Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/322

Rh 306 GUNNERY hollow kinds, which need not be the case with rifled ordnance, as the projectile may be of any length. The guns are used for direct fire, the howitzers for curved fire, the mortars for vertical fire, i.e., they are set at 45 eleva tion, and the requisite range attained by vary ing the charge of powder, instead of firing at various degrees of ele vation, as with guns and howitzers. The old field smooth bores were fairly effec tive up to 1000 or 1200 yards, and so established a great superiority over the Continental powers for the most part endeavoured to improve their methods of breech-loading. In 1872 the British wrought iron and steel muzzle-loading 9- pounder of 8 cwt. had been introduced into the service, CD E c ^ 1 |! i J K / rtN_0(

&quot;S -Q ~ v t? ioi js LEHCTH OF BORE x_ J ; FIG. 19. IS-pouuder Gun. A, button (cascable) ; B, breeching loop (do.); C, breech ; D, base ring and ogee ; E, vent-field; F, vent-field astragal and fillets ; G, 1st reinforce ; H, 1st reinforce ring; I, 2d reinforce; J, 2d reinforce ring and ogee ; K, patch for foresight ; L, chase ; M, muzzle astragal and fillets ; N, neck ; 0, swell of muzzle ; P, muzzle mouldings. the smooth-bored musket; but as soon as the rifled musket was generally adopted, an advance in artillery power became necessary if the arm was to retain its position in the scale of efficiency. After the Crimean War Napoleon III. rifled his bronze field guns on Treuille de Beaulieu s system, and the new pieces exhibited great merit at Magenta and Solferino in 1859. England, and indeed every FIG. 20. 8-inch Howitzer. European power, was busily engaged in experimenting during this period. The early Armstrong guns in England, BroadwelFs and Krupp s in Prussia, and imitations of the French plan in other countries, speedily caused field artillery to regain its place in war. The northern kingdoms of Denmark and Norway and Sweden, favoured by specially IY P iff f. 47*71 iUtffTW OF SoflE v U fcyi x 1 ^ FIG. 21. 32-poundcr Carronade. good iron ores, and free from the immediate alarm of war, retained cast iron as the material for light ordnance. Prussia had already begun to use steel for smooth-bores, and naturally adhered to it for rifled guns, while the coil system brought forward by Armstrong was found cheap and enduring in England. The new Prussian guns were breech loaders, constructed on the double-wedge system; they proved unsatisfactory, and since the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 have been abandoned in favour of a single-wedge system of great neatness and effici ency. The Armstrong guns were also breech loaders, and when tested FIG. 22. 13-inch Mortar. by land and sea, on actual service in China, New Zealand, and Japan, proved to be very powerful when compared with the old smooth-bores, but also exhibited many defects of construction. At this time no thoroughly successful breech-loader had been invented, and England reverted to muzzle-loading, while and the 16-pounder of 12 cwt., of similar construction, was being brought forward. Against these guns the Prussian 6-cwt. field breech-loader had no chance. Its lightness was almost its only merit. Throwing common shell with percussion fuzes (which were useless on soft ground), having but a poor muzzle velocity, and suffering much from retard ation by the air, its effect was feeble compared with that of the British 9-pounders, which threw with 200 f. s. more velocity a time-fuzed shrapnel of excellent construction, while the 16-pounder, though not equally fortunate with the 9-pounder in the arrangement of its projectile, yet by sheer power and weight of metal surpassed in deadly effect every field gun in existence. England s field artillery was undoubtedly the most powerful known at that period. No one was more alive to this fact, or more dissatisfied with FIG. 23. 10-inch Shell Gun. it, than the Germans. Their great gunmaker, Krupp, forth with improved his breech-closing fittings, and instituted series upon series of experiments till he produced two guns one for horse artillery, and one for field batteries, also horsed which were an enormous advance on the weapons Field previously employed against the French. The lighter gun guns, weighs 7 cwt., and throws a shell of 11 Ib weight, with a muzzle velocity of 1525 f. s. ; the heavier weighs 9 cwt., and throws a shell of 17 tt) weight, with a muzzle velocity of 1460 f. s. These are figures indicating power not to be attained by the English 8-cwt. gun, or even the newer pattern of 6 cwt. throwing a 9 Ib shell with a muzzle velocity of 1380 f. s., and the 12-cwt. gun, throwing a 1 6 1) shell with a muzzle velocity of 1360 f. s, The immediate consequence of the introduction of these improved German pieces was the instituting of a series of experiments in England which resulted in the production of a muzzle-loading field gun, weighting 8 cwt., and throwing a 13-lb projectile with a muzzle velocity of 1560 f. s. Shrapnel shell from this gun will retain velocity over 800 f. s. (the speed below which they cease to possess high efficiency) up to 3500 yards range. In this new gun advantage is taken of all the latest improvements, such as an enlarged powder chamber, in creased length of bore, polygroove rifling, rotation by gas- check, and powder specially adapted to the piece. Although the introduction of this field gun once more places English light-artillery in the van, further progress is near. Sir W. FIG. 24. Coehorn Howitzer.
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