[Illustration: FIG. 4.]

The first round was fired at about noon. The charge was only 598 lb.,
consisting of four charges of 112 lb. and one of 130 lb. of Waltham Abbey
brown prism No. 1 powder. The proof shot weighs, like the service
projectile, 1,800 lb. Thus fired, the gun recoiled nearly 4 ft. on the
press, and the carriage ran back on the rails about 50 ft. The projectile
had a velocity of 1,685 ft. per second, and entered about 52 ft. into the
butt. We cannot yet give the pressure, but unquestionably it was a low one.
The charges as the firing continues will be increased in successive rounds
up to the full 900 lb. charge.

Figs. 1 and 2 show the mounting of the 110½ ton gun in the barbette towers
of the Benbow. The gun is held down on the bed by steel bands and recoils
in its bed on the slide (vide Fig. 2). The latter is hinged or pivoted in
front and is elevated by elevating ram, shown in Fig. 2. When the slide is
fully down, the gun is in the loading position. The ammunition lift brings
up the projectile and charge, which latter is subdivided, like those
employed in the German guns, in succession to the breech, the hydraulic
rammer forcing them home.

[Illustration: FIG. 5.]

[Illustration: FIG. 6.]

The simplicity of the arrangement is apparent. The recoil always acts
parallel to the slide. This is much better than allowing its direction to
be affected by elevation, and the distributed hold of the steel bands is
preferable to the single attachment at trunnions. Theoretically, the recoil
is not so perfectly met as in some of the earlier Elswick designs, in which