Evening journal., 1889-01-29
sHeLLINe WITH DYNAMITE.
Farther Successful Tests of the zalinsii
Pneumatic Gun-Navai Experts De-
lighted with the Experiments.


Farther Successful Tests of the zalinsll
Pneumatic Gun-Naval Experts De-
lighted with the Experiments.
The official trial Of the dynamite gun,
reported below, marks a new develop.
ment Of the contest that has been going
on between guns and armor since the
latter was applied TO war ships. 1t is
likely TO be quite as important step as
was the creation Of the American monitor.
The gun planted six shots out of eight
inside of a rectangle 80 feet wide by $50
feet long, at a distance Of one mile. The
accuracy thus shown would secure effect
tive action for seventy-five per cent Of
the proiectiles fred, bursting them
either at a plunging angle on the deck Of
an enemy or under her bottom.
To take in the practical effect Of such
firing, let us assume that the Vesuvius
carrying three Of these guns goes into
action with a representative modern
armored ship, such as the Benbow, of
10000 tons. carrying two ll0-ton and ten
six inch breech loading rifles, protected
by steel faced compound armor four
teen inches thick. The Benbow has
speed Of sixteen knots and the Nesuvius
a speed of twenty-one knots. The Ben
bow could bring only three guns to bear
as they approached, bows on--one ITO tor
sixteen inch) gun and two six-inch guns
Accuracy of fire by none of these guns
can be expected outside Of four mile
range. while the Nesuyius's three guns
would not be available beyond two miles
Hence for the time necessary TO cover two
miles the Nesuvius would be unable Go
reply to the Benbow's fire The Joint
speed Of the two ships would make them
cover this distance in less than three
minutes.
Only five shots in all from the three
guns Of the Benbow could possibly be
fred in that time, and probably not more
than three The chance of one Of these
shots striking would be very small, es-
pecially when the rapidly varying dis
lance and the ships motion are con
sidered.
Il is reasonable to expect, therefore
that the Vesuvius would arrive at
point where she could throw her $50
pound projectile with almost mathemati.
csl accuracy. BY means Of Lieutenant
Fishes rangeiinder, coupled with his
automatic electric device for dis
charging the pneumatic guns at
the precise angle and with the exact air
pressure necessary to secure the desired
range two Of her three guns could launch
their bolts at the Benbow at two miles,
and the third, minute and half later
with 900 pounds of dynamite at one mile
distance.
The Benbow's deck armor is of steel
only three inches thick. The ship has a
width Of 6S feet and length Of $50 feet
and her main battery is ten feet above
the water Thus she presents lofty
mark, with little protection from plung.
ing FIRE on her deck The Vesuvius pro.
iectiles would descend with a pitch Of
from is to 80 degrees.
Yesterday experiments in the lower
bay in the earliest life of the gun, with
little practice in aiming, show seventy
five per cent of hits on smaller target
than the Benbow. II would seem con.
elusive that at least two of the Vesuvius'
bolts wonld plunge upon the Benbow's
deck or explode beneath her hull. In
either case IL is almost certain that the
Benbow would either be in a sinking con
dition or that her interior would be so
wrecked as to put her guns out Of action
The pneumatic guns are TO be fired once
In every two minutes, and another dis.
charge Of the three in the Vesuvius
would most likely wholly destroy her an
tagonist
Vf course, one hit BY a shell from the
Benbow might explode the nitro gelatine
on board the Vesuyius and thus end the
combat the other way but the PROBABLE.
ties Of such hit are not one in twenty
FIVE.
The two great features OF the pneu-
matte gun are the accuracy Of its shots
and the terrible effect Of the great mass
OF explosive thrown by it.-New York
Herald.