According to the German journal, however, the Dido and her nine consorts are to be armed with 5.2in. guns, in which case the number is certain to exceed six. Guns of this calibre first appeared in the giant submarine X 1 some 14 years ago, but they were not mounted in any other vessel.
While official details are not available the new gum is probably not dissimilar to the 5.118in. model listed by Vickers-Armstrongs. This piece weighs 4 tons 8 cwt, and discharges a 681b. projectile, against the—100lb. shell of the Gin. gun. It is semiautomatic and has a high rate of fire.
If the Dido is to mount a large number of 5.2in. guns she promises to be a more formidable fighting unit than the Arethusa. She will deliver a much greater volume of fire in a given period.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.