ABSTRACT
Many years ago the writer of these pages first conceived the idea that, as the heavy guns of a modern ironclad were, and must ever be, her decisive weapons, the chief thing to be attended to was to increase, their rate and precision of fire, and that the power requisite for this purpose could readily and economically be obtained from the guns’ recoil. Further, it occurred to him that this might enable the crew to be withdrawn from the vicinity of the guns, and the weight of the necessary armour protection to be greatly reduced.
