ARTILLERY EXPERIMENTS.
The trials lately carried on at the Bill of Portland, supplement (says the Times) those of Inchkeith in certain respects. At Inchkeith it was sought to obtain a just idea of the effect of machine-gun and shrapnel fire on the detachment serving a gun mounted en barbette in an emplacement of tolerably recent design. Dummies were placed round the gun in exposed positions, and Her Majesty’s ship Sultan, under very favourable conditions of sea and weather, carried out some careful practice at various ranges. The results, accurately recorded, furnish data calculated to serve as a correction to mere conjecture. At Portland, the objects sought to be attained were two. The merits of the Moncrieff or ‘disappearing’ principle of mounting guns for coast-defence have been much discussed, and great advantages have been claimed for it with every show of reason; but no opportunity had ever been given to the system to practically demonstrate its defensive value. It was, therefore, sufficiently desirable that a practical experiment should be arranged in which ‘service-conditions’ should be observed as far as possible, so that there might be a something definite to set against prejudice either in favour of or against the system. It was proposed, at the same time, to seek to obtain data as to the accuracy of howitzer-fire from a floating platform.... To sum up the case with judicial fairness, the Portland experiments fully bear out all that the champions of the disappearing system have asserted; while its opponents—if there are any such—must perforce admit that at least nothing whatever is proved against it. More than this, however, appears to be indicated by these trials. There seems to be every reason to believe that all direct fire, whether of heavy or machine guns, against a disappearing gun when down, is thrown away; that in the short time during which this gun need be visible, it will require a very smart gun-captain on board ship merely to lay on it; that the more the smoke obscures it, the better, provided a position-finder is used; and finally, that to engage two or three dispersed disappearing guns would be a heart-breaking task for a ship. Probably the best chance of disabling guns mounted on this system is snap-shooting from the six-pounder quick-firing gun, which can be bandied almost as readily as a rifle. But, on the one hand, it does not necessarily follow that a hit from the six-pounder would have any effect on the disappearing gun; and, on the other hand, the latter would be able to get through a good deal of shooting before the six-pounder was able to come into effective action. Again, the six-pounder on board ship would presumably be met by the six-pounder on shore, which would shoot rather more accurately; while, even as opposed to these wonderfully handy little weapons, the disappearing system must stand superior to all others. In a turret or a cupola, more than half the length of the modern long guns must be always exposed to fire. All considerations, therefore, seem to point to the disappearing system as the most scientific method ever devised for protecting shore-guns, and the advantages to be obtained being so great, it becomes worth while to use every possible effort to bring the disappearing gun to practical perfection. The main difficulty is to render the larger guns independently automatic, and at present no gun larger than the eight-inch—the gun exhibited in the Inventions Exhibition—has been thus mounted in England.