THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1909. GUN AND ARMOR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9650, 15 November 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1909. GUN AND ARMOR.

The rivalry between the gun and the armor is that between attack and defence, thump and guard, which inevitably and unceasingly goes on in every wphere where conflict is a possibility. In turn each is liable to head the other, and at present, so far as French experiments are a guide, the gun is leading. That is the significance of the recent cable news that the French Admiralty's tests show that "the guns beat the ' armor in every instance" and prove "that no vessels are sufficiently protected against the latest type of projectiles." For some time experts of many nationalities have been troubled on the gun question. Quite recently Japan and the United States have each had an over-boomed new weapon discussed, ki the naval market place, while British warships now building are being equipped with 13.5 in and Americans with 14in guns. It would scarcely be reasonable to aay that this quest for more murderous precision was unnecessary, for, space being limitless, as long as war remains possible there will always be the chance of outdoing the potential or actual enemy in the matter of range. But as far as gun and armor are concerned, ic is time to start improving the latter again, if the French experience is generally ! applicable. The "Naval Annual" for this year reports that the 12in gun being mounted on some of the new British vessels has a penetration of 17 inches of Krupp armor at 2,000 yards or say a mile and threequarters, and the 13.5, with a 1,250 lb projectile, exceeds this both in reach and penetration. The new 4in gun penetrates about Sin of Krupp armor at 3,000 yards, and as this weapon is principally intended for use on small warcraft, its forrnidableness against vessels with limited capacity for armor carrying is evident. To all this has to be added the fact that an improved torpedo is expected to have a speed of 31 knots, an effective range of 7,000 yards, and a bursting charge of 2001b, and that gunnery has so far advanced that the Indomitably, firing at a target 90ft by 30ft—very small indeed compared to the average fighting ship—has made 18 hits out of 32 shots at a range of 8,000 yards, is it any wonder that armor is temporarily having the worst of it against such a battery and such a range? Su-. rierinnt.y in sea fiahtinp, however ia j attained by several qualifications. It

is a matter oi both penetrathe and | resisting power, of course, but alao 1 one of reach and speed and range. When the Dreadnought took water she put all other fighting ships out of the question—unless the antiDreadnought, construction party is right, and the nations who have all been hastily planning and building Dreadnoughts ever since on the advice of their experts are wrong —by incomparable range, and for her size, speed. On the water as in the ring the long arm ami the speedy movement are generally what tell. Still, as there have been men with no particular executive deftntss. but wonderfully able to impert irbably, take unmoved all the punishment the smart boxer could administer, so if any nation could hava devised for its ships an armor that was virtually projectile proof, that would turn the piercing cupped and uncapped projectiles alike, it could afford to let the question of range and speed go, j and even invite the enemy to come to close quarters. This is always a possibility, however dimly, and has been ever since the Americans | started in search >f perfect resistance. by building their iron pachyderms during the Civil War. Someday some Power may achieve it, and thereby compel the fightable world to start all over again, build ships for their impenetrable skins, ard sell the Dreadnoughts to South American Republics. It will not be for want of trying, at any rate, tor every Power is continually making experiments in the hope of bettering the armor. In the meantime, the French precept, that the whole of the vessel should bfi uniformly protected, appeals to common sense, and as applied to the British navy is one of those expensive lessons which"can only be learned by experience as fighting machinery becomes more and more deadly.