ARMOURED DEFENCES. 
319 
Starting then with events of rather more than 21 years ago, I may 
say that the first occasion on which rifled ordnance was used experi¬ 
mentally in this, or perhaps any, country against armour, took place 
at Portsmouth, in the latter part of 1858, when a Whitworth 68-pr., 
of 5J-in. hexagonal bore, was fired at 4-in. plates attached to the side 
of H.M.S. “ Alfred,** and cast-iron shot, at 400 yds., indented the 
plates a little more than an inch deep ; a wrought-iron shot, at 450 yds., 
passed through both plate and the ships* side. 
The first time that a rifled gun was fired at armour for land works, 
was in 1860, when an 80-pr. Armstrong gun fired wrought-iron 
flat-headed shot, and a 40-pr. fired cast-iron shot, at two iron 
embrasures (8 ins. and 10 ins. thick) fixed in a masonry work at 
Shoeburyness. This trial brought out the advantages arising from 
the use of iron for strengthening works, and the disadvantage of having 
splayed sides in an iron embrasure. 
From that time experiments against armour followed each other 
rapidly. 
In 1861, comparative trials were made between wrought-iron armour 
plates backed with rigid materials, such as cast-iron and granite, and 
similar plates backed with timber, cork, indiarubber, layers of wire, and 
other substances. From these it was gathered that while the hard 
materials improved the resisting power of the armour, they led to its 
being more injured by cracking and to the giving way of fastenings. 
Other trials were made with wrought-iron plates inclined to the 
horizon at various angles, from which it was concluded that a mass 
of armour placed upright will offer as much resistance as the same 
mass disposed at any inclination so as to cover the same vertical area. 
Even wool was experimented upon as to its power of resisting 
cannon shot, and I need scarcely say that it failed signally. 
Next, some shields, 6 ins. and 10 ins. thick, composed mainly of 
boiler plates f-in. thick, rivetted and screwed together, gave very 
indifferent results; and two other heavier casemate shields, of very 
opposite construction, made of massive slabs of rolled iron, laid one in 
front of the other, and crossing at right angles, with lead between 
them, were tried, in 1862 -3, with good results. 
Of targets representing portions of ship's sides, I find I cannot omit 
all mention, because so much of the experience gained from them has 
been useful to our service. 
In the “ Warrior" target, composed of 4J ins. of rolled iron 
plates on 17 ins. of wood, backed by a thin iron skin, we saw the 
advantage of timber backing, the weakness of joints in armour, and 
the disadvantage of joining armour plates to each other by means of 
tongues and grooves on their edges. In other of these ships* targets 
the question of providing a compound backing of wood and iron instead 
of wood alone was practically solved in favour of the former, and the 
disadvantage of doing away with all wood in the backing was also 
proved. 
During the period of which I have now been speaking—that is up to 
1863—the heaviest gun used in experiment was a lOJ-in. rifled gun, 
throwing a cylindrical shot of about 300 lbs., with a muzzle velocity of 
Early experi¬ 
ments with 
Land service 
and Ships 
Targets. 
