The Coconino weekly sun., 1894-05-17
PREPARING FOR WAR.
The Big Gun Shop at the Navy
 Yard at Washington.
Monster Csnnons Whose Cost Is Esti- mated at One Hundred Thousand Dol lars Each-Methods Employed
 in Their Manufacture.
Special Washington Letter. l

All of the officers of the navy are very proud of the big gun shop which is located at the Washington navy yard During the past years five of the greatest cannon ever made in America for service were completed in that big gun foundry. They are called built up breech. loading rifles, and are of the very latest scientific conceptions and mechanical patterns. They are all of the same size. each of them being of thirteen-inch caliber and weighing sixty-five tons. They are forty feet long, and each of them is capable of throwing an armor-piercing projectile of one thousand one hundred pounds weight distance of thirteen miles. 1t takes five hundred and fifty pounds of slow burning powder to drive one of the projectiles tn at distance and to give the shot muzzle velocity of two thousand one hundred feet'per second. There is an old adage that in time of peace we should prepare for war, and after visit to the gun foundry of the navy yard anyone will be fully con vinced that this country is acting upon the wisdom of that motto.
 No sooner was the work upon the five monster cannon completed than five more were commenced in the gun foundry. These monsters of modern warfare are intended for the arma- ments of the three new battleships- Indiana, Oregon and Massachusetts. Four are placed ol each of the battle ships, two forward and two aft, so that they can be used in action with deadly effect, regardless'of the position of the man-of-war at the time of firing the guns.
 We all know in this country some thing about the tremendous cost of war, for we went through four years of one of the most terrific struggles the world has ever known. But the people do not generally know in time of peace how much it costs to prepare for war, and only faint idea can be gleaned from the fact of the cost'of these guns They cost one hundred thousand dollars each. When all of them have been completed, the total cost will have been S1,2OO,0O0. When we take into consideration the fact that smaller guns are being made all the time, and that the navy must be supplied with costly battleships before these guns can be placed upon them, the cost of preparing for war in time of peace may be partly realized. It will cost seven hundred dollars every time one of these immense guns is fired in action. The cost will be five hun iectile, and two hundred dollars for the powder.
 The work upon these guns was com menced a little over two years ago, and they were completed in a little more than ten weeks; that is, except the breech mechanism and the mounts, which required a couple of months longer. Heretofore the navy yard gun foundry has turned out in considerable numbers, four, five, six and eight-inch rife guns, and few ten and twelve inch rifles. But these thirteen-inch giants of destruction are the largest ever attempted in this country. They are regarded as the perfection of cx- pertinent, study and research, al- though their fabrication is by very in- teresting processes, which are com paratively simple.
 The forgings of all these guns have been purchased at great cost, either at the works of the Bethlehem Iron company of Pennsylvania, or the Mid vile Steel company at Nicetown, near Philadelphia. These torgings are the result of mechanical Gnd mathematical skill in the application of long and difficult art to the raw material. The forgings for each gun cost S55, 1000, the manufacture of the gun proper, S10,- poo, and the construction of the mount, s35, ,000. Under the act of congress making appropriation for these guns, congress insisted by special pro- vision of the law, which has been reit- erated every year since the commence ment of the new navy that the ores and substances and elements which go Into the making of American war ships and their armaments shall be of