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Vickers Machine Gun: Technology In World War One

1050 Words5 Pages

Hassan El Bamby
Mr. B
Technology in World War 1
17th December 2015
Vickers Machine Gun
During World War 1, many new weapons were introduced to the wars. One of the most crucial weapon was The Vickers Machine gun. The Vickers machine gun is a more advanced version of the Maxim gun that was founded in the late 19th Century. After the Maxim Company was purchased, Vickers took the same design of the Maxim gun and upgraded it. The Vickers officially introduced it to the British Army in 1912 and was rapidly used in World War 1.
The gun weights about 60-80 pounds, making it lighter than the German Maschinengere 08 and the Maxim gun. During WWI, at least six soldiers were held the position of Vickers Machine gun group, and all they had to do was …show more content…

However these early machine guns would quickly overheat and become out of order so, it required about 4.3 liters of water in its cooling system to prevent overheating. The heat coming out of the barrel boiled the water inside the jacket enclosing it. A flexible tube took off the subsequent steam to a container. The size of it was about 3 feet and 8 inches long and its repeated rate of fire was among 450 and 600 rounds per minute and had a range of 4,500 yards, and had the ability to fire continuously for long periods. In rehearsals, it was projected that 10,000 rounds would be fired per hour, and that the barrel would be changed every hour and that would take a trained team about a two minutes. …show more content…

The capability of shooting hundreds of bullets per minute meant that one gun could effetely end an attack. Basically, it permitted soldiers to kill each other at a much more speedy rate than ever before. Smaller amount of men could kill more men in quicker time. It was an important and main part of the army’s weapons. (Weapons used in World War 1). Regardless of the difficulty in transporting the Vickers machine gun it kept its reputation as a consistent and reliable weapon. In an attack it was uncooperative to move and set-up, but it was a very hazardous weapon for anybody attacking a position defended by Vickers machine guns. But the efficiency of this horrific weapons reached frightening new levels with World War. They were able to fire up to 600 bullets a minute, therefore equivalent to causing mass destructions. (Weapons used in World War

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