The development of smokeless powder , based on nitroglycerine or nitrocellulose , by the French inventor Paul Vielle in 1884 was a further step allowing smaller charges of propellant with longer barrels . The guns of the pre @-@ Dreadnought battleships of the 1890s tended to be smaller in calibre compared to the ships of the 1880s , most often 12 in ( 305 mm ) , but progressively grew in length of barrel , making use of improved propellants to gain greater muzzle velocity .