284 
MEPPEN EXPERIMENTS. 
of breecli and muzzle-ioading guns becomes much simplified. If practically iden¬ 
tical results as to range and power can be obtained from either system, we have 
only then to consider certain subsidiary matters which, though important, are not 
vital—namely, which system is the more convenient, which will give the greater 
rapidity of fire, and, again, which is the simplest, the cheapest, and the safest; 
and by safety I allude not only to the gun but to the men who work it. I 
wish it were possible for one to enlarge on these points, but time is limited. 
Captain Orde Browne asserts that the necessity for great length is fatal to muzzle- 
loaders; but he limits himself to the assertion, without proving it. The 38-ton 
gun is 19 ft. long, and nearly five years ago was tried in a contracted casemate at 
Shoeburyness—that is, in a casemate made for a much smaller gun. The firing 
was continued without intermission for two consecutive days, and it was found that, 
without mechanical appliances, the gun could be loaded and fired for a large 
number of rounds consecutively at the rate of one round in two minutes, and it 
was perfectly serviceable at the close. I shall be glad to know whether so pro¬ 
longed and crucial a test has been carried out with a breech-loading gun of the 
same size and with equally good results, both as to efficiency and rapidity—pro¬ 
longed rapidity of fire. As to firing large breech-loaders rapidly in contracted 
turrets, I have understood that the foul gas set free in opening the breech in 
prolonged firing might have a suffocating effect; nor am I at all convinced that 
the various processes of loading, opening, and carefully closing the breech in a 
dark, confined space would not cause confusion and loss of time; and it is, I 
think, evident that with an enemy’s iron-clad steaming rapidly across your front, 
rapidity of fire, combined with safety, is of the utmost consequence. This is a 
very important point, and so far as we yet know the breech-loader may be slow, 
may entail anxieties and accidents in prolonged action, from which, at all events, 
the muzzle-loading guns are absolutely free. This important point of freedom from 
accident and safety to the men is one on which Captain Orde Browne is abso¬ 
lutely silent, and yet it has a great bearing on the subject. He has given us 
detailed accounts of the recent German experiments, but has made no allusion 
to the most serious one of all. It is said that the “ unforeseen always happens,” 
and it was so in this case. Whilst the officers of different nations were assembling 
at Meppen, a large Krupp gun (24 cm ) not included in the programme, and not at 
the experimental ground, but on board the German training ship at Wilhelmshaven, 
suddenly burst, killing and wounding all the men but one. Surely this is a matter 
of importance; surely this requires explanation. Was it due to faulty metal, or 
faulty system, or what? He gives no details, and yet this is by no means a 
solitary instance of failure in breech-loading guns entailing loss of life, destruction 
of guns, and consequent destruction of confidence.'^ Captain Orde Browne says 
he is giving us the best results of- Meppen, but we should like to know whether 
there are not other results fully deserving of careful consideration. But we may go 
further back, and from a study of the German field and siege guns can obtain some 
useful information. The German 9-pr. used in the war against Trance in 1870-1 
was a gun firing a small charge (1 lb. 1 oz.) with a comparatively slow velocity, 
and yet we find that these guns failed in large numbers on service. The German 
official reports show that no less than 210 became disabled, chiefly from weak 
breech mechanism. Some of these, no doubt, were only temporarily hors de combat , 
but in an action this is a grave defect. The siege guns were similarly weak and 
defective. A distinguished infantry officer (Sir Lumley Graham) who was at 
* Colonel Maitland saw a 28 0m Krupp gun which had burst, lying in the arsenal of Constantinople 
in 1877* 
