In the armament of our fine Navy guns are roughly distributed as follows:—81-ton, 13-1/2-inch, and superseded patterns of machine-guns such as Gatling’s, Gardner’s, and Nordenfelt’s, besides a few surviving muzzle-loaders, &c., are carried only by the oldest battleships.
The Simms armour-clad motor-car for coast defence.
Maxim guns and Pom-pom in action.
The first-class battleships are chiefly supplied with four 12-inch guns in barbettes, twelve 6-inch as secondary batteries, and a number of smaller quick-firers on the upper decks and in the fighting tops, also for use in the boats, to which are added several Maxims.
The first-class cruisers have 9.2 as their largest calibre, with a lessened proportion of 6-inch, &c. Some of the newest bear only 7-1/2 or 6-inch guns as their heaviest ordnance; like the second-class cruisers which, however, add several 4.7’s between these and their small quick-firers.
Vessels of inferior size usually carry nothing more powerful than the 4.7.
All are now armed with torpedo tubes.
These same useful little quick-firers and machine-guns have been the lethal weapons which made the armoured trains so formidable. Indeed, there seems no limit to their value both for offence and defence, for the battle chariot of the ancient Briton has its modern successor in the Simms’ motor war car lately exhibited at the Crystal Palace. This armour-plated movable fort is intended primarily for coast defence, but can work off beaten tracks over almost any sort of country. It is propelled at the rate of nine miles an hour by a 16-horse-power motor, carrying all its own fuel, two pom-poms, two small Maxims, and 10,000 rounds of ammunition, besides the necessary complement of men and searchlights for night use, &c., &c.
The searchlight, by the way, has taken the place of all former inventions thrown from guns, such as ground-light balls, or parachute lights with a time-fuse which burst in the air and remained suspended, betraying the enemy’s proceedings.