Osage Valley banner. (Tuscumbia, Miller County, Mo.) 1879-1881, 1880-04-22
The Tronhlc wan Grent auns.

a short time ago a bS-tOn gun OF the
English iron.clad Thunderer burst in It's
turret, killing and wounded many per-
sons, and since then one of those guns
submitted to the test Of firing with n
double charge at Woolwich has failed
TO survive tho ordeal. IL went to pieces,
and the consequence has been a very
voluminous discussion in the English
journals, both military and other
which the London Times is of the opin-
ion will lead to an entire re~considera-
ton Of the Woolwich system of manu-
featuring heavy guns.
That system, in brief, consists Of a
tube of steel, surrounded by long cylin-
ders made of coils of wrought iron. 1t
is contended that it is impossible TO
cur sound welding under the con-
ditions of the manufacture, and that
hence the gun is liable TO fly to pieces
without warning when il is subjected to
oyerstrain like that at Woolwich, and
that which caused the bursting In the
turret of the Thunderer, when a double
charge was Internationally fired. OF
course a gun is not designed TO stand,
as a rule, such charges; but il seems that
they are liable to be putt even in peace,
and in the confusion OF action the chances
of such overlooking must be much more
numerous. just as the explosions
of the Thunderer's 3S-ton guns
are making so much sensation
in England, we get reports of the BURST
ing of the 100-ton gun-or certainly its
serious damage-in the Italian monitor,
the Duilio. That accident took place at
Spezia last week, and we have not suf-
icient particulars of the catastrophe to
enable us to discuss its effects upon the
Armstrong system of heavy ordnance,
upon which the gun was constructed.
But the circumstance hat only ten
persons were slightly wounded, . for that
is the language of the dispatch, leads
us to infer that there was no such burst
ing rs that which occurred on the Thun-
derer, with so heavy u loss of life. We
arc told, too, that the tests of the SINH
lar guns in the other turret of the Duilio
are proceeding TO the entire satisfaction
of the officers, and that the heaviest
charges are used.
The Armstrong system, which is pur-
sued at the great Elswick works in Eng
land, is not radically different from the
Woolwich system, its main distinction
being in the use of a fewer number of
wrought-iron coils around the inner
steel barrel. III the Woolwieh system,
therefore, must be altered or abandoned,
the Armstrong system is open to obiee-.
also; and, indeed, there is no
riled gun in existence in which complete
confidence can be placed.
The truth is, however much you may
improve heavy guns, there win always
be Il percentage of failures and acct
dents with them; but considering the
small number of very great guns in ex-
i%stence, there has been of late so large
a proportion of disasters that both those
who make them and those who serve
them have serious grounds for renewed
caution. The difficulties in the con-
struction of guns and the dangers at
tending their use increase in q far
higher ratio than the diameter of the
bore.
Since the fight between the Monitor
and the Merrimac, eighteen years ago,
the powder charges of great guns have
grown from fifteen pounds to between
400 and 500 pounds, and the new guns
to be built at Elswick for the Italia and
Lepanto are to be used with a charge of
powder of $50 pounds! At first the
charges of our potion 15-inch
guns were 80 pounds. They were then
put up to so pounds, and when they
were raised to 100 pounds of mammoth
grain powder, after the war, the army
and navy men trembled with anxiety.
But now the 98-ton IL 1-2 inch Wool
witch rifles, of which the Thunderer's
guns were examples, use 100 pounds of
powder, and the 35-ton 1l-inch Arm
guns made at Elswick for the
Chinese Navy use the charge of $50
pounds.
If it were not for the i'm
proyements in gunpowder made
by the late General Rodman
of our army, these great guns could moi
be used at all. That distinguished cifi-
Ger introduced the large grain, slow
l.-. -A-Ia. .vls,I .uI,.,. H.