The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1890-11-29
POWERFUL GUNS.
u,v the New War Ship o. Cur
Navy gre Armed.

poy Tie .. S'A GA-.- - - St- .
Navy ere Armed.
r,,m an artIcie on the above by Com
,.nder c. F. Goodrich, in the Century,
.ruotc as follows: GLOW very few
'..ops. By the way, appreciate the la
i.nt mower of a modern projectile when
: notion. Those who have visited tie
,,Isnta and have seen her smaller guns,
Jsy inches caliber, whisked about by
',e man, will be even the less likely to
.,lize that their shot can pierce an iron
Late over eight inches thick at the dis
rree of a thousand yards. Try to i'm
zine for a moment the number of men
,bo would have to pull on a line that,
ranged in any conceivable way, could
" made to throw the hundred-p pound
bOt with force enough to make such q
I hole. Yet all of this power is stored up
n cartridge weighing less than fifty
yunds. To contain and restrain such
wver. We must, it is evident, use the
sst material obtainable; the best at the
hcinning, best in the midst of the fir
no. and best at the close. 1t must stand
he sudden and heavy first shock; must
isld little, without rupture or per-
nsnent distortion, when the pressure is
n its greatest; must return to its origi-
r shape when all is over; and it must
offer, at all times, the greatest possible
rsistance to fracture. Technically our
metal must be tough, elastic and of
great tensile strength. These qualities
ind their highest development in forged
seel As in guns, so in what they
throw, the tendency is towards larger
masses. more perfect material, greater
iestructiveness. The cannon-ball of our
randfathers gave place to the eight
inch and nine-inch shell of our fathers.
To-day we are using elongated steel pro-
ectiles-weighing in some cases ton
,ssch-that will pierce iron armor meas
ued in thickness by the foot, or even
the yard; we are charging some with
nelinite or other frightful explosives
that will create untold havoc, or with
nOxious chemicals to s-ffocate q whole
hips company.
"Other weapons are experiencing the
nme development. Hotchkiss-an Amer
lean, of course-brought out hisrevolver
eannon, then his rapid-fre guns. The
largest Of these was six-pounder
Mounted on a swivel it could be fired
from the shoulder like an old wall piece,
delivering about twelve shots a minute.
Presto! we now hear of 30-pounders, 20
Founders and 100-poundcrs of this type.
Imagine shoulder practice with six
inch gun weighing five tons and three
quarters, at the rate of ten rounds in a
minute, each round capable of piercing
fifteen inches of wrought iron! Such
guns exist, and will constitute a large
part Of the armament of the most modern
ships of war, Every one is inventing
some new form of mounting to hold the
gun that deals such rapid and powerful
blows, or of breech mechanism to lessen
the time taken up in loading. Electrici-
y, steam, hydraulic and pneumatic
power are used in our new ships to load
and handle guns. MaYim-American
sgain-utilizes the rccoil of the piece to
do all the loading and firing.
THE improvements in guns within the
hst few years have been SO great as to
mount to revolution. ard their con-
Hant end has been increase in the power
ofthe gun and in the rapidity of its fire.
In the first direction we appear to have
reached limit in the 110-ton gun, and
there is a tendency to recede, for it is
generally admitted that a smaller gun
will do the work required for naval ser
nee. The largest gun contemplated for
our new battle-ships is the thirteen-inch
Seton gun, firing a 1,200-pound shell
with velocity of ?, 100 feet per second.
In the second direction we are making
constant progress, but it is mainly 10y
Improvements in gun mOuntings and in
the service of ammunition. The limit of
The rapid-tire principle is reached when
The ammunition becomes too heavy to be
EASILY handled by one man, and IL is be-
heved that this limi has even been
passed in the Esglish six-inch rapid-tire
gun. For the present, at least, we are
rentent with four-inch gun firing &C.
pound shell; and large part of the arma-
eent ofthe ships now building will con
ast these guns"