Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1894-01-26
BIG GUNS OF BIG NAVIES
WEAPONS THAT CAN BE FIRED
ONLY SEVENTY-FIVE TIMES.
Powder Charges Weighing 966
Pounds-Heavy Projectiles ard
Their Terrific Effect. s.

1OunuS-heaVy IrOJeCtiIeS ti-u
Their Terrific Effect. e
Two of the mammoth 110-ton
guns, upon which the British admiral
ty has so proudly commented as the
''modern naval artillery" and which
cost about 800, 600 each, went down
into seventy fathoms of water with
the battle ship Victoria, and in con-
nection with this fact, says the Wash
ington Star, there must have been
awakened much interst among readers
rs to whether such heavy war weapons,
heavier than any yet made for the
United States navy, and heavier than
will probably be built, are wise adj
dition to modern war vessel.
And yet this big gun is not new
thing, as it practically dates back
twelve years. About forty of these
big guns have been built, and some of
them were sent to Italy. 1t is easy to
comprehend among navy officers that
such guns are an expensive luxury,
not only in the actual cost of the gun
and its ammunition, but also in the
size of the ships required to carry
them. But what will be of most in
terest to lay people is the quantity and
cost of ammunition and the life of the
gun itself. The best ordnance experts
calculate the life of the 110-ton gun to
be seventy-fve rounds with full
charges The 110-ton gun, and, in
deed, all large guns, are fired with
slow burning coacoa powder, the name
coacoa being derived from the brown
color of the powder. 1t is shaped in
hexagonal prisms, this being the most
convenient form of packing, and TO-
600 of these prisms are needed to make
full charge for this monster ss,n.
Each prism is pierced with n hole in
the centre to give ready access to the
flame and insure an equable ignition.
For nearly all naval guns the pow
der charge is made up of four car
tridges, but owing to the extraordi
nary weight of the l10-ton gun charges
1855 pounds) it is divided into eight
cartridges, each weighing 100 pounds.
To load the gun it is necessary to
bring it to its extreme elevation--that
is, the muzzle is pointed upward as
far as it can be on the mount, and
these operations follow: l, Unlock
and uuscrew the breech block 2,
Withdraw the breech block; 3, ira
verse breech block to one side: 4,
place the loading tray in the gun; 5,
swab out the gu s. ram home, or put
into place, the proiectile; Z, place the
first charge; $, place and ram homo
the second half charge; 9, withdraw
the loading tray; 10, replace the
breech screw IL, screw up and lock
the breech screw.
The gun is then ready to be sighted
by the captain of the turret from his
coming tower. 1t is fired by elec.
tricity. The gun can be loaded and
fired within two and half minutes.
The projectile used in the gun, when
ships or forts are attacked, weigh
1900 pounds, or nearly 200 pounds less
than ton, and it leaves the muzzle
with velocity of 2105 feet sec.
ond and destructive energy
equal to 55, ,305 foot-tons. When
tested before mounting on the
Sanspareil three years ago the
shot tore its way through specially
manufactured steel armor twenty
inches thick, and yet the armor belt
of the Victoria ranged from sixteen to
eighteen inches in thickness only. In
addition to the twenty inches thick.
ness of steel the shot went through
eight inches of iron fastened in n heavy
wrought-iron frame, twenty feet OF
oak baulks, six feet Of granite blocks,
eleven feet OF concrete, and six feet OF
brick In other words it went through
forty-four and one-third feet of wall
unique in history for combination OF
width and variety asld strength of ma.
terials. The cost of one firing of this
gun was S400 for the powder and $500
for the projectile and fuses, and after
seventy-tive rounds there would be the
cost of the gun to add, namely,
500, 900.
In firing the gun against body OF
men or a tlotilla of boats it is intended
to use schrapnel, drnm-like cylinder
of steel, inclosing 2300 four-ounce
bullets. AS soon as the schrapael
bursts the bullets go dying on, the
spinning of the shell caused by the
ritled grooves of the gun spreading
them out over a large area. When q
shell is used 1t is charged with powder,
which causes it to explode and scatter
its pieces with great destruction.