Morning journal and courier., 1894-03-22
TRIAL OF THE BIG GUN.

II IL the Largest Ever Made by the
United States and the Test of IL
Was Witnessed by q Distinguished
Gathering-The Rihe Weighs sixty
five Tons
WARRINGTON, March 21.-The new big
thirtesn-irch gun, the largest ever made In
the United States, was fred twice to day
at Indian Head, Md, proving grounds, in
the presence of company Of distinguished
officials, and proved to be q success. It was
demonstrated that the United States will
speedily possess full armament for four
bsttleships of the highest efficiency. The
visitors were conveyed on United States
vessels from Washington to the proving
grounds. -.,--. .----- g.
They numbered three hundred and in
cluded Vice President Stevenson, Secretary
Herbert, Captain Sampson, head of the
ordnance bureau, Senators Gibson, hale
and Perkins of the senate committee on
naval affairs, Chairman Cummings, Repre-
sentativeswa sworth, Meyer, Money, Griffin
and Hulick of the house COMMITTEES on ns-
val affairs; numerous other senator's and
representatives; Lorin A. Thurston, Ha-
waiian minister; and attaches of the
French and British embassies and of the
Japanese and Russian legations. 1t had
been arranged to first FIRE the star per-
former of the day and the vlsitors were
taken to examine 1t, mounted and ready
to receive Its FIRST charge. The rife itself
weighs sixty five tons, the brass saddle
upon which 1t rests ten tons and the car
riage upon which 1t lie mounted twenty five
tons, making q mass of 100 tons. When
Lieutenant Mason, ordnance officer in
charge, essayed to start the hydraulic ma
chinery by which the enormous gun IL
moved Q water pipe burst and the test was
delayed until repairs Sould be made.
In the meantime An experiment was uu-
dertaken to determine whether or not q
hsrveyizsd nickel steel armor plate twelve
inches thick could be demolished by ten.
inch cast steel projsetilts. The first one
| fred was the johnson cast steel shet. II
weighed 500 pounds, was propelled by the
| explosion of I'll pounds of powder and
struck the target (sbout 500 feet from the
| gums muzzle) with q velocity of ], 800 feel
second. Above five inches of the pro
| jsotile was driven into the plate, the re
mainder being broken into fragments
come of which rebouudsd two or three hun
bred yards. The plate was cracked to tn,
L
an apparent depth of about Ave inches.
The second shot was q Carpenter armor
piercing projectils of the same weight and
with the came charge az the johnson shell
1t penetrated the plate to about the sam
depth, and wae also completely shattered
but the shock opened the cracks made b.
the johnson shot clear through the plate
A piece of the demolished she'll flying iron
the target struck Congressman Taylor O
Indiana on the arm, but did not ipjur
him.
Then came the chief event of the day
A 100 pound projsctile Was rammed int
brown powder deposited in the cavity b
hind 1t. The purpose of the test wss I
determine ct what velocity that qusntit
of powder would drive the missile out c
!. the muzzle. This information was secure
by the uss of an electrical chronosrsph
The projectile was driven In bank {
earth across the little valley, passip
through two screens thirty metres apar
Acroes theee screens were ave wires, who
! | the shot severed as It passed. The diffe
ence in the time of breaking these wife
was shown by the chropograph at the o
, ace on the grounds. The shot was foun
to have been travelling, when 1t cut the,
( wires, at the rate of 1. 720 feet . second.
l For the second shot the charge of pc,
der was increased to 4S0 pounds with d
result of increasing the velocity to 1 81
1 feet per second. An exhibition also VI
made of the smokelees powder with Wh;t
= the naval officials are experimenting.
' four-inch rspid-fre gun was used and Il
: projectile struck the water down the riv
q about two miles away.
! The results Of both gun and plate ties
were Satisfactory to the officials. Secreta
Herbert said:
"The armor. plate was an experiment
a one. The experiment to day demonstra,
to my mind the fact that no plate can
% made but that q gun will be constructed
q demolish 1t. believe that after compl,
. ing the 13-inch guns now being assemble
% the United Ststes will make 10 inch {
maximum limit of Its guns. The Engli
government constructed 18 inch guns or
out of Difference to the popular demar
y They have not proved . success, and
!. best opinion of naval authorities 10 u
the 12inch gun reaches the maximum
effectiveness under present conditions"