New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-10-04
SHELL AGAINST ARMOR.
OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE INDIAN HEAD
TESTS.
JporrC-r11rs OF AMERICAN MANUFACTURE
SHOWN TO RE OF SUPERIOR QUALITY
GREAT INTEREST IN THE EXPERIMENTS.
nv rrrrcp.pu TO THE TRIBi 81.

by TELEGRAPH TIE TRIBi e..
Washington, oct. 3.-The Naval Bureau OF ORD
nance has received from Ensign Tisdale, the ofhceT
temporarily In charge OF the Indian Head proving
grounds an official report Of recent tests there
OF heavy domestic cassteel shells for highpowered
rifles The trials were Important. and information
relating to the results has been awaited with much
interest ty ordnance experts At home ana abroad
1t Is reported that the naval attache OF the japanese
Legation has shown special interest in the expert
ments. Captain Sampson. the head OF the bureau
OF Ordnance and l. 6. Johnson. senior member OF
the con,nanv which MANUFACTURED the projectilcs.
witnessed the experiments. The shells met the re-
quirements In a satisfactory manner AMI the snow
Ing made seems to Justify the claim that domestic
cast shells Of large cabre are enectual In attacks
upon thick armor. and that those o. American mani"
facture are of superior quality.
Ensign Tisdaie reports that four johnson pro-
joctiles were fred By him. Each was ten inches IN
diameter and was discharged from a gun OF 'ha'
callbre The target in the first three ro"ldS Was
an eighteen inch nickclsteel Harveyized plate rep
resentng the Indiana's armor which had peeh uh'h-
aged somewhat on previous occasions when attacked
by two Carpetner tweve-inch armor-piercns sh'liS'
having striking veocies Of lGG5 and 1926 footsec-
onls respectively and by one Wheeler-Stefihs pro-
jectle having velocity OF l.s2C ioot-secohuS II"
plate was secured 10 a heavy oak backing by
twenty-three three-inch bolts. 1t was "'' l''t
from the gun. In the first round Inc Sh'ii
weighed All pounds ana the chdit' VI P''''''
?jJ pounds The striking velocity was l'o'
foot-second- and the striking energy l5o'p
foot-tons. The shot struck the upper middle pof-
ton Of the target This WAS broken up pieces ana
fragments Of the pate flying 800 feet to the 'front.'
The portion OF the plate struck was seriously da"l-
aged. large hole feet by being made J" 1t.
All OF the old cracks in the plate were widen"d ana
, now through crack was developed one armor
bolt was driven out =,
In the second round the shell weighed 5o2 pound;
and the charge II pow Ter was ~ POUNDS me
striking velocity was 1883 foo,-seconds and the
striking energy 1865 foot-ons. the energy per ton
of plate attacked being 20 foot-tons. The shot
ctruck the right -hanI portion OF the plate normally
II broke up and rebounoel as in the FIRST round inc
largest piece being section Of the b)dy ana DASr
about ten inches long AMI weighing l1b p'unis' i!
this impact "A through crack to the bottom OF tn"
pate one inch wide at the shot hole and another
fire crack extending nearly the top OF the plate
| were developed T0p pieces OF the shot flew 10 me
front one to the distance OF lS' yarns aid d"o''''
800 yards one armor bolt was broken
The third shot weighed J0l pounds The charge OF
powder vas 25g pounds ne s'rh,hg Sy!1r,i
The point Of the impact va the rEhI r'S o ny
OFF. The estimated penetration ""s l''2 ncnss ne
body and base OF the shell, ioT me .ehs.h p' -
The diameter Of the shot ho, lo. ln'Aes on the
face OF the ptte. front bulge j., nches hsh an !
zone about inches wide tne lowet han pe'1s
ch!pped on whilr the upi'r PAX ,i.n'1 ,1 +,
new surface rack and also through GracSS' VINO
al. the old Gracks In me n1ts "crr IN rro ronre
scn;ine the Orcgon's T-.nch HarvryizrI nick.s,'
/ btrhcijc plates which had previously been aiaGksi
ve.ocitics ranging from 40 loot --rpnI, - -
ang'iir in .haI. AMI wc.shal ab5u ..H,y tons Tn
Si ,o, ~es"' 4c eir'tirc ,,o.,: V Ie.a f'o.ec.
onIs ana the strit ~ energy 1880 fo',i.n' ne
ar' h,cl anl i.r ts", - ~. s,rc.4ro par,
% Tho hss" fticHiny on "igh, inches rom ,a' iar,