36 
LYDD EXPEKIMENTS, 1890. 
the very large craters made by the shell in the stiff clay soil would, in 
practice, have proved almost as great a hindrance to an assaulting 
party as the palisade itself. 
The fact that such shell as directly hit the palisade passed through 
without bursting proves that it would be useless to attack such an 
obstacle except with oblique fire; while it is evident that, in the case 
of a deep ditch, or a short flank, it might be necessary to considerably 
increase the angle of descent, which would probably diminish the 
accuracy of the practice. 
The first 20 shell were fired with D.A. fuzes Mark III.; all but one, 
which was unsteady in flight, burst on first graze. These 20 shell 
were intended to be burst close up to the foot of the palisade. The 
remaining 20 were fired with the small percussion fuze Mark II., and 
intended to burst on the palisade. 
As a whole the experiment is instructive, showing that such a palisade, 
though difficult to breach on account of its combination of passive 
strength with a small area of rigid resistance, can, under exceptionally 
favourable circumstances of observation of fire, be destroyed as an 
obstacle with a medium expenditure of time and ammunition. 
It should, however, be borne in mind that this practice was regulated 
by the communication of the position of each round to the battery; 
while on service, on the contrary, the observation of fire on such a 
target would be exceedingly difficult. 
Series (II .)—To test the efficiency for siege purposes of the 4-in. and 
5-in. B.L. guns on lattice-girder carriages. 
This series was divided under two heads, viz. :— 
1. Tire with percussion shrapnel on dummies in a hasty field 
redoubt. 
Thirty rounds were fired from the 4-in. B.L. and 30 from the 5-in. 
B.L. at a range of 2500 yards, but the results were poor. The former 
making 29 hits, the latter only 15. The superior slope of the parapet 
was rather steep, and shell falling on it appeared to be smothered, only 
those that struck close to the crest giving any results. 
From this practice, as a whole, it may be gathered that the fire with 
percussion shrapnel from high velocity guns at troops behind a 
parapet, at such ranges as give a low angle of descent would, therefore, 
be under service conditions, a mere waste of ammunition. 
2. Fire of common shell from 4-in. and 5-in. B.L. guns with the 
object of breaching a typical siege 30 feet parapet. 
Fifty common shell were fired from the 4-in. B.L. at a range of 
2500 yards, of these 18 or 36 per cent, hit the parapet, which was not 
breached, or even seriously injured. 
From the 5-in. B.L. 50 common shell were also fired, of these 30 or 
60 per cent, hit the work. 
The parapet, though seriously injured, was not breached. This 
effect might, however, have been produced in the course of another 
30 rounds. 
The superior accuracy and power of the 5-in. as compared with the 
4-in. B.L. gun was very marked ; since, while the latter failed to pro¬ 
duce any damage to the parapet which might not be repaired in a few 
