The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-03-29
Proceedings of the United States
Naval Institute.
An Important Paper on American Naval Ar.
maments by Commodore letters, Chief
Of the Bureau Of Ordnance.
THE WEIGHT AND POWER OF GUNS.
The Relation of the Battery to the
Speed of a Vessel.

Naval Institute, held ut Inc Lyceum Rear Admiral
Harwood in the chair, an exceedingly instructive
paper upon the armament OF Our Ships oil WARP
was read BY Commodore Jeisers, Chief OF the Bureau
OF ordnance. An In ercsting discussion followed
the reading, after which, UPON motion OF Rear
Admiral worden, the thanks Of the Institute were
unanimously rendered to Commodore LETTERS for
his interesting and valuable paper.
The main points to be considered, said Commo-
dore letters, In determining the armament OF
ship are:-
First-Ihat the aggregate weight Of the guns
should pc IN proportion 10 the tonnage.
Second-Having decided what this weight shall
be, the next point Of Importance IL to dispose OF
1t in the best amer TO develop the greatest
power OF which it Is susceptible.
7hird--rhe relation o. tho battery to the speed
OF the vessel Tor although 1t Is absolutely neces
sary that ship OF war should exercise full
power OF offence and defence within the circle OF
which size is the centre. next to thls and to tis
only, in Importance, her ability to transfer this
power 10 another point with certainty and
rapidty.
We will proceed to consider these points sert-
attm:-
To cxemphfy our first point we may take the old
sailing Irigate Constellation us type Oh What was
considere0 to De AT the time sne was built vel
armed ship. her tonnage was l,236, and the bat
terry consisted oi thirty Is-pCunder cannon on the
gun deck and sixteen 32-pOunuer carr0nades on
pounds, and throwing broadside weight OF $50
POUNDS Of shot.
In 1915 the Ordnance Board recognizing the i'm.
porIancc OF reducing the number oi guns ana In
Creas,ng the caibre, assigned Il battery vi thirty
eight s2-pouhders, weighing l74.o4s pounds,
throwing brCad5lde weight OF metal OF GA
pounds, and ~ pounds Of explosive material.
In 1903 ner sister snip, the Macedonitn carried
battery OF two 10-inch pivot, sixteen Snch and
two 32-pOunders In Dr0ausde, weighing In the
aggregate l5s,432 pounds, and throwing q broad
SIDE IN metal OF OF pounds, with 2G pounds OF eX-
pOSve material,
Finally Admiral Dahgren proposed for these
ships battery OF eighteen 0lcii guns, weighing
164,vOO pOunus, brOadsde weight VI metal 72l
pounus, with all explosive content Oi 80 pounds.
1t wl.l be observed That in these Changes, made
by competent authority, the relutlon Oh Weight OF
battery 10 tonnage OF ship was Closely adhered TO,
While augmentlng the power 0i the armament ny
reducing the numper OF guns and increasing the
THE INTRODUCTION or STEAM.
With the hrst INTRODUCTORY however, OF steam
tnlO the navy, departure from the law OF reiation
OF armament to tonnage OF snip became unavuId-
able, because the pioneer pad lie steamers dld not
anOrd the requisite room and conveniences i0r
p OpOrtiOnate batteries. 1t was evident to ali sea-
men that The lew guns earned by these vessels
were entirely disprOpOrGionate to their tonnage,
and the success o. the screw was III once accepted
BY our pest thinkers as solution OF the problem.
Inc Princeton, the Ielcituus conception C0mmo-
dOre stockton, was move IN the right direction
which we JAILED at the time TO follow up, and sul
continued to DuiC sidewneei steamers.
Even after the screw was determined on as the
motor there was manifested great ndisposltion
to sacrifice gun power 90 iacinty Oh shifting ones
position and the five inaates OF the Wabash
class mad only auxiliary power, although the con-
force OF the pattery one,ort6 Ivy substituting ON
tue spar deck s.inch ana lC-lnch in lieu OF Y-lnch
ana i,ncn as otgnay assieaea v Inns deleet
the Druadslde battery, aud the ships OF tins class
now carry weight III guns better propoi toned to
their tonnage, though not exCessIve-vZ., forty
two 9inch, two 11-incn and two l0J-pOunCer RITES.
