The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-05-17
SHOOTING FIFTEEN MILES.
Surprising Invention Of War imple.
ments Abroad.
[London Letter to N. Y. TImes.I

TI.ondOn Letter to N. Y. Times.l
Some important experiments have been
made at the Shoebufyness school Of gunnery
in high-angle firing. Probably no step OF
recent years is likely to lead to greater re-
suits, for if the experiments should be re-
peated with the same success it is undenia-
bic that war ships will have to be as fully
protected on their decks as they now are on
their broadsides. The experiments were
made with the 9-inch or 23-centimetre gun as
howitzer. An elevation of 81 degrees was
given and battering charges were used with
Palliser shells. Out of four shots three fell
within a space of 506 feet by 80 feet, repre-
senting the deck of a first-class iron-clad,
and the range attained is II miles! Now, If
it be really possible, three times out Of four,
or for that matter once out Of four times, to
throw q 9-inch shell upon the deek OF a ship
in mid-channel between Dover and Calais,
another proof will have been given that in
the tedious duel between gun and armor the
Important, too, is that the heavy charges and
the high angle did not strain either gun or
carriage in the least, and one Of the officers
present has said that he believed the gun
would stand 45 degrees of elevation without
injury, while with AZ degrees range of 10
miles would be secured. Now. at 10 miles,
ship is s'hull down." so it comes to this, that
we can throw a 9-inch she'll on the deck Of
ship before we can see 1t! Surely this is the
most marvellous thing yet attempted in gun
merry, which of later years has been so fruit
full in surprises.
Some particulars are published in the
Royal Engineers Journal for this month of
the recent experiments in the Dardanelles
with ro-gelatine shells, the invention OF
Mr.. Snyder, an American citizen Probably
the account is furnished by Major Tr0tter,
the British military attache at Constanti-
nople, who is himself an engineer. But IL Is
quite clear that Mr.. Snyder has not revealed
bis secret. He does. not show how the gun
is to be safely loaded. he loads it himself APP
parently. and all we have is the fact that
6.inch shell. when it does hit, which does not
seem to be but once in three shots, has as
much destructive effect as the projectile from
a 100-ton gun. 1t does not pierce, however; it
smashes all before it. And, if it is
safe to handle, it would appear to
finish the long contest between gun
and armor. We are told that the
safety Is absolute, as the nitro-gelatlne
does not explode by contact with hTe,
but only in presence of a severe shock, lts
minimum force is calculated to be at least Ten
fold that of gunpowder, but TINS must De
mere guessing. The gun used was an amer
lean 15-centimatre howitzer, and the shell,
containing 40 pounds Of nitro-gelatine, utter
ly destroyed target with IL nches Oh iron
plates backed up by oak beams II by IA
inches thick, the whole weighing ~ tons:
But the range was only 200 yards, ana what
are we to think OF two shells out OF three
missing at that ranger ,
/ have received from Constantinople photo
graphs showing front and side view OF the
target which was destroyed by Mr.. Snyder's
shell. A third photograph shows the target
after the shell had struck it. From this 1t is
clear that as the first two shots missed the
20 feet by Al feet target at 200 yards SO the
third she'll was very near missing u also. III
must have struck quite low, for 1t has lifted
the target clean up from the ground and
hurled It fairly over, so that the front OF II Is
facing to the rear But, on the other hand,
it would be misleading to deny that the tar
get was very poor affair. Twelve 1-inch
plates are not the equal of a 12-inch plate,
and the backing of the plates was by no
means strong, nor had the target the
benefit OF the lateral support that any part Of
the side of ship would have. Indeed, it Is
perhaps not putting the matter too high to
saw that the target probably represented
rather more nearly inches than 12 of mod
ern armor. 1t seems also probable that the
gun was fred with a very low charge, mas
much as at such q range it is difficult on any
other theory to account for the two misses,
and this would point to the idea that the
inventor has not yet solved the problem of
firing dynamite projectiles with charges that
will carry them adequate distances. 1t goes
without saying that she'll of any sort will
never be practically used at such a range as
200 yards without a great deal of preliminary
fighting, and if this nitro-gelatine shell can
not be used in the earlier stages OF an en-
gagement it will not be very valuable addi-
tion to nations military resources.