OUR MONSTER GUNS.
GERMAN LONG-TOMS OUTDONE.
London, July 31. Many people have no doubt forgotten that at the time of the great sensation caused by the news that the Germans were actually shelling Paris—a feat that was at first ridiculed as impossible at the distance —it was announced that we were making guns of a similar range by way of future tu quoque. The work was necessarily one of considerable time, but two such guns are now on the point of completion in this country by the Vickers firm to Government orders. These two cannon will be unique They are really the standard naval I'ii-inch guns reduced to S-inch by inserting inferior linings in the bore's. They will fire special streamer shells, so shaped as to avoid air friction and secure smooth rotation and oven flight, and the range is expected to be at least 75 miles. I believe these guns were ordered by Mr Churchill when he was in charge of munitions, afid were not ap-' j proved by our military authorities in | France, partly owing to the difficulty of transport, the guns and special mountings being very heavy and bulky, and partly because no adequate military results were foreseen From the military point of view, the killing in Paris of a few people by long-distance freak shell fire was negligible. But from an expert ballistic and artillery point of view, the new weapons will be of supreme interest. We shall also possess in a short time several 18-inch howitzers of tiwdfe wwer.
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Taranaki Daily News, 27 September 1919, Page 3
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254OUR MONSTER GUNS. Taranaki Daily News, 27 September 1919, Page 3
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