ORION’S GREAT GUNS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3385, 28 November 1911, Page 8

ORION’S GREAT GUNS.

MONSTER WEAPONS PASS THEIR TESTS SUCCESSFULLY. The great 13.0 in. guns mounted on the new Dreadnought battleship Orion have stood their trial well. The tests proved that the new pattern gunmounting is a success, and that the battleship is able to stand the strain caused by tlie firing of the guns. Experts declare that the ship behaved splendidly, and showed no signs or weakness testimony to the sound workmanship at Portsmouth Dockyard. The crew were protected from the terrific concussion caused by the firing by wool-lined leather ear-pads, hut ®ven then the shock was tremendous. The sound and vibration of the firing was heard fourteen miles away at Portsmouth . ... The guns comprising the broadside were fired during the trials, discharging a total of five and a half tons of steel. Incalculable damage woulu lie caused to the hull of a battleship if a complete broadside were fired simultaneously, and such a step would never be contemplated. . The energy of each of the 13.5 m. guns is about 70,000 foot-tons, a total broadside being capable of lifting a weight equivalent to thirty Dreadnoughts a foot into the air. No damage appears to have been done beyond tlie breakage of a few pieces of crockeryware and some of the lighter fittings. yInside the barbettes when the guns were fired the six-foot recoil of the gun was the only Indication that the weapon had been discharged. On deck the concussion produced a sensation of numbness. At first half-charges _ were fired, the guns being discharged singly, then in pairs and fours.