AN AWFUL WEAPON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2134, 31 October 1885, Page 2

AN AWFUL WEAPON.

The fearful ravages wrought by the explosions of dynamite leave no ono unable to conjecture what might be tho consequence of a bombardmeut in which missiles charged with dynamite should be employed. The difficulty has also been easy to anticipate. The shock of explosion of the gun-charge would under the old system in all probability fire the shellcharge, dynamite being easily exploded by mechanical shock, and the gun and shell might naturally be expected to destroy the gunners rather than the enemy. The Americans, who seem rather fond of trying the supposed impossible, first began to experiment on dynamite missiles; and an officer of the American Navy contrived what may be called a colossal air-gun, in which the shell charged -with dynamite might bo started on its flight with an easy but accelerating motion, avoiding the shock so certainly productive of premature explosion, and obtained by a high air pressure through a long boie the velocity requisite. The idea had been foreshadowed by the Lyman accelerating gun, which, starting the shot with a small charge, followed it up by successive explosions of accelerating charges placed along the bore, and giving it the highest initial velocity ever attained by any gun, The Lyman gun failed, as may have been anticipated, through the weak spots introduced into the system by the mechanical arrangement for securing the accelerating charges from exploding permaturely or not exploding at all, and the great relief given to the gun by the modification of the explosive qualities of the powder has probably put an end to the experiment in acqelerating oharges. The sucoess of the experimental air-gun in throwing to effective distances shells filled with dynamite, or even nitro-glyce* rine, was such that a gun ot Bin. calibre, and calculated to throw a shell three miles, was planned, It was perfectly correct in thoery, and was made apparently on the only safe method; but while the scientific officer who conceived it was following outthedevelopment of his system by mathematical calculation, one of the more characteristic practical inventors had attacked the problem from the other side. Instead of makinghis propelling force more elastic, he gave the elasticity to his missile, and by a wad or cushion of caoutchouc of the requisite quality so took up the first impulse given by the explosion that a shell filled with dynamite was fired with complete safety, and an effect which can be more easily imagined than calculated, A shell fired from an ordinary battery gun, and carrying lllbsof dynamite, striking a ledge of gneiss which formed the target, blew out a cavity 20ft, in diameter and 6ft deep. No fuse is required, as tlfe shell explodes by concussion as it hits its mark ; and it was easy to see that a single shell of this description striking the aide of the most solid ironclad in oxistence near the water line would be likely to send her to the bottom. Thus far no accident isreported in the experiments, which aretobe, if they are not by this time, repeated with guns of much heavier calibre. But the qalibre of the gun is of secondary importance; its range and the capacity of the shell for carrying dynamite are the ohief elements to calculate on, and if a shell carrying lOOlbs of the explosive can be fired from one of the heavy guns now in use, the first hit decides any conflict as between single ships, and one of our steel unarmoured cruisers will yield no quicker than than the Inflexible to the shock of such an explosion. The prospect of such a charge in the present condition of warfare is appalling, and theonly consolation whichcivilization can draw from it is that it is the defence that profits most. It is true that comparatively small gunboats carrying one large gun, might approach by night, or even by day, near enough to a seaport to throw several dynamite shells into an inhabited city, and with a devastating effect, which recent events can suggest, and the boats themselves being small and swift, may be very difficult to hit, while the city can hardly be missed; but tho land defences have not only the faculty of employing heavier artillery and of longer range, but of working with much greater aoouracy and safety, and much less expense, as an accident with dynamite such as premature explosion of a shell, will sink a ship, but would be attended will but slight damage to works or men in an open battery, and such accidents would be always more likely to happen at sea than on shore. A flotilla of small unarmoured boats, each carrying one heavy gun, will, thus armed and aided by shore defences, defy iu defence any ironclad fleet that can be formed to-day, and as the boats and guns are already in existence, any rifled gun being available, as the entire novelty is in the shot, it is possible that we may see ironclads out of fashion, and the navies of the whole civilised world running to the opposite extreme from that lately resorted to, and building the smallest gunboats that can safely carry a gun, It is rash to conclude anything on such novel conditions, but one thing is clear—that if from a gun of moderate calibre a shot can be fired which shall crush in the side of any ironclad in existence, the work of a shot will be wisely expended in getting range with accuracy alone, and it may be necessary to make new calculations for the construction of the most efficient type of gun, whilo ironclads will be considered as far more speculative investments. A long gun of relatively small calibre, and carrying a long shot, would seem in such circumstances to be the gun of the future,