Wednesday's papers contained the report of the gun trials of
the super-Dreadnought 'Orion' which took place off Owers Lightship, south of Seise), Bill. Four full charges were fired from each gun, and then the whole ten 13.5 guns were trained on a broadside and fired simultaneously. The ship heeled over about three degrees, but no damage was done to the bull, and the mountings of all guns showed no signs of weakness. The force of the concussion, however, was tremendous—the 13.5 gun can send a 1,250-lb. shell twenty miles—four boats were broken up on the upper deck, the thick glass of dozens of skylights and portholes was splintered, and the windows of the houses at Southsea, twelve miles off, were heavily shaken in their frames. The ' Orion' has now successfully come through all her trials, having attained a speed of nearly 22 knots for eight hours on her full steam trials, and will shortly take the place of an older Dreadnought in the First Division of the Home Fleet.
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