The sun., 1893-12-16
Tho Armor of the Maine.


The recent testings at Indian Head OF the
side armor OF the Maine havo been OF great
interest. as this Is the first armor OF the
HARVEY type ever made for use on war
vessel. either In this country or in Europe.
Before this trial took place the advan-
taRes OF the HARVEY process had been made
plain by flrings at comparatively small
plates Of uniform thickness. Yet IL re-
mained question whether difficulties
would not arise when the process should
be applied to the various shapes required
In actual armor. 1t was q matter Of doubt
whether the process OF hardening would not
so warp the plate that IL could not be ap-
piled TO the ship: or whether variations In
thickness and form might not make 1t diff
cult to secure armor OF uniform character.
The plate tested was IS feet inches long.
feet wide. and 10 inches thick for one-half
It's width. the other half tapering to inches.
1t represented lot Of AIS tons OF side ar
NOR. Commodore SAMPSON attacked this
plate with two s-inch armor-p piercing pro-
jecties. Of which the first had one-half
more energy than was necessary to
take It through the same thickness Of
wrought iron. while the second had twice
the energy required for perforating such
thickness OF wrought iron. The result OF
the firing was that both proIectiles were
smashed to fragments against the plate.
their points having penetrated only four or
five inches. and having been thcro firmly
welded. In other respects tho plato was
wholly without injury. Tho velocity OF the
second projectile had been 1904 feet n sec
ond. and the energy 6. .96s foot tons. That was
the acceptance test. prescribed by the con-
tract, and most satisfactory it had proved.
or course it passed the whole lot of AIS tons.
which will duly be put upon the Maine.
But how much more could that plato have
endured This was most interesting In
quiry. and subsequently 1t led to far Sc
verer set of tests. To begin with. tho plate
was fired at by an armor- piercing s-inch
shell having a rounded point. with a ve-
locity OF over 1000 feet a second, so as to
determine whether the blunter form of
projectie could not gain some advantage
over tho hard surface OF the plate. Yet.
like the other two. 1t was smashed into ex-
ceedingly small pieces without inficting
visible injury to the plate beyond the
point struck. Then. still another s-inch
shell. making four in oil. was fired. strik-
normal, and near one end, SO as to SEQ
whether such blow would not crack the
plate; and once more the high velocity OF
1904 feet n second was impaired The
result was no crack at all. and. in fact. less
injury to the plate than had been received
at any Of the previous fires.
The S-inch gun having thus been COM
pletely defeated. big lO-nch gun was
brought up and trained against tho same
plate already four times struck. OF course,
1t is highly improbable that any one plate
on a ship would ever be hit 30 many times
in battle. The first 1O-inch shot was fired
at part OF the plate which had been struck
twice before. at an angie OF IS degrees with
an energy OF 1854 foot tons. or nearly
double that OF any one OF the S-inch projec-
tiles. The plate. naturally. was cracked,
yet tho projectile was broken into frnQ-
mcnts. like the others. Finally another To-
inch projectile. with an energy OF 8. .sO6 foot
tons. was fired at point 2ls feet from any
Of tho previous shots. and while the only
cracks developed were three very fine ones,
the she'll. like all the other five. was smashed
TO pieces. Tho plate would still have given
protection to the ship. and might
out failing in its office.
BY how much. then. does our HARVEY
plate surpass In efficiency any other? The
experts. from mathematical comparison.
find it TO he about 25 per cent better; but
the practical advantage would be still
greater because ii can keep shot out where
even nickel armor. II un-Hnrveyed. would |
not. so that the ship would be lost Well |
did Secretary HERBERT announce in his |
current report that the value OF this surface |
hardening process Is so conclusively shown |
that 1t will be applied not only TO all armor
under new contracts. but. as far as practi- |
cable to armor already under manufacture.
The Maine and the Texas. the battle ships Of
the Indiana type, and the Puritan and the
MonGdnock. are among the vessels ap-
completion which will profit by
his decision.