The Works Of Messrs. Schneider And Co.

FIELD ARTILLERY. 279 with the results the same advocates have obtained, and have therefore prescribed as sufficient. Their argument assumes that the firing methods followed with tlie older type of guns will also be followed with the new types. This is a fallacy, for it is quite certain that the tactics with quick-firing guns will be widely different from those which were deemed the best for guns capable of “accelerated ” fire. It may, we think, be reasonably assumed, all other conditions remaining equal, thai a battery, each piece of which will be able to fire on emergency, say, 25 rounds a minute without fatigue to the men or undue wear of mechanism, will undoubtedly have the advantage in ail fights against a unit formed of guns, the firing of which is only “accelerated.” This cannot be denied, and does not require to be (though it has been) proved in practice. From the commencement, Messrs. Schneider and Co. took these considérations into account ; they attacked the problem in every detail, leaving out none of the difficulties with which it is surrounded, and they quite early defined the problem they meant to solve, and which may be summarised as follows : To lire with the greatest rapidity possible, and with a maximum of précision ; or, in other words, to endeavour to put in a target the largest number of useful shots in a given time, and without excess of fatigue for the gunners or undue wear of material, the ballistic conditions being décidée! by a majority of members of ordnance technical committees. In carrying out expérimenta, Messrs. Schneider and Co. found that these objects could only be obtained when they had fulfilled certain conditions, namely : (a) Absence of recoil. (b) Complété stability of the carriage platform. (c) Absence of all necessity for readjusting the eleva- tion and lateral training of the gun during the fire. (cZ) Making guns and mountings to suit every kind of ground met with in actual service. The problem thus compressed in a few lines was one of tremendous proportions. How fully it has been solved the following notes will show, as well as by what series of tests and improvements of many kinds, Messrs. Schneider and Co. have produced their 1898 pattern, which fulfils the conditions of this programme, and can really be styled a quick-firing gun.