§ SIR JAMES ELPHINSTONEasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, What is the largest calibre of gun carried in the tender of Her Majesty's ship "Excellent;" and, when guns of the largest size now in use in Her Majesty's Service will be supplied that Naval Officers may have the advantage of learning the management of 32-ton guns and the mechanical carriages on which they are mounted, while they are on board that ship pursuing the course of study in gunnery which is required of them as qualification for active employment?
§ MR. GOSCHENsaid, in reply, that the gun of largest calibre carried in the tender of Her Majesty's ship Excellent was a gun of 9-inch calibre, and 12 tons weight. At present there were only two guns of 35 tons weight in the possession of the Admiralty, one of them being the defective gun recently noticed in the newspapers. Four of these guns were being supplied for each of the ships Devastation, Thunderer, and Fury. The general heavy gun was the 12-ton gun. There were some 18 and 25-ton guns, and, when ships with such guns were at Portsmouth, the officers and men studying gunnery were sent on board to learn the management of them. The Excellent itself would not be able to carry 18 or 25-ton guns; but officers and men had thus the advantage of becoming acquainted with heavy guns in other ships.