The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-02-04
GUNS AND CRUISERS.
An Alabama Congressman Chats About
Fast European War ships.

| Fast European War Ships.
Congressman Herbert, who has been
abroad since the close of the last session
of Congress, devoted considerable at
tention to the study of naval matters
His service as Chairman of the Naval
Affairs Committee in the last Congress
made him especially familiar with the
subject, and, of course, added to his
interest in his studies and researches
81 saw the fastest cruiser ever built"
he said to your correspondent, "She
was just being completed by an En-
glish firm when | visited her She is
finished now, however, and has been
tested and makes, as l learn from the
builders, over twenty-one knots an
hour"
How many miles is that, Mr.. Her.
bert?"
"a knot" said the ex-Chairman of
the Naval Committee, with look of
pity for the ignorance of the newspaper
man who don't know a knot from
mile, "a knot, my dear sir, is about q
mile and one-seventh. Apply your
mental arithmetic, and you will find
that tweEty-one knots are equivalent
to twenty-four miles. AS this vessel
made something over twenty-one knots,
it is safe to put down her speed at
nearly twenty-five miles an hour, or
nearly equal to fair railroad rate"
"How does that compare with the
speed attained by our new cruisers?"
well" was the frank reply, sit is
considerably ahead of us. Our new
cruisers as now completed we began
several years ago, and have not all the
appliances of the latest sort to secure
speed. They make something over
sixteen knots an hour. We are prom
ised, however, that one or two of the
vessels lately contracted for will be as
fast as any thing aloat in this line"
"Does this new fast cruiser carry
very large guns?"
NO; cruisers do not carry large
guns, you know. She has four twenty
one ton guns and several smaller
ones"
you don't call twenty-one ton guns
large, them"
30, no; they are very small compared
with the large guns made now"
'How large are the largest guns now
made?"
THAT is little difficult to answer at
an off-hand statement. but it is within
the limit to say that the great guns
now made, the greatest of them, shoot
ball sixteen inches or more in dame
ter and weighing over 1000 pounds"
"How far do they shoot?"
"Some of the great guns now made
will shoot ball fifteen miles"
Fifteen miles-you don't mean
that, do you, Mr.. Herbert?"
Eyes, fifteen miles. OF course, they
will not shoot with great precision that
distance, nor will they shoot so far as
that from the deck of vessel But
they can shoot that far with sufficient
accuracy, for instance, to throw shot
into city or among a fleet of vessels.
| Of course, it would only be by chance
that it would hit single vessel if fired
at it at that distance. In fact, it would
be difficult, probably impossible, to see
the hull of vessel that distance"
"Why can not these big guns be
fired US we'll from vessel deck as on
land?"
because the deck of the vessel does
not offer the same firm and unyielding
foundations; and, beside, the use of so
much powder and such heavy gun
would make it likely to sink the vessel
from whose deck it was fired. You see
when they shoot these long distances
they elevate the gun--that is to say,
they elevate the mGzzle Of it, so that
the gun stands at an angle of thirty or
even forty-fve degrees to the earth 5
surface. OF course, the recoil of a gun
weighing two hundred tons, when fired
with nearly one thousand pounds of
powder would be something tremend-
GUS"
"Do the improvements in armor keep
pace with those in guns?"
"Well, they are now using armor for
turreted vessels of thickness of about
twenty-six to twenty-eight inches. Yet
they are able to make guns that will
pierce that"
How about dynamite guns and tor
pedoes."
That is still in an experimental stage.
The year past has demonstrated the
possibility of throwing shell contain
ing great quantity of dynamite dis
lance of mile or so. and exploding it
against vessel. But some of the ex-
periments have led to doubt as to the
effectiveness of the dynamite when ex-
ploded against the side of vessel in
this way. 1t is still in the experimental
stage. = Washington Cor. Cincinnati
Times.
Points in a Good Horse.