The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1894-04-28
Firing Great Guns at Sea.
From the New York Sun.

-
one last glance along the sights. There is
no sound save Of the wind in the ears, and
the splash and glide of the water along the
sbip's side. The sailors are at their posts
nv the gun, waiting. The long steel tube
with the peaceful glints of sunshine on it
ia waiting too. Far out at sea a white
speck lazily rises and falls on the swell.
gull is circling above it like leaf in the
wind.
aFirel''
The gunner moves, there is a rumbling,
iarring crash, and for an instant everything
is obscured by a mass Of white smoke. As
it blows past, every eye centres on the
sWaying speck in the sunlight. The Lieu
tenant in charge fixes his glass upon it;
the gunner slowly draws in the lanyard as
he watches. The speck and the gull are
all alone, but the bird suddenly plies its
wings and darts away, and then pyramid
of glistening foam rises high out of the
water, fingers a moment, and melts back.
The white speck has vanished.
"Struck, by Jove !"
The firing of great guns at sea is to the
majority of laymen who have witnessed it
most unpleasant experience. This is
particularly true of the firing aboard a
modern warship, as the steel construction
Yields sensitive medium of vibration. In
time, however, one may become accustom-
ed to the shock. Perhaps the unpleasant
ness is augmented by the extreme quiet
prevailing before the piece is fired. Visit
ors to a man-of-war from which salute is
to be fired are frequently advised by one
of the officers to stand upon their toes and
keep their teeth apart when firing COM
mences. Such precaution greatly lessons
the force of the shock to the person, the
balls Of the feet acting as cushion, and
the parting of the teeth preventing exces-
siVe jarring of the tympanums of the ears.
When target practice on war ship takes
place the ship is cleared for action. All
movable objects on deck are sent below,
light yards and masts are sent down, and
preparations are made for passing powder
and shot through the deck chutes. The
humor in which the Captain arises gener-
ally controls the extent to which the opera
tons are carried. Sand may even be
thrown on deck about the guns. This is
always done in action to prevent the crews
from slipping in the blood expected soon
to flow. The white target with its black,
square bulls eye is fioated on casks about
1000 or 1900 yards distant at sea, and
then the laundering begins. Strange as it
may seem, the firing from the turrets of
our harbor defence ships is not half so I'M
pleasant for those within the steel box as
it is for guns crew firing on open deck.
The gun passes through very narrow port
in the turret and its muzzle is, in modern
gun, quite distance away. The waves of
air generated by the discharge find but
little opportunity to enter the turret, and
the sound of firing is therefore greatly
diminished. Some one.described the SEN
sation in the turret as very similar to that
experienced in an elevator when it begins
hurried descent. An officer who had
been aboard the monitor Miantonomoh
during target practice with her main bat
terry said the shock within the turret was
practically wanting. Not SO when shot
should strike the turret, as many sailors
learned during the civil war. Then the
conclusion was terrific, frequently causing
bleeding at the nose and ears.
As the demand for great pieces Of ord
nance and the facilities for constructing
them have increased so have their size and
consequent power increased. England
achieved an undoubted feat in building up
her 16.25-inch guns, although they were
finally found to be worthless owing to
droop of the muzzle caused by their ex-
IRENE length, weight, and the force of their
discharge. These terrible engines of war
weiged 1103 tons, and an idea of their
enormous power may be gained by their
penetration. When they were tested
charge of ninety-six pounds of brown pow
der was used and Hotter projectile of
1873 pounds. The projectile penetrated
twenty inches of brown iron, eight inches
of wrought iron, twenty feet of oak, five
feet of granite, eleven feet of concrete, and
six feet of brick. Two of these monsters
were placed aboard the Victoria, recently
sunk in the Mediterranean Sea by the
Camperdown. During her early manevres
the ship went to sea for target practice.
One of the huge bow guns was trained
directly forward at the target and fired
with full charge of powder and solid
shot. When the smoke lifted it was found
that all her wooden decking from the guns
muzzle to the bow had been ripped off or
ground to splinters by the force of the ex-
plosion. The steel backing under the
wood also suffered, and almost everything
below decks in that part Of the ship was
demolished. After that smaller charges
were used, and the muzzles were pointed
over the ships side SO that the water could
take up the shock. The Miantonomoh
had similar experience, although by no
means SO disastrous. One of her after
turret guns of ten inches calibre was fired
astern at an angle Of about 450. The
muzzle extended over the ships side, but
the conclusion served to destroy many frail
articles, such as glassware, in the officers