Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1892-02-29
UNCLE s.lM'S BIG Guns.
Facts About Their q liber. Weight
and Range.
American ShIps Of War Armed with
Huge Cannon which Fire ProjsctIle
weighing one Thousand Pounds
Ten Miles.

Ten MAles.
The following facts concerning the
power and capabilities of some of the
main and secondary battery guns car
ried aboard war ships of the United
States readers may dnd of interest:
The main battery guns have for a max
lmum caliber at present thirteen inches.
These guns are sixty-seven-ton breech-
loading rifles. The minimum caliber
now allowed in the main batteries OF
high-powered ordnance guns is the
four-inch rapid-fire piece. The various
calibers include the thlrteen-inch,
twelve-inch, ten-inch, eight-inch, six
inch, hve-inch and four-inch. The sec
ondary batteries include the six
FOUNDER, three-pounder and one
FOUNDER rapid-fre guns, the forty
sevcn-millimeter and thirty-seven-milli-
meter revolving cannon and the Cat
ling gun. Recently, however, the navy
department has confined the guns of
the secondary battery to the six
FOUNDER and long one-pounder rapid
fire pieces, the thirty-seven-millimet
revolving cannon and the Calling gun.
The majority Of main-battery guns
in service to-day are of the six-inch
caliber. The building up of the ord
nance of the United States navy may be
said to have begun with the six-inch
guns. just now, however, there APP
pears to be q tendency to make the
four-inch guns preponderate in num-
bers, the Dashiel rapid-fre breech
mechanism making this caliber gun an
ideal weapon for the smaller class of
unarmored ships.
No guns of the thirteen-inch calibAr
have as yet been fabricated. This type
of gun will not be demanded until the
new battleships Indiana, Massachu-
sets and Oregon, now building, are
ready for service. Each of these bat
tie ships will have four thirteen-inch
guns. In limiting the main-battery
guns to the thirteen-inch caliber, the
navy department has adopted the plan
now in vogue in the British navy. I'm
til recently the British admiralty was
ordering sixteeu-inch 11O-ton guns. The
maximum caliber gun now building for
use in the British navy Is the 13.5-inch
67-ton gun. A few 110-ton guns are
afoat to-day aboard British warships,
but when the life of these pieces is ex-
hausted they will in all probability be
replaced by e7-ton guns.
The heaviest eahber guns so far COM
pleted for the United States navy are
the twelve-inch weapons, of which two
are finished. They are both designed
for service aboard the coast-defense
battle ship Monterey. The twelve-inch
guns weigh about ffty-one tons, fire a
projectile weighing one thousand
pounds to a distance of about ten miles,
the powder charge weighing five hun
bred pounds. The twelve-inch projec-
tile should be able to pierce eighteen
inches of steel arrnor at point-blanlx
range. The twelve-inch gun is worked
either by hydraulic or pneumatic pow
CIR, all the elevating, training and load
ing being under the control of levers.
The United States navy has to date
four ten-inch guns mounted aboard
ship. They are carried by the double
turreted monitor Miantonomoh, two
ten-iuch guns being in each of her tur-
rets. This gun has weight of about
thirty tons. The projectile fred weighs
about Ave hundred pounds and is pro-
PEELED by q powder charge weighing
about two hundred and thirty pounds.
The estimated range is about eight
miles.
| he elBnU-lncu gun Is IN service
aboard five warships of the navy and
will be placed aboard a number of the
new warships as the vessels put in their
appearance. This gun fires shot
weighing about two hundred and ten
pounds, with a powder charge of about
ninety pounds. The range is about
seven miles.
The six-inch gun weighs very close to
five tons. The projectile weighs one
hundred pounds and the powder charge
about forty-ive pounds. The range is
close to five miles
The five-inch gun weighs about forty
hundred weight. and the four-inch gun
about twenty six hundred-weight. The
projectile of the latter weighs thirty
three pounds, and the range is over
three miles.