upon the sea, namely, the torpedo cruisers, and it is to this type, more
than for any other, that we may expect torpedo boats to be adapted.
Already, writers have dropped the phrase "torpedo boats" for "torpedo
vessels."--_Engineering_.

* * * * *




FIRING TRIAL OF THE 110½ TON B.L. ELSWICK GUN.


The firing trial of the first new 110½ ton breech loading gun approved for
H.M.'s ships Benbow, Renown, and Sanspareil was commenced recently at the
Woolwich proof butts, under the direction of Colonel Maitland, the
superintendent of the Royal Gun Factories. We give herewith a section
showing the construction of this gun (_vide_ Fig. 8). It very nearly
corresponds to the section given of it when designed in 1884, in a paper
read by Colonel Maitland at the United Service Institution, of which we
gave a long account in the _Engineer_ of June 27, 1884.

The following figures are authoritative: Length over all, 524 in.; length
of bore, 487.5 in. (30 calibers). The breech engages in the breech piece,
leaving the A tube with its full strength for tangential strain (_vide_
Fig.). The A tube is in a single piece instead of two lengths, as in the
case of the Italia guns. It is supplied to Elswick from Whitworth's works,
one of the few in England where such a tube could be made. There are four
layers of metal hoops over the breech. Copper and bronze are used to give
longitudinal strength. The obturation is a modification of the De Bange