The Works Of Messrs. Schneider And Co.

XV. ARMOURPLATES. UNTIL 1876 the calibre of guns used for firing against armour was progi’essively increased, culminating in the production of the 100-ton, and heavier guns; as a necessary conséquence, the thickness of armour-plates was also increased, and unceasing efforts were inade to iniprove the quality of material, and the methods of manufacture. To Messrs. Schneider and Co. belongs the crédit of being the first to manufacture, and submit for firing trials, thick armour-plates made of steel. To this interesting departure in the production of armour for ships of war, dating back now for more than twenty years, we shall refer in more detail latei’. For the present it is sufficient to say that since 1876 the process of development at Creusot has been continuons, and has resulted in the magnificent material, a few examples of which are illus- trated on Plates XXXIV., XXXV., and XXXVI. For more than sixty years before the Armstrong 100-ton gun was fired at the Schneider steel plates in the Italian proving- grounds, the question of proteeting ships and forts from the effects of shot, had occupied the attention of enoin- O eers. Compared with the gigantic requirements of to-day, the problem was one of almost absolute insignificance ; but everything being relative, it was as désirable then to keep out the round 32-lb. or 64-lb. shot, as it is now to break up the heaviest steel projectile of to-day. We must go back to the time when England and the United States had been at war, and the question of proteeting New York Harbour was of vital importance. John Stevens, of Hoboken, an engineering genius, who lived before his proper time, had conceived — and for more tlian fifty years his idea was laboured at by himself and his sons________ the plan of a steam-propelled and rotating floating battery, the guns of which should be sheltered behind the iron- plated walls of a turret. The experiments made at that early date were very limited, and are of historical interest only. Passing by Colonel Paixhan’s recommendation in 1821 for proteeting shore batteries with iron armour, we come to the actual trials made in 1827 by Major-General Ford at Woolwich. The structure consistée! of a granité wall 7 ft. thick, faced with two layers of iron bars the inner one attached horizontally, and 1| in. square ; the outer row, fixed vertically, consisted of bars 1J m. square. After twenty rounds from a 24-pounder gun, at 634 yards’ range, the defence was practically de- stroyed. In this, the first-recorded, of the not-yet-ended, struggle between gun and armour, victory lay with the former, as it has continued to do for the most part ever since. Messrs. Stevens, of Hoboken, appear to have carried out long and costly, though quite futile, experi- ments, on the subject of armour and projectiles. In 1841 they were in a position to form the conclusion that 4-in. wrought-iron plates would suffice to keep out 9-in. shell fired at short range. It was on this déduction that tlie Stevens battery was finally completed about 1853, at an enormous cost, embodying many modern devices, including breechloading guns, but of little or no practical value. From 1846 to 1856 experi- j ments with iron armour were almost continuously carried on at Portsmouth and other British dockyards. Those of 1854 were of special interest. The target consisted of 4J-in. wrought-iron plate on a heavy timber backing ; this showed relatively great power of defence, but it could not resist the attack of a 68-pounder fired with a 16-lb. charge, at a range of 400 yards. This was sufficient to destroy both target and backing. During the same period, many interesting experiments with armour-plated land batteries were carried out by General Totten in the United States, and always with the result of proving the superiority of the gun. But by far the most important work done during the ten years under considération, was that of Dupuy de Lome, in France. (Jnder his auspices, floating batteries had been built for service in the Baltic during the Crimean War; they were heavy wooden-framed vessels covered with wrought-iron plates in. thick, 3 ft. long, and 20 in. wide. The following is an extract from a report by Commander Dahlgren, on their performance in action : “ The French floating batteries,. ‘ Devastation,’ ‘ Lave,’ and ‘ Tonnante,’ steamed in to make their first essay, anchoring some 600 or 700 yards off the south-east bastion of Fort Kinburn. . . , The Russians could only reply with eighty-one cannon and mortars, and no gun of heavier calibre than 32-pounders, while many were lower . . . This was the sole occasion in which the floating batteries had an opportunity of proving their endurance. . . . They were hulled repeatedly by shot; one of them (the ‘ Devastation ’), it is said, sixty-seven times, without any other effeet on the stout iron plates than to dent them, at tlie most in. Still there were ten men killed and wounded in this battery by shot and shell which entered the ports.” The armour-plates scored an easy victory over the guns, at this, the first and last engagement (if we except some of the naval fights during the American Civil War), fought under conditions that were soon to become obsolete. The end of the Crimean War witnessed the end