Page:The Development of Navies During the Last Half-Century.djvu/221

 old guns. The Woolwich gun factory, under the able superintendence of Colonel Maitland, promptly grappled with the problem, and from that day we have gradually been overtaking the lost ground. There has been delay, of course, but to entirely rearm the British fleet with a weapon essentially different to all that had gone before in our experience was a stupendous task, and this should be recognised. Mistakes must necessarily occur, and one important change we did not at first make. We adhered to the principle of an inner steel barrel surrounded by wrought-iron coils. There was a distrust of steel, which it took some years to eradicate, though Krupp had always used this material entirely in the construction of his guns. A 6-in. gun on the wrought-iron coil system lately burst with great violence in the 'Cordelia' from some unknown cause.

Since guns of this pattern were made we have discarded the wrought-iron coils, and now strengthen the steel barrel with hoops of the same material. In again taking up breech-loading guns an important matter to decide was the method of closing the breech after insertion of the charge. We could follow the plan adopted by Krupp, of a wedge inserted at the side or a screw plug at the rear, as used in France. The latter was adopted, and with it the ingenious device for saving time of an interrupted screw. The plug is a solid steel block with a screw thread on outer surface. This is divided longitudinally into a certain number of equal parts, and then the screw threads entirely removed from alternate portions. In the screw thread of the gun