£1000 Per Shot.

Huntly Press and District Gazette, Volume 4, 3 December 1915, Page 3

£IOOO Per Shot.

WHAT MODERN ARTILLERA COSTS. This is a war of artillery. Shells and shrapnel are being used on a scale far in excess of the calculations of he most far-see-ing military experts of Europe. That is why Kitchener and French are asking for shells and still more shells ; for a great proportion of the £24 a minute which this war is costing is being blown away by our big guns. To fire a single shot from our biggest guns costs £I,OOO, and some idea of the expenditure of naval firing can be gathered from the fact that one famous battleship could use up roughly £20,000 worth of ammunition per minute if she worked all her guns at full blast, as she would do if necessary To this huge outlay must be added the cost of the gun, remembering that the largest weapon has a very short life, and is soon worn out. The most expensive gun ws use is the 15in., though other big guns run up heavy ammunition bills. For instance, £75 vanishes in flame and smoke every time a 13.5 weapon is fired. The guns which expend £I,OOO worth of ammunition every time they are fired are really wonderful pieces of artillery. They can heave a ton weight of explosive shell over a distance of thirty mi’ ■ with the certainty of hit;ns y spot ' ho- aim at. The 1 1 v, '■ : y t e sh >t is ■,r /i ng the gun it ■e en i. ■ to go straight v!.r r, 57 uu. of wrought iron. i’he 12in. g;:.o can eat up well over £IOO worth ol ammunition per minute. For a 9.2 in. it is approximately under £3O; for a 7.5 in. under £2O, and for a 6in. about £l2.