ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1062, 11 February 1913, Page 4

ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS.

The startling manner in which modern battleships are developing is again illustrated by the four armoured ships which are to bo laid down under the shipbuilding programme for the current year. The displacemeni of the battleships will be in the neighbourhoods of 30,000 tons, as compared with the 17,000 tons of the Dreadnought and 22,500 tons of the Orion. They will be of exceptionally high speed, and will represent more or less an amalgamation of the battlcsrip and the battle cruiser. They will be armed with 14-inch guns, and will burn oil fuel exclusively. Moreover, in view of the advance in air-craft for war purposes, the new battleship will be specially equipped both for offensive and. defensive purposes. In addition to carrying a good proportion of overhead armour to protect them from missiles and explosives dropped from aeroplanes, they will also be equipped with guns by which they will be able to carry on effective warfare againse aerial craft. This end will be achieved by modifying the present four-inch guns mounted for defence against torpedo craft, so that it can be elevated to an angle that will make it available for almost vertical shooting. Tins involves a change of the mounting rather than in the gun itself. The pedestal of the gun will be shaped like the half of an arch, the breech end of the gnu pointing in the same direction as the overhanging part of the broken arch.

Several anfci-aireraffc guns an* already on the market wbicb can bo elevated 9U decrees, but it i.s undor.stodd tliat Hie type adopted by the Admiralty will elevate to about SO degrees, at wliieli angle it will bo capable of landing a shell weighing Hllb to a height of 27,000 ft. The (shell for use against aircraft will be of a modified shrapnel type, isot with a combined time and percussion fuse, and a charge behind the shrapnel bullets will ensure a large area being covered by them and the flying fragments of the shell. A small cloud of smoke accompanying the burst will enable the gunner to correct any errors in his aim,

For anti-torpedo craft work the ordinary shells now in nsc will lie used. The effective range of the gun in work against, surface slops is 18,000 yards, ami the maximum height of the trajectory wiieti firing at this range is over 18,000 feet. It is probable that the guns will he mounted on a superstructure around the single funnel, which is all the vessels will require burning oil fuel exclusively.