ARMOOR-PLATE EXPERIMENTS.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2831, 12 March 1878, Page 3

ARMOOR-PLATE EXPERIMENTS.

Some interesting «nd ii: j-c* '.tiv.i e.v^friments with arm< ur-pl»>tes (••o!« phi< •• at Portsmouth on December 18 uwdv. --l-e superintendence of tho natal • titlioi'•! s. The day was magnificently !»••«•, ami us we steamed from the dock;»r«l s-'t'l.? !o Poichester Creek in the launch w! ic'i ii;|rl been placed at otiv disposal '■ y tl.e Admiralty, we could not but !'■ el tlnit mi.i December climate in (he south of Kn^land was sometimes grontly msili-rned. In ' | truth, Portsmouth Harbour as it appeared to us was by ilself worth the {rouble of a journey from town. Under the genial influence of the morning sun (he red tilts of the houses on shore and the white forms of the leviathan hulks floating lazily on the unruffled water looded more than ever picturesque, and it was with a feeling of regret that we passed at full speed Himulapa and Assistance, Bellerophon and Bojdu-ea. Discovery and GlaHau—a curious medley, household words all the world over in old or present time—and found ourselves on the deck of the Nettle in readiness for the hard work ;of the day before us. The experiments i were limed to commence at ten o'clock, and by that hour a select assembly of oflicinl and scientific celebrities had arrived to witness them. Sir John Garvock, the {military commandant of the south' western district, Admiral the Hon. F. Foley, navy and army officers by the score, distinguished officials from the War Department and the Admiralty, a covey of Ibreign aftacbis, and a goodly crowd of representatives from the manufacturing districts, testified by their presence to the importance attached to the proceedings. The vessel, a fine old hulk, ordinarily usrd for educational purposes as a dependency to 'he Excellent, had been filled up for the occasion; and — what sounds passing strange to lay ccmErehension— both, gun and targets were on oard. A well some 'en yards wide had been excavated amidships;,ttie embrasures were cut on one side, tiie targets were fixed on the other. The. targets consequently received the full force of the initial velocity of the proje'etile, and the visitors had to retire, as each was fired, to a safe spot in the recessed below in order

to avoid the fragmentary morsels of iron and steel which were scad ered broadcast over the deck. According to the programme, the experiments were to consist of three shots filed at e?.ch of the four armour plates which formed the targets from a 12-ton muzzle-loading rifled gun. The charge was the battering one of 001b of pebble poyrder. The projectile was a chilled Palliser shot of 2CDIb we'ght. The muzzle velocity was 1420 ft a second, and the distrnce from the gun to plale was 80ft. The four targets were of different material. No. 1 w?s of solid iron ; No. 2 of solid steel;. No. 8 of hard steel on iron; and No. 4of hard steel between iron. With one exception this programme was strictly adhered to, and the results of fhe frial may be worth short notice in detail., Target No. 1, of solid iron, was procured from Sir Jdseph Whitworth, who was himself present to witness the experiments. It was of smaller she than the others, and differed from them in that it was sludded with steel plugs, while they were smooth rolled. It bore its trial bravely, but without much success. The first shot, hitting it some fourteen inches from the right edge, penetrated about seven or eight inches, and produced several small cracks on its surface; the second, in its centre, hit a steel stud, and failed to do gnat damage; but the third, aimed to the left, knocked the target into four separate pieces, end scattered great splits all over it. The next three rounds were fired against No. 2 target. It was a solid steel plate, subcarburised (Cammell's patent); this is to say, it was of steel, with a small allowance of carbon, in order that it might be more malleable. It bore two shots weM, but the third was fatal to it, knocking i'c into 'five pieces. It must however, be said to have been successful in one of the objects for which it was designed. Not a splinter escaped from it. The shot found their waj t , and the only displacement of metal visible consisted of a coronet of steel lapping outwards where tLey had entered. With this target, as with others made of steel, a most curious noise, as of hissing, whs noticeable for some minutes after the shot had struck, very^often followed by the enlargement of existing cracks, and by the appearance at times of fresh cracks altogether. With the third target, made of combined steel and iron, not much could be done. It was apparently out of order, so that after a couple of shots, both of which showed that the steel of which it. was composed had become rotten from some defect of manufacture, the experiments were continued at the fourth or "sandwich" target, made of hard steel between two layers of iron. It bore its first shot without flinching; hardly a crack was visible, nor were there any splinters from it. The second shot, however, did much damage, cracking its whole length, and when the third and last shot was over the visitors were bound to conclude that it was in no way better than its compeers. All except the one which was fortunately hors de combat had done their duty fairly well, and reflected credit on their manufacturers, but all bad failed to stand tho overstraining test imposed on them. If the Admiralty, as was reported hadordered the experiments, with a view of testing the merits against iron-plating, they will not have obtained any great return for the expense which has been incurred. They will hardly be better informed on this paticular subject now than they have been for some years past. If, however, they merely wished to test the power of heavy guns on various kinds of steel and armour-plates, they will have had abundant success, for the experiments were most interesting in themselves, and were carried out without a hitch, in a manner which reflects the greatest credit on all, both officers add men, concerned. All the visitors, at any rate, came away delighted with what they had seen, and all were impressed with the idea that there were many ffess pleasant ways of spending a December day than on board H.M.S. Nettle in Porchester Creek.—From the Globe.