MOUNTINGS FOR COAST ARTILLERY. 
543 
placed on the top of the pedestal. 1 The carriage is of simple con¬ 
struction, two brackets supporting the slide., being built up from strong 
bolsters. The buffers are similar in design to those of the 6-in. bar¬ 
bette, but the trunnions rest in ball bearings. The recoil is about 
39 in. 
There is a traversing and. elevating gear at the left front of the 
mounting under full cover of the parapet and shield. The left sighting 
platform has both gears, and the right platform traversing gear only. 
Training arc and a special elevation indicator are provided, in full view 
of the numbers employed at the under-cover station. The laying num¬ 
ber standing on either sighting platform can indicate by a pointer the 
direction in which he requires the gun to be traversed. As soon as 
the sigh is approximately “ on,” however, he will halt the training 
numbers and complete the laying with his own gear. 
All the operations of loading are performed on the emplacement 
floor. Shell, stored on sabots under the front parapet, are picked up 
by a barrow and wheeled up to the carrier (A), into which they are 
tipped. The carrier is counterbalanced so that one man working the 
winch handle (B) raises it with the projectile till it bears up against 
the breech of the gun elevated to 15°. The projectile is then rammed 
off the carrier, which contains a loading tray on rollers, entering the 
breech and held by a catch until the charge also has been rammed. 
The catch is then released and the tray drops back into the carrier, 
which is immediately lowered. The projectile is thus never lifted by 
tackle or sling, and one man easily takes it on to the barrow and tips 
it into the carrier, which can be elevated till a paul engages a notch, 
which detains it in a position allowing the gun to recoil and the breech¬ 
block to be swung clear. A short further lift to a second notch brings 
the carrier into the loading position. As soon as the gun is sufficiently 
elevated, the opening of the breech begins and is completed by the- 
time the gun comes to rest. Similarly the closing of the breech is 
effected as the gun is being depressed. There is thus no loss of time, 
and with untrained labourers the gun can be elevated, loaded, depressed 
to firing position and trained 60° in 50 seconds. At the same time, all 
numbers are well protected and only the laying number is raised above 
the emplacement level. 
There are two carriage sights, that on the left side being automatic 
with a telescope, replaceable by an ordinary V. In addition, there are 
two sets of gun sights which can be used from the sighting platforms 
if desired. The advantages of being able to fire with the eye to the 
sight appear so great that, I believe, gun sights will soon be things of 
the past. 
The first mounting of the above design is nearly completed and 
several rounds have been fired from it. It is always dangerous to 
prophecy, and we naturally tend to exaggerate the capabilities of our 
children; but I shall be disappointed if a round a minute cannot be 
fired without difficulty bv trained men from this mounting. The 
1 This racer path will now serve for the 6-in. H.P. service}pattern and new pattern, the 9-in 
H.A. mounting; the 9-2-in, harbette (Mark III. and Mark IV.) 
