GENERAL HAMILTON'S VISIT

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2154, 21 May 1914, Page 6

GENERAL HAMILTON'S VISIT

TO-MORROW'S -BOMBARDMENT OF • THE OLD DEVON v BATTLE PRACTICE AT THE FORTS A SPECTACULAR TREAT. Goneral Sir lan Hamilton, InspectorGeneral of tho Overseas Forces, will arrive in Wellington to-day. He will bo accompanied by Major-General Godley, G.O.C. Nc\v Zealand Defence Forces, and Major Ashmore,.who is on. Goneral Hamilton's Staff. Brigadior-General Ellison, tho Inspcctor-Gcneral's Chief Staff Officer, is at present in Wellington.

On Friday morning Goneral Sir lan Hamilton will leave town at 9 o'clock by motor-car for Fort Dorset, to witness the gun practice by the Royal New Zealand Artillery and the Garrison Artillery, with the Mark VII, 6-inch guns. When the bombardment of tho wreck is over, the three Wellington forts —Dorset. Ballalice, and Kclburnc —will ■ engage in battle practice, tiring at two Horig-Ivong targets, representing a hostile cruiser, to be drawn'by the Janie Seddon. The cannonade will be opetiT ed at a range-of threo miles from Fort Dorset, and as' the "cruiser" chines closer in shore, the 12-pounders and the G-inch guns of Forts Ballalice. and Kelburne will be brought into play. After inspecting the troops at Fort Dorsot, Goneral Hamilton will be tendered a. civic reception in the Town Hall at 4 p.m. The reception will be held in the big hall, and ■an open invitation is extended to all citizens to attend. Yesterday 'six. rounds of - service. shell were fired from Fort Dorset at-- -the Devon. The. object of this shoot was to discover the range, this being necessay'iii view of the .fact that an ordinary practice service shell, which is expensive, js never used, but only a cheaper practice shell. Two out of the six shots hit the Devon, but Lieuten-ant-Colonel : Johnston (Director of Artillery), under' whose direction, tho sliooting was carried out, informed a reporter that the object of' tho firing was not to do any .damage to the wreck, and that littlo orxno damage, was done.

'file practice which will be carped out on the,'" Devon. :to-morro\v from Fort' Dorset, will give- some idea of the effect of modern gun-fire on ships. Owing.,to' tho,fact that tho -Devon is now practically . a'-shell, the effect will not bo such as would be expected were she an armoured'vessel, hut it is hoped, by; aiming at the engines to .obtain'.tho resistance necessary for the best results'. possible.; -Arrangements aro being made for the public to; view tho shooting from the hills near tho fort. The; following is a short description of the" gun, shells, and ammunition that will be used:— . .

The Gun. The gun is known as 8.L.G." Mk. .VII; its weight is approximately 7 tons, length over all about 22ft. Gin. [t-. is a wire gun of tlie most modern type, the breech being closed by an interrupted screw breech block provided with a lock suitable for, firing by means of electric wireless. The breech mechanism is actuated by,a single motion lever, a shot guide, tube extractor and the lock working automatically. This enables a high rate of firo to be attained, from 6 to 10 rounds per minute, as against 1 round with older types of 6-inch guns. With full charges' the projectile leaves the gun at'the rate of about 2500 feet per second, and when using armour-piercing projectiles this would give a penetration of about 15 inches of wrought iron or about half that thickness of modern armour at 4000 yards. ' /

v The Projectiles. The weight of tho projcctile, for this gun, is 1001b. Tho cliarge consists of 231b. of jiiodifietl cordito contained in a silk cloth bag, with a small igniter of gunpowder at the base. Lyddite shells , are 1 forged steel projectiles, having a hollow interior , ivhich' contains about 111b. of lyddite (which is about four times as powerful as the same , weight of gunpowder) with an exploder of picric powder on top to ensure detonation of tlio lyddite. A percussion fuso is screwed into the nose of the shell. On striking an object the fuse is set in action, the flash from it passes into the shell, and ignites the bursting charge. This shell depends principally for its effect on the strength of tile bursting charge'. Uncapped amiour-pieicing shells are made of cast or forged steel, the points aro made extremely hard for penetrating, 'while the bodies are softer, to enable the shell to hold' together when they. 1 - strike hard-faced armour. These shells are pointed, hollow in tho centre, and contain a charge of about 6jb,. gunpowder; a fuso is screwed into the base of tho shell, and on the prolectilo striking an object of sufficient resistance, the fuse is set in action, as in the case of lyddite. Capped armourmcrcing shells are "similar to th« above, but. aro fitted with a> cap of mild steel, ibis cap prevents; the point of the snell breaking when hard armour is struck, and enables the penetration of tho projcctile to .be considerably increased. .

jThe Cadet Review. , On Saturday afternoon General Hamilton, will inspect* the Defence Ritlo Clubs and the Senior Cadets of the Wellington city and suburban districts St Newtown Park. The cadets, numbering sonic 1200 youths, divided into [our battalions, will parade, in the following organisation:— Brigadier, Captain C. G. Powles, N.Z.SiC.: Brigade-Major, Captain AY. C, Morrison ; Brigade Sergeant-Major. S.S.M. Parkes. 1; irst Battalion—Wellington Collego Cadets (four companies), under Captain Williams and S.M.'s AVoodward and AA'rav. Second Battalion—Four companies, made up of St.' Patrick's College, St. •Tames's, St. Anne's (Brooklyn), St. Thomas's (Newtown), and Post and Telegraph Cadets, under Cantain Simeon. and S.M.'s Brown and Brighting. Third Battalion—Four companies, comprising tho Potoue, Technical, Thorndon. Karori, Jolinsonville, Petone, and Lowor Hutt Cadets, under Major Bethuno and S.M.'s Ryan and Morrison.

Fourth Bnttnlioit—Four companies, consisting of-Y.M.C.A., Scouts, Boys' Institute, and Technical School Cadets, under Captain Frandi and 'S.M.'s Smith and Bell.

The brigade will.be formed' up on J Newtown Park grounds in lino of quar-ter-columns for inspection by General Hamilton. After the inspection and march past the brigade will rive a ■massed dikpla.y of plivsical drill, followed by an advance in review order. General S>r Tan Hamilton will tlie'n present the Ladies' Challenge Cups to the winners: but if the musketry course has not been finished in ally Yompan'v bv. that date the officor'commmiding will receive Hie cup on behalf of his "company The Inspector-General rfill also nresent the cups won at the recent Citizens' Carnival and Group Riile Meeting. -A special practieo of the physical drill exercises will bo held at 'ho Drill Hall 011 Friday night, when it is urged that as many cadets as possible should be present. • On Saturday evening General Hamilton will dilie with the members of tlm Wellington Club. Oil Monday lie will insnec.t the Wairarapn Cadets at Mastcrton. 011 Tuesday oveninsr lm will attend tbo meeting of the i: ctorin League in Wellington. and on. Wednesday the General and liis stall' will oroceed br Hie warships Psvclie and Pvramus to inspect, the 'Marlborough Cadets at Blenheim. The latter will Ik> the last inspection which will b" made by General Hamilton in New Zealand, and 110 will conclude his visit shortly afterwards.