COMMENDED ESSAY, 1893 . 
401 
This penetration will be increased when cordite is adopted. It is effec¬ 
tive up to 2500 yards and can be fired at the rate of ten well-aimed 
rounds per minute. It is claimed for them that they will materially aid 
the attack, but the advantage of the ship only exists where the fortress is 
not similarly equipped. They are invaluable against torpedo boats and 
for rendering the unarmoured parts of ships untenable. 
The introduction of machine guns is a distinct advantage to the 
defence, as an intense frontal fire can be suddenly developed by a few 
sentries without waiting for a complete manning of a work. With 
the Maxim gun 700 bullets per minute can be aimed and fired by one 
man, who need not show more than his head (which can be easily 
shielded), the feed being worked by another man completely under 
cover. They are effective up to 2000 yards. 
At Alexandria the ranges were apparently too long, only seven hits 
on guns and carriages being the result of 16,000 rounds from the 
Nordenfelt. At Inclikeith 15,210 machine gun rounds were fired at 
dummies representing an exposed gun detachment, range 1000 yards. 
Result, 15 hits. 
Machine gun fire from ships is useless against disappearing guns or 
batteries of any command, but of the greatest use against counter¬ 
attacks by torpedo boats. 
Whilst on the subject of guns we must not omit to mention the 
Zalinski pneumatic gun, which, it has been contended, “ will probably 
supersede all locomotive torpedoes at present designed, and may in 
many cases replace submarine mines with obvious advantage.” The 
15-in. gun can fire a projectile with a bursting charge of 600 lb. 
bursting gelatine. It is effective up to 2000 yards. There is no 
noise, flash, or smoke. 
(2.) The Submarine Mine .—The practical employment of the sub¬ 
marine mine dates from the American Civil War of 1861-5. They 
were suggested at the beginning of the century and used to a small 
extent in the Crimean War, but they were not properly developed till 
the American War, when 21 vessels were sunk by them. The men 
and stores devoted to mining, in our service, have increased almost 
fourfold in the last ten years, and great progress has been made. 
There is no reason to suppose that Foreign Powers have not paid 
similar attention to the subject. 
They may be divided into three categories :— 
(1.) Observation mines, i.e., those which are fired by electricity 
from the shore as the ship passes over. In thick weather they are, of 
course, useless. Being laid in deep water they do not impede naviga¬ 
tion. They have been rejected by Germany and the United States. 
(2.) Controlled electro-contact mines, those which depend for 
their action on contact with a vessel, but which can be rendered 
innocuous by disconnecting the battery on shore. They are easy to lay 
out, but are more likely to be disturbed by storm than observation 
mines owing to their being placed in shallower water. They are 
equally dangerous to friend and foe while the battery on shore is con¬ 
nected. 
