NAVAL GUN EXPLOSION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3776, 28 September 1907, Page 3

NAVAL GUN EXPLOSION.

Three Killed and Seven Injured on a French Training Ship.

The strange fatality which seems to attach to the port of Toulon has once more made itself felt by an accident on board the gunnery school ship La Couranne. Thiee men have met their death and seven have been wounded, some ot them, it is feared, fatally. The Couronne is an old armoured frigate, which has been displaced, and is used as a gunnery school ship, for which purpose 34 guns of old pattern are mounted. On a recent morning, as a number of officers and men were receiving a course of practical instruction in the handling and firing of a 100 millimetre (3'9in) gun, a violent explosion occurred. The ship was filled with fumes, and the cries of agony were heard proceeding from the galley. It was found that, following on a premature explosion, the heavy breech - block had crashed through the partition into the galley, killing outright two cooks. In addition, one of the men serving the gun was killed, and seven others wounded, including two officers. The commander at once sealed all the guns on board, in view of the enquiry which will be held to establish the cause of the disaster. The Couronne steamed back to port and transferred the wounded to the naval hospital. Two of them are in a grave condition. Curiously enough, a similar accident occurred on board the Couronne in April, 1906. The percussion lock somehow worked out of place, causing the charge to explode while the breech was still open. As in the present accident, three men lost their lives and seven or eight were wounded.