68 
MINUTES OF PEOCEEDINGS OF 
English powder. A few rounds were fired of R.L.G. powder in charges of 
43 lbs., and with this result—that the breech mechanism was broken, 1 2 and 
the use of English powder was hurriedly abandoned. The breech action 
was renewed, and the construction improved. 3 The significance of this 
effect of a few rounds of English powder upon the Prussian gun, we shall 
have occasion again to refer to. 
At this point the English gun came upon the scene, and, in the trial 
which followed, it is admitted that it “ evinced a considerable superiority 
over the Prussian gun for use against armour plates;” 3 while the com¬ 
parison of the Prussian and English projectiles led to “ several necessary 
alterations in the previous construction ” of the former. 4 
Before proceeding to record the results of these trials, it is necessary to 
correct one or two errors into which Captain von Doppelmair has fallen at 
this part of his narrative. Exception might be taken to the expression that 
the escape-hole in the Woolwich guns is provided “to prevent unexpected 
bursting,” as tending to convey an erroneous impression of the general 
behaviour of the guns. But a more decided objection must be made to the 
statement that “the selection of this energetic powder (R.L.G.) for the 
English 9-inch gun was necessary in order to obtain high initial velocities 
with the comparatively short length of the gun.” 5 This passage is incorrect 
in two important particulars. It is incorrect because it implies that this 
powder was deliberately selected for use with our heavy rifled guns; it is 
also incorrect because it states that such a powder is “ necessary ” for those 
guns. This double error will be found running all through Captain von 
Doppelmair* s pamphlet. 6 The same error underlies the remarks of other 
critics, 7 and it is important to correct it, because if admitted, it points to 
this conclusion—that whatever advantages the Prussian guns may derive 
from the use of a slower and milder powder, in respect of decreased strain 
upon the gun with increased charges and initial velocities, reduced scoring 
of the bore, &c., those advantages cannot be enjoyed by the English guns, 
which are too short to use a slow powder effectively. In fact, we have here 
a good illustration of the system on which we have remarked of blending 
together things not necessarily connected, in a way to produce an effect 
favourable to the Krupp and unfavourable to the Woolwich gun. More¬ 
over, as will presently appear, while our system gets the discredit of 
employing a brisante powder, it nowhere gets the credit which attaches to 
1 This result may be best given in Captain von Doppelmair’s own words:—“ After the termina¬ 
tion of this firing, two cracks appeared in the hollow turned out in the wedge for the obturating 
plate. Whether these cracks had been already started by the previous firing, or were exclusively 
the effect of employing the English powder, could not be decided. But these cracks, as well as a 
crack that had previously appeared in the female screw of the breech of the Prussian gun, the 
bending of the obturating plate, and of the metal of the wedge behind it, induced the determination 
to renounce the use of descriptions of powder of rapid combustion and more destructive effect.”— 
Doppelmair, p. 13. 
2 Doppelmair, p. 13, note. 3 Ibid. p. 13. 
4 Doppelmair, p. 13. Compare this statement with that at p. 79, that Gruson’s works "had 
determined the shape and construction of these projectiles on which their depth of penetration 
depends.” 
5 Doppelmair, p. 15. 6 See, for example, Doppelmair pp. 24, 62. 
7 See Krupp’s pamphlet, p. 3. 
