The Cairo bulletin., 1904-10-16

which they arc all agreed, and that Is
as To the great value of the larger ca
liber guns, say from the S.inch to the
4 Finch, as compared with the more
rapid but less powerful guns OF Csinch
calibre and lcls. Before the war we
heard a great deal about ,he wonder
full hail Of rapid-fre shell with which
the ship which carried numerous
battery of 5-inch and G-inch guns was
to smother" her adversary and wreck
his unprotected sides and upper
works The Japanese tactics, forced
upon him by the necessity OF defeat.
| ing the enemy with as little loss as
possible to himself. have changed all
that. Japan possessed only limited
navy. every ship Of which was thrown
at once into the field OF operations
She had absolutely no reserve to draw
upon, and any gap that was made in
her lighting line she could not hope
to fill up. Hence, in the battles of
the war, whether against ships in the
open or against land Notifications, she
has elected to fight, or rather she had
no choice but to fight at long range.
She trusted to her superior seamans-
ship and gunnery to enable her to
place a larger percentage Of effective
hits upon the enemy than he could
hope to do upon her own ships. The
events of the war have shown that
these tactics were correct; for the en-.
ormous losses that her gunners have
inflicted upon the enemy have been
brought about without the loss of
ship, or even its serious disablemen..
at least so far as we know, by Rus
sian gun fire.
To carry on successful artillery
luel at long range, however. is only
possible with the .high-powered, large.
adhered gun. At ranges of from s.
200 to 5000 yards. at which the Jap.
anese elected TO fight the G-lnch, g. /
inch and smaller caliber guns were
useless, the velocity of the smaller |
Drojectilea falling off so rapidly that |
hey were, at such ranges, altogether |
Intellectual against tho armorcd. por |
lions of a ship. Under such condi |
tons, the engagements resolved them I
selves into trial of skill between the |
marksmen of the 12-inch and S-inch /
guns And how excellent'th this was on |
he Japanese side may be Judged from
the fact that the official report sent
N from the flagship Czarevitch spoke
If her as having received three ~
inch proiectiles in the neighborhood
Of the coming tower within space
IF five minutes. Evidently the gun is
supreme, and the big gun at that
The effect of the war is showing IT,
self In the designs for new battleships
and cruisers that have lately been fi.
yulged Japan herself has ordered
from an English shipyard two battle
ships that win carry four 12-inc.l an9
four l0-inch guns, and dozen inch
The 10-inch gun forms the main bat.
terry of many modern battleshps. not
ably those of the Pobieda clase. m
At Port Arthur. so that practically tn
new ships will have double the nun
Der OF armor-piercing guns of the first
class that are now carried by mo fern
5attleships. The British government
are also following the same policy.
Their new battleships of the Lord
Nelson class will carry four l2-inch
guns of As. caliber, but no 6-inch or
I " inch, their place being taken by
EN- 9.2.inch guns of 80 caliber. Thus ,
he whole of the main battery consists
Of afmor-piercing guns of long range .
md great penetrative power. while
he intermediate or secondary battery
las been abolished, and the vessel ,
,arries in its place numerous bat !
cry of small 3-inch and other rapid
irers for protection against torpedo I
BOAT attack. The same policy has q
)een followed in the first-cIass crus. :
RS of the Minotaur class, which will
rot mount any G-inch guns, but will
De armed with four 5O-calber 9.2-inch
yuns and ten 5O-caliber rs rapid-frers.
The 9.2-inch piece. which was re-
entity illustrated in this journal. fires ,
3S0-pound shell with a muzzle veloc. /,
ty of 300 feet per second, a muzzle /;
mercy of 25,fS5 foot tons. and is capa
Ne of penetrating twelve inches of
lrupp steel at a range of 5000 yards
The 7.5-inch gun, which forms the sec
'ndary battery Of the cruisers. has
nuzzle velocity of 5000 feet per sec