+---------------------+-------------+--------------------+ | | British. | German. | +---------------------+------+------+------+------+------+ |Calibre in inches | 12| 13.5| 12| 14| 15| |Length in calibres | 50| 45| 45| 50| 50| |Weight in tons | 69| 80| 53| 83| 102| |Weight of projectile | | | | | | | in pounds | 850| 1,240| 850| 1,360| 1,650| |Initial velocity | 2,950| 2,800| 3,000| 3,000| 3,000| |Energy at muzzle in | | | | | | | metric tons |16,540|22,150|17,520|27,650|33,910| |Energy per kilogramme| | | | | | | in kilometres | 240| 277| 330| 330| 330| |Probable life in | | | | | | | rounds | 60| 60| 200| 200| 200| +---------------------+------+------+------+------+------+ The attention of the First Lord of the Admiralty was directed to these statements in the House of Commons, and he reiterated the assurance of former Ministers that the expert advisers were satisfied as to the wisdom of retaining the wire-wound system. He gave no data as to the foundation of this confidence, and in the German technical Press--no doubt with an eye to foreign orders--the superiority of the German gun over the British was repeated with at least equal assurance. The great advantage of the wire-wound system, it has always been claimed, is that after much use, when the rifling is worn, the gun can be given a new inner tube, a comparatively simple and cheap operation which results in practically a new gun being made available for sea service in a short time. All that can be said as to the two systems from practical experience is that the Japanese found the British-made weapons give eminently satisfactory results during the war with Russia, while the Krupp artillery guns used by the Turkish Army in the Balkan War of 1912 did not realize expectations.