A great deal of attention had been paid by Messrs. Schneider and Co., of Creusot, to perfection of armour plates and turrets for the protection of guns, either on land batteries or on board ship. The latest improvement in ordnance was the result of a series of experiments that were conducted at Chalons in 1888, when it became evident that something had to be done to make disappearing guns more efficient. The total duration of movement being more than six seconds, accordingly Captain Galopin designed a turret in which the operation of raising, firing, and lowering, took four and a-half seconds, and it was possible to repeat this once a minute.