectile 49J lbs., with a 
striking velocity of about 1220 f.s., and an energy of about 517 foot- 
tons. One perforated at a weak place and broke up. The other was 
stopped and broke up. 
Bursting On October 31st, 1891 (Min. No. 28,604), four 4*7-inch Q.F. cast- 
throughtiiin ^ ron an ^ s ^ ee ^ armour-piercing common shells, filled and fuzed, were 
steel, fired through a x 3 g-inch steel plate in order to test the position of the 
burst under these conditions. They actually burst in rear from 1 to 10 
feet behind the plate. 
Woodite. 
A new material, called “ Woodite,” 1 2 (after its inventor, Mrs. Wood), 
was brought forward and highly commended at the April Meeting of 
the Institution of Naval Architects in 1889, both by Sir Nathaniel 
Barnaby and Sir Edward Reed. It takes two principal forms : (1) 
elastic Woodite; (2) buoyant Woodite. 
Mastic Woodite consists mainly of India rubber, subject to special 
treatment. It is intended for use behind thin iron and steel built in 
in blocks. Eight inches of this material so applied closed up com¬ 
pletely after perforation by Nordenfelt 6-pr. and 3-pr. gun projectiles, 
resisting the passage of water with a head of 40 feet. A thickness 
of four inches is recommended by the makers. 
Buoyant Woodite consists principally of cork chemically treated. It 
is intended for raft purposes in ship construction, specially as a filling 
for cellular structures in which water can only enter to the extent to 
which woodite is bodily removed by shell, torpedo, or ram attack. It 
is said to be little liable to ignition, chemical action or decay, or to 
crumble when crushed or fractured, so as to interfere with the working 
of pumps and to admit into its texture only four per cent, of water in 
24 hours. 
Gruson’s Shielded Mountings, 1890. 
Gruson carried out a programme of experiments at Buckau and 
Tangerhutte, near Magdeburg, 3 in September, 1890, commencing on 
1 See “ Engiucer,” May 10th, 1889, and “ Brassey’s Annual,” 1888-89. 
2 Fully reported in the “ Engineer ” of October 3rd and October 10th, 1890, by the Author, who 
attended the trials. Given subsequently in “ Lecture tp School of Engineering, Chatham,” 
