Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-01-05
The Zalinski Dynamite Projectile.

Even supposing that Lieutenant Zalinski
does not find some means Of increasing the
range of his gun. and that a mile remains
its limit. the fact that within that limit dy-
Mantle projectlles can be used with pre-
cision and effect ls staggering enough. In
the first place land defences will be given
an enormous advantage IN any contest be-
tween them and ships. In attacking forts
in harbors and estuarcs, the .ronclads are
often obliged to come within mile of the
shore. But if the land batteries are armed
with guns throwing dynamite shells, TO do
so will mean destruction Tor the ships. such
proiectiles do not merely iniure the vessel
struck they extinguish her. Under ordi-
nary circumstances an armored war-shlp,
though she may run considerable RISK OF
being disabled by forts if she comes within
their fire, has a very fair chance OF Keeping
afoat even ifstruck. The bombardment OF
Alexandra, for instance. showed that ships
could be hit again and again without serious
damage being done to them. But as some
experiments made few months ago with
the Zalinski gun proved, the effect OF Its
fire is very different. One of its proJectiles
was dropped on the deck of vessel, and
the explosion that ensued was sufficient to
totally wreck the whole structure. Nor
were even the misses harmless. SO great a
column of water was raised by the explo-
SlOn Us 10 uO a. EIttt Nittfi Va - @e'
descent on the object of attack. II, then,
the forts at the entrance of the Thames
were armed with the dynamite gun 1t would
he impossible for any hostile squadron TO
force the passage. The batteries could not
be DESTROYED by ships out at sea, as they
would be protected by the turns OF the
river, and whenever they We're attacked
from close quarters they would be able 10
reply with far greater power than that pos
sessed by their assailants. In fact the Ia
llnski gun makes IL possible TO fire torpe-
does through the air, and with the accuracy
of rockets. If. then, the effect Of the new
discovery be such as we have described 1t,
the problem of how to defend our coasts
from attack will be immensely simpli-
fed Floating batteries which can be
towed TO the most convenient points
in O harbor or at rivers mouth
would soon put places like Liver.
pool and Newcastle-on-Tyne out of all
danger Of being raided. 4 hostile cruiser
obliged to keep two miles ont TO sea.
though it might set fire to few public
buildings, would not be a very formidable
enemy. 1t can, however, hardly be sup
posed that the invention will stop where 1t
IS Everything seems to point to the fact
that we shall soon discard ordinary gun
powder as the filing for projectiles.
Up till now there has been q difficulty
in discharging dynamite and similar
compositions from an ordinary cannon,
and therefore pneumatic guns, which are
comparatively safe, have had 10 be adopt
ed. in spite of the short distance over
which they will throw a she'll. Methods OF
getting over this are, however, beng dill
Gently sought for, and we may be certain
that before long either the pneumatic
guns will be improved, or, what is more
probable. some means will be devised FOL
firing dynamite from ordinary artillery.