The Washington times., 1918-06-29
PARIS MYSTERY
GUN A VARIATION
Of OLDPRINC|PLES


score wounded. The nearest point on
the battlefront to the locality of
defamation was sixty-two miles. As
no cannon in history had ever been
known TO carry more than ha.f that
distance, the theory that the shells
had been discharged from a great
gun was at first dismissed by the pub
! lie as impossible, although ordnance
experts said that such a source OF
the shells was quite possible. and
they furnished figures to prove their
point: the only observation they at
! first added was that such a gun Would
be almost immobiIe on account of its
size and weight.
Various speculations. some preclud-
ing the use of a gun. were INDUCED
I in. There was the theory OF a shell
within a she'll" i. e.. that a great gun
fires a shell a certain distance and
that this shell then acts like a gun
and discharges a smaller shell for
ward. But this theory could be easily
dismissed, as a gun. like any other
/ baIlistic instrument, needs a fulcrum.
and the first she'll when it discharged
the second would have none.
Aerial Torpedo Theory.
Another idea was that of an aerial
torpedo within a giant shell, 1. E., the
! shell at the extreme of its range dis
charges by a defamation a contained
aerial torpedo, which then carries on
by means of propellers driven by a
motor contained in the torpedo. This
theory was demolished by the frag-
ments of the shells found. Then there
was the belief, soon dissipated, that
as the shells continued day after day
to drop in the same quarter that the
projectiles had been dropped from an
aeroplane maneuvering from a hIth-
erto unattained altitude.
The gun theory. however. finally pre-
vailed, and a month ago experts were
still demonstrating it when 1t fell to two
ordnance officers. one French and the
other Italian. to solve the problem OF
The great gun. The Frenchman WORKED
out with the help OF assistants placed al
intervals along the FIRST quarter OF the
range the baIlistic propertis Of both gun
and shell. while the Italian, with the
data thus furnished and some fras-
ments Of shells. reconstructed both gun
and projectile-
To use the latter's own words. there
is nothing extraordinary about La
Grande Berthe" as the Parisians call
the gun. 1T is a variation; not nov
city It is a detail Of an old fact not
an unheard-of fact" (E una variazione
non una noyita- E IN particolare di un
fatto vecchio. non un fatto inaudito)
Experiments Decade Ago.
First, however, it was necessary TO
disprove the existence OF the novelty"
Of the "unheard-of fact"
1t was well known to the experts that
ten years before the British war office
had experimental with a weapon in
vented by a Mr.. Simpson which" &C
cording to Col F. n. Maude, in the
Contemporary Review OF April, 1905, can
impart by the application Of electricity
an initial velocity Of 5000 feet a second
to projectiIes OF all dimensions which
can be practically handled under war
conditions, and on board ship or in per
manent defenses." and he added that
200 pounds weight lies fairly within
these limits" But the archives OF the
British war office proved that there was
a hitch somewhere. for The new
weapon" had never materialized-
The next thing to be proved
nought was the existence of a giant
gun firing a giant shell, the dimen-
sions of which. in order TO account
for the distance covered. should be in
proportion to those OF known caliber.
This point was dwelt upon at some
length by the experts until the error
OF entertaining il was proved IN
very simple manner--the size Of the
shell was found out OF all proportion
to the giant gun theory.
Since the days OF Napoleon the ef-
fective range OF A gun that can be
brought into action has increased
from l 900 yards to $4,000 yards. The
limits Of range have been governed
by (a) mobility and (b) traverse.
l. e. the power TO move the gun about
and the power to point the gun in
different directions. As for the rest
the gunmaller can have his gun tube
a. strong as he likes, its explosive
chamber as big as he likes. its buff
fers built in as he likes.
Now. the largest rifle which the
Krupps have turned out is known TO
be hfteen-inch gun. weighing !
ninety-three tons. with a sixty-three-
foot length OF tube. Its shell weighs
.575 pounds. and its extreme ranEe
is twenty-nine miles The only /
known development OF this rife is
the sixteen-inch coast defense gun !
made by the United States Govern I
ment for the Panama canal forts. This !
fires projectile weighing 2.l00 !
pounds about thirty-tVo miles
Held 20 he "ImpOasIbIe."
II - thus easy to calculate that a |
further development in order TO meet F.!
the known results Of the gun firing /
on Paris would require a weapon from !
thirty 10 thirty-two inch caliber. |
Weighing over 200 tons, with tube |
100 feet long. firing a prOjectile |
weighing nearly 5000 pounds
such a gun was at once demon |
strated TO be Impossible" owing TO Z
the elements governing the limits OF
range as already noted-mobility and I
traverse But the fnaI fact that dis |
posed Of this type OF gun was the /
caliber Of the shells. The earlier re-
constructions from fragments made /
Them 40 millimeters, Or $50 inches. /
later they were proved to be 30 mill
limeLers. or 81 inches
Thus the experts, having disposed |
OF the novelty" and the ''unheard-of 1
fact" began to search for the ''Varia-