Nothing is being talked about at present in Germany but the guns of great
caliber that are manufacturing at the celebrated works on the banks of the
Ruhr. As our neighbors appear to be elated over this wonderful work, it is
expedient to examine the subject, in order to see whether their applause is
legitimate.
We have known for a long time that the artillery _materiel_ devoted to the
defense of the German coasts consists of a long, stationary 5¾ inch gun; of
long 7¾ inch hooped steel guns, closed by a cylindrico-prismatic wedge; of
an 8 inch mortar; and of guns of 11¾ and 15 inch caliber. The 11¾ inch gun
is 22 feet in length, and, including the closing mechanism, weighs 79,200
pounds. As regards the projectiles that this weapon throws, the _ordinary_
shell is 33 inches in length, and weighs, all charged, 656 pounds, and the
_exploding_ shell, of the same length, weighs, all charged, 1,160 pounds.
The initial velocity of the latter is 1,600 feet with a maximum charge of
148 pounds of powder.
The 15 inch gun is 32.8 feet in length, and weighs 158,400 pounds. Its
projectiles are 3.67 feet in length. The _ordinary_ shell, charge included,
weighs 1,400 pounds, and the exploding shell, under the same circumstances,
1,700 pounds, that is, more than three quarters of a metric ton. The
initial velocity of this last named projectile is 1,650 feet with a maximum
charge of 1,650 pounds of powder. We also know that Mr. Krupp has two
models of guns of 13½ inch caliber, and of a length equal to 35 times the
caliber, say 39-5/12 feet. The lighter of these models (which was shown at
Anvers) weighs no less than 264,000 pounds, carriage not included. Its
cylindrico prismatic closing mechanism (_Rundkeilverschluss_) alone weighs
82,500 pounds. This is the weight of a 5¾ inch hooped steel gun!
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--NEW 52 FOOT KRUPP GUN AND A GERMAN FIELD PIECE
FIGURED ON THE SAME SCALE.]
We now learn that the Essen works have just begun the manufacture of a
314,600 pound gun. This piece, called "40 cm. kanone L/40," will, of
course, be of 15.6 inch caliber, but it will differ from the one above
described in that its length will be equal to 40 times the caliber, say 52
feet, or to the space occupied on the maneuvering ground by a field piece
drawn by six horses (Fig. 1). This gun will be provided with two kinds of
projectiles. One of these, called _light_, will be 3½ feet in length, weigh
1,628 pounds, and be capable of taking an initial velocity of 2,410 feet
and of piercing, on its exit from the chamber, either a hammered iron plate
3¾ feet in thickness or two united plates 1¾ and 2¾ feet in thickness.
The shell called _heavy_ will be 5¾ feet in length, and weigh 2,310 pounds,
say more than a 4¾ inch siege piece! The charge employed will be 1,067
pounds of brown, prismatic Dunwald powder. Ten hundred and sixty-seven
pounds--nearly half a metric ton, more than the weight of a field piece
without its carriage! With this enormous charge, the heavy shell will be
capable of an initial velocity of 2,100 feet and of piercing, on its exit
from the chamber, either a hammered iron plate 4 feet in thickness or two
united plates 2 and 2.88 feet in thickness.
The _Cologne Gazette_, from which we borrow most of the data just
presented, adds that the "40 L/40" piece will be the largest cannon in the
world, but that it will not long enjoy the privilege of such pre-eminence.
It appears, in fact, that Mr. Krupp is preparing to manufacture a gun of
17½ inch caliber, weighing 330,000 pounds. The projectile for this monster
will be 6 feet in length, say the stature of a full grown man, and will
weigh no less than a ton and a half. A man of medium stature will measure a
little less than this projectile (Fig. 2).
It is possible that all these figures have been slightly exaggerated by the
ultra-Vosges journals, who doubtless intend to make an impression upon us;
but we shall not dwell upon that point.
