THE ARMOURY OF THE WORLD

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3026, 13 March 1917, Page 6

THE ARMOURY OF THE WORLD

BRITAIN'S INCREASE OF WAR WEAPONS Some idea of the enormous British in j crease in the output of munitions ifigathered from figures -which the "Daily .News" gives ou high authority. Guns,, ammunition, and explosives have been,, and are still being, greatly increased, in. number week by week. Taking artillery ammunition, and working as a basis for the calculation of average weekly production from the commencement oi' the war up to tho end of June, 1915, the following figures show the rate of progress:— Average weekly ' producAverage tion Week Week weekly July 1, end- endproduc- 1915, to ing jng tion June July Nor. end of 30, 1, 25, June, 1915. 1916. 1916. 1916. 18-pdr 1 6! 17i 13 ; Field Howitzers ' (4.Sin.) 1 S 27 48 i Medium guns & : howitzers 1 "V 311 Heavy howitzers (above 6in.)... 1 22 94 323 We are now, in fact, manufacturing in SJ- days tho number of 75mm. shells which ive were producing during the first year of the war. The same quantity of projectiles for field howitzers is being: supplied in eight days; that of projectiles! for medium guns and howitzers in 01: days; and that of projectiles for heavy guns and howitzers in a little more than, one day With regard to ammunition, for heavy artillery, England is manufacturing at the present moment three times as many 155 mm. shells, 5 times a 6 many 200 mm. shells, and three times as many 230 mm. shells per week as she manufactured during the whole of the mst year of the war. . With regard to guns, the followingfigures may be given:- . to First Second Nov. 23, year. veai*. 191R--18-pdr 300 '2JO 45 4.5 in 100 6a4 10t ■ Medium (60-pdr. . mn and 6in.) 100 IMS ISM Heavy (over 6in.) 100 6-3 The manufacture of 18-pdr. guns lias; hud to be slackened during the last, period, tho equipment ot the Bntisn Army in light field pieces being approximately complete, iho improvement intho manufacture of machine-guns, grenades, and explosives has been equally satisfactory. If the to al ™™ber « machine-guns delivered to the Army du ing the first year of tho war bo represented by 100, tho total could bo represented relatively by 1250 at tho end of the second year, and by 2000 on DecemTaking l6 *; a base the jrecfclr P rol J"?' tion of machine-guns in jj' and representing it by 100, the corre spending figure for the weekly tion in November, 191G, 'jould be 110The increase in the manufacture of explosives has been extremely rapid. lor everv ton of explosive empteycfl in .-Optembcr 1914, 350 tons were emnloyecl in .Tulv, 1915, and from 11,000 to l-,oofli tons in July, 1916. The production of trench mortar ammunition and f™nadej, ha been so much developed that any f»rtnc increase scarcely seems Between Mav, 1915, and Mav, 1916, thoiP ■was a 33-fold increase m hombs and * 150-fold in the vei D ht contained explosive.