The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-06-01

| brought up from the magazine and loaded
| into the gun and the turretS turned all by
| machinery. There was no fear as TO the
guns or the gun carriages, but as to the
| turretS there WAS some little apprehension
| for this reason:
The armament of the turret proper is so
tons of STEEL, or 10000 pounds of solid
metal over each pair Of guns.
At present instead of this immense
weight there is covering of eighteen
| inches of pine painted white 70 resem ble
| the fittings of the ship and weighing less
| than TWO tons.
| just what difference il would make in
| firing the big guns to take away 116, 900
| pounds If weight from the tulretS was not
| known, but as stated. there was some fear
| that the guns would not work as well as
| they should, ana that the turrels would
not stand the heavy firing. The immense
weight is needed to hold in place the
powerful machinery operating the mon
| ster guns. However, the preparations
went steadily forward for the hriug.
While taking the bucklers off the 10-nch
guns. Captain kempff spoke of them as
Tom Thumb" and Commodore Mutt"
and he was asked how the guns received
| the names, for, as is we'll known, big
| Betsy" and "AIlce," the two 12-inch guns
| IN The forward turret. were named in
! Washington, while the 10-inch guns were
| apparently overlooked.
ut was this way" said Captain Kempff
in reply to the question. "When took
charge of the ship and found the guns
! without name concluded TO name them
myself. L thought as long as the ladies
| had been honored l would call thesa tiny
pets after the men, and so | named them.
l WAS talking 10 lady about it and she
wanted 10 know why it was that the big
12-inch guns were named after women
while the smaller l0-inch guns were called
after men, especially when men were the
stronger, and | explained to her that it
was on account of the great persuasive
powers of the ladies that the 12-ineh per-
suaders were called after their sex."
JGSt then Lieutenant Commander Pen
dleton, who is the executive officer of the
ship. by the way, came along, and as he
did so Lieutenant Shoemaker, officer of
the deck. announced the ship cleared.
Gunner Halford and his crew went at
once to the magazine, with its twenty-six
! ions of ammunition, and preparations
were made TO fire the 10-inch Tom Thumb
with a 100-pound blank charge, al it was
then almost the dinner hour and the men
needed the meal to help them with the
hard work ahead of them.
All except the gunners were ordered aft
the iurret, the charge was sent UP in the
carriage from the magazine and rammed
home in the breecn of the rife with the
hydraulic ram, the breech block was
closed. and J. F. Hurley. captain of the
gun crew, announced "al ready" and
stood waiting the word OF command to
fire. 1t came just at Al O'Clock, as the
vessel was passing Monterey, and the
great gun sent the city after which the
monitor is named salute it could not fail
! TO hear. There as no jar of the ship. no
motion of any kind, and the gun recoiIed
only three inches, while the turret never
moved an inch.
After dinner the real work of ties ting the
big guns commenced with the firing os the
10-inch guns with loaded shells. The tur-
ret was turned until the muZZes pointed
out over the ocean away from the land.
| Tom Thumb was again chosen and this
time loaded with 200 pounds of powder
and 500-pound shell. The second shot
was fred at 1 81 O'Clock. and the roar OF
the gun must have been heard for miles.
/ No percepiibie motion of the ship could be
| noticed, n o glasses were broken on board,
and down in the messroom the cooks con-
| tlnued to wash and pile up the dishes a S if
there we're no cannons on board. With
! the charge mentioned the gun recoiled
! thrty-one inches and sprang at once back
! into position ready for reloading The
turret moved less than quarter of an inch
on its rollers. proving the machinery not
| only perfectly adjusted, but stanch, while
the ship herself was as solid MS rock,
Commodore Mutt was then loaded with
| the same charge, 200 pounds OF powder 500
| pounds shell. Again the same result as 10
gun sprinPing back easily and quickly
into battery. The turret moved quar-
ter OF An inch. This gun was elevated
three degrees, the other shots being
while the gun was point blank or
! perfectly level, and the she'll struck the
water between three ana four miles away,
rcochetei three times and was lost TO
! sight, but still could be heard whisting as
! 1t tore through the air.
The same gun was reloaded, and this
time with full charge, such as would be
used in battle, 253 pounds OF powder, 200
pound shell. The elevation was still kept at
three degrees. The report of the gun was
deafening TO those outside. but to men in the
turret ii sounded like rifle shot. The re-
coil was IS inches and the shell first struck
the water five miles away.
1t was decided that the 10-inch guns had
been tested enough and the big 12-nch
rifles should next be fired.
Lieutenant Nicholson with his men were
ready, and none of them seemed the least
bit apprehensve. Is the men stood at
the gun the lieutenant said that as long as
the newspapers would have 1t that sheep