THE PLANS OF ADMIRAL DAnLGRsN.
We mas remark IN connection with these ships
that the plans Ol Admlrai Dahigren contemplated
Tor all Of them entire spar deck battery OF
SIX Oh lie spar aeck OF the tranklin-in which.
nOmevSr, he was overruied. the Ma ara alone
8, eed and power combined; but owing to faults Of
construction she never was favorite ship,
class verne to
BILE armament, comDined with iuli powet of move
II we assume these ships to have been well
armed. as Is admitted by every one, and take the
ratlo OF weight Of battery to tonnage. the highest
armed (lIartiord and Richmond. sixteen OF 9nch
broadslde) VIII give factor OF los pounds OF gun
to each ton. Inc heavier sn ps OF the class
Brooklyn and FcnsacOia-armed with twenty
0-inch ana one l1-nch, give factor Ol $50 pounds
Apply lug the least of these factors TO the later
ships, or the Plymouth ass we have total
weIgnt oil battery Oh l2il76 pounds 90 tons propoi-
tomato to their tonnage.
carry two llinch IN PIVOT; but for construction
reasons the al,er pivot was omitted
ana the battery modihea ,o,o to consist 1a. o.
One ll-inch 5000 .lSo lbs. Smell,
One &C. ounder, 900 lbs......... W lbs
Totals. .... GO, 90 lbs. los. Shelly
weight OF gus and oroaaslde entirely dlspro-
pOrtiOnate to their tonnage.
substituting SIX li.iuch guns for the s-inch In
creases the weight OF battery and OF broadslde 10
$4,000 lbs. 6l6 lbs. respectively. But, III fact.
Guns. ''' weight or Broadsfde
One ll-lnch $4,000 lbs. 1876 lbs. (shell.l
Ten s-incn, 10000 lbs....... $50 los. IsneiL)
One 6O-pounder, b.OUO lDs .......... ~ los
Totals. .ool los. $40 lbs. Shell,
II may DC claimed, however, by some. that these
and that their deck beams and scantllng are too
lieut 10 support such weights. II this De really
the case tnen We would propose, as d compromise
Gums. ~ Weiem or Broadside.
Three 1l-inch $4,000 .40S lbs. (sDeil.I
One IoO-pounder, $500 lbs..... loo lbs. isheil.j
Totals ....57 300 lbs. COS los.
which, with q less weight oil guns tban the bat
terry hrst assigned, would give power OF 500 TO
SSs 1t Is also to De observed that the pivot car.
riages cover SO many oI the beams. ana the weight
peing thus distributed over greater surBce,
the Inch strains the vessel less than the 9Inch
noun Ell at the SIDE on u Marsly carriage.
From actual measurement, however, 1t appears
that the ships this class have at least five t5)
pOrrs Of q side which will allow the muzzle OF a
s-inch gun TO come twelve inches Inside the port,
aioralng ample space Tor ioadlng aud sponEng IN
pear. In mere exercising there may not oe c n
veDient space for the intackie DOCKS put TINS
inconvenience surely not OF 80 inuch Importance
to sacrhce To IT the grave consideration oi
cabre. We next essayed TWO classes o. vessels
with different powers in the effort TO realize the
idea OF a last gunboat heavily armed with cannon
OF great range anu accuracy. To THESE Uelong the
TicOnaeroga u,049 tons, and the Wachuset! tog5
tonsl. To the 1IconderOga construction assigns Is
IONS Ior armament. Of whcn only ~ IONS were LOT
guns and nowitZers.
Inc Bureau OF ordnance therefore determined
upon three OF ll-incn. with four 2ipounu rs. how
itZers Dut before the vessel was Guished the 100
FOUNDER to-incn) rine made its appeal ance and
the battery was modified To-
First Battery Weioht or B,'oodsdc
TWO ll.lnch, $4,000 lbs. .212 lbs lshell.)
One l00-l Ounder 10000 lbs. ..... 100 lps ishvtj
Four 24-pounders,
h0witzers*.....
Totals. ....... .49, coo lbs. 400 ibs