Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1890-10-09
PoWERFUL GUNS.
How the New War ShipD of Our
Navy are Armed,


From an article on the above by Com
mander @. F. Goodrich, in the Century,
we quote as follows: GLOW very few
persons, by the way, appreciate the Ia
tent power of modern projectile when
In motion. Those who have visited the
Atlanta and have seen her smaller guns,
OF six inches caliber, whisked about by
one man, will be even the less likely to
realize that their shot can pierce an iron
plate over eight inches thick at the dis
tance of a thousand yards. Try to i'm
aglne for moment the number of men
who would have to pull on a line that,
arranged In any conceivable way, could
be made to throw the hundred pound
shot with force enough to make such q
mole. Yet all of this power is stored up
In a cartridge weighing less than fifty
pounds. To contain and restrain such q
power, we must, it is evident, use the
best material obtainable; the best at the
beginning, best in the midst of the fir
ing, and best at the close 1t must stand
the sudden and heavy first shock; must
yield little, without rupture or per-
manent distortion, when the pressure is
at Its greatest; must return to its origi-
nal shape when all is over; and it must
o1fer, at all times, the greatest possible
resistance to fracture. Technically our
metal must be tough, elastic and of
great tensile strength. These qualities
ind their highest development in forged
steel. As in guns, so in what they
throw, the tendency is towards larger
masses, more perfect material, greater
destructiveness. The cannon-ball of our
grandfathers gave place to the eight
inch and nine-inch shell of our fathers.
To-day we are using elongated steel pro-
Ject1les-weighing in some cases q ton
each-that will pierce iron armor meas
ured in thickness by the foot, or even
the yard; we are charging some with
melinite or other frightful explosives
that Will create untold havoc, or with
noxious chemicals to saffocate whole
ships company.
"Other weapons are experiencing the
same development. Hotchkiss-an Amer
lcan, of course-brought out his revolver
cannon, 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 q minute.
Presto! we now hear of 30-pounders, 10
FOUNDERS and 100-pounders of this type.
Imagine shoulder practice with six
inch gun weighing five tons and three
quarters, at the rate of ten rounds in n
minute, each round capable of piercing
fifteen inches of wrought iron! Such
guns exist, and will constitute 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
ty, steam, hydraulic and pneumatic
power are used in our new ships to load
and handle guns. Maxim-American
again-utilizes the recoil of the piece to
do all the loading and firing.
''The Improvements in guns within the
last few years have been so great as to
amount to revolution, and their con-
stant end has been increase in the power
of the 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 tendency to recede, for it is
generally admitted that smaller gun
will do the work required for naval SER
vice. The largest gun contemplated for
our new battle-ships is the thirteen-inch
Cotton gun, firing a 1,200-pound shell
with velocity of 2, 100 feet per second.
In the second direction we are making
constant progress, but it is mainly by
improvements in gun mountings and in
the service of ammunition, The limit of
the rapid-fire principle is reached when
the ammunition becomes too heavy to be
easily handled by one man, and it is be-
lieved that this limis has even been
passed in the English six-inch rapid fire
gun. For the present, at least, we are
content with a four-inch gun firing a 36-
pound shell; and large part of the arma-
ment of the ships now building will con
sist of these guns"