As regards the penetrating power of the large "40 L/40" gun, the German
press observes that in 1868 artillery was incapable of piercing in
one-hundredths of an inch what it is now piercing in tenths of an inch. The
principle was formerly admitted, it says, that a shell should by right have
a thickness equal to its caliber. Now, "the largest cannon in the world"
perforates a plate whose thickness is three times the diameter of the gun's
bore. What great progress! exclaim the German journals, and how jealous the
French and English are going to be! Jealous of that? Why, indeed? We are
not the least in the world so. How could we be? In the first place, we have
a gun of very great caliber--a 13¼ inch steel coast and siege piece. This
weighs 37 tons, and is 36¾ feet in length. Its projectile weighs from 924
to 1,320 pounds, according to its internal organization. Its conoid head is
very elongated, and by reason of this elegant form it always falls upon its
point, even at falling angles of an amplitude approaching 60 degrees. The
charge used varies from 396 to 440 pounds, according to the nature of the
powder. As for the ballistic properties of the piece, they are very
remarkable. Its projectile has an initial velocity of 2,132 feet, and the
maximum range is from 10 to 11 miles, say the distance from Paris to
Montgeron by the Paris-Lyons-Mediterranean railroad, or from Paris to
Versailles. Finally, the accuracy of this gun is much greater than that of
the 9½ inch steel one. Now, the accuracy of this latter is such that it is
impossible for its projectiles to miss a ship under way, and that we are
sure of playing with it against the enemy that game whose device is "We win
at every shot!" Well, we do not hesitate to say that these results appear
to us to be satisfactory--we mean quite sufficient--and that there is no
need of looking for a better gun. If there were, French industry would be
capable of producing weapons of any caliber desired. As regards this, there
is, so to speak, no limit; moreover, taking into account merely the
terrestrial conditions of the problem, we may be satisfied that the great
works of our country are more powerfully equipped than those of Essen, and
consequently better able to forge large pieces of steel.
Mr. Krupp, it is said, is very proud of his two power hammers, which he has
named Max and Fritz. But, on the whole, these two apparatus are only fifty
ton ones, and have a fall of but ten feet. Now, Creusot and St. Chamond
each has a hundred ton steam hammer with a fall of 16 feet, accompanied
with four furnaces and four cranes.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--3,300 POUND PROJECTILE OF A KRUPP GUN IN COURSE
OF MANUFACTURE.]
But why proceed to the manufacture of monstrous guns, like those that Mr.
Krupp has just produced, or meditates producing in the future; guns of such
a caliber can be used only in special cases--in battery on the coast or on
board of a ship. It is not with _materiel_ of this kind that war is waged;
it is with field pieces. Our ultra-Vosges neighbors well know this.
One of the reasons that the war that very recently threatened us did not
break out, was because the Germans could not fail to see that their field
_materiel_ was not as powerful as ours; that the shell of our 3½ inch gun
weighs 17½ pounds, while that of their heavy 3½ inch gun does not weigh 15.
Now, this difference has its value.
Hunters well know what importance it is necessary to attach to the number
of the ball that they use.
This granted, it is well to observe that the net cost of the "40 cm. kanone
L/40" must not be less than $300,000 or $400,000. Now, on the interest of
such a sum we could have from ten to fifteen complete batteries, that is to
say, comprising, in addition to the sixty or eighty guns, all the necessary
accessories, such as carriages, limbers, caissons, harness, etc.
Frankly, between the two acquisitions, there is no hesitation possible.
Finally, if we must say so, we do not think that foreign powers, when they
believe it their duty to provide themselves with _materiel_ of great
caliber, will think of supplying themselves from the Essen works, on
account of the memorable accidents due to the imperfection of guns coming
from this celebrated establishment. The list of burstings that have
occurred, not only in Germany, but also in Russia, Bohemia, Italy, Turkey,
and Roumania, is already a long one. To speak here only of what occurred
in France in 1870-71, it is certain that out of seventy German guns of
large caliber in battery against the southwest front of the wall of Paris,
thirty-six--say more than half--were put out of service during the first
fifteen days of the bombardment, and that too through firing merely; and it
was the opinion of Mr. De Moltke himself that the German siege batteries
would have been reduced to silence, had the defenders been able to hold out
for a week longer. It is equally certain that, during the course of the
Loire campaign, eighty guns of Prince Frederick Charles' were put out of
service by the sole fact of their firing. Summing up the history of these
many accidents, the Duke of Cambridge asserted to the House of Lords (April
30, 1876) that _two hundred_ Krupp guns burst during the Franco-German war.
Have the engineers of the Essen works improved their processes of
manufacture since that epoch? It is permissible to doubt it, seeing that,
very recently, the Italian navy refused to take from Mr. Krupp some 15½
inch guns whose tubes were but very imperfectly welded.
Must the numerous accidents mentioned be attributed to defects in the metal
employed? Were they due to defective hooping? Were they due to some one of
the numerous inconveniences inherent to the cylindrico-prismatic system of
closing (_Rundkeilverschluss_)?
They were doubtless owing to such causes combined.--_La Nature_.
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