The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1895-05-10

battle royal at the Indian Head prov
ing grounds yesterday between the
biggest guns Of the navy and an Is
inch harveyizcd steel plate. made by
the Carnegie works. with wholly un-
precedented results.
Great interest has been manifested
in Yesterdays test, as il was practic-
ally competition of the hitherto suS-
pected Carnegie product and the uni
formly successful bethlehem manufac-
turers, The Bethlehem company fur
nished the ls-inch plate that passed
the ordeal two weeks ago. and yester-
day the Carnegie armor was tested
with exactly the same grade o. shells
made IN France for testing purposes.
and all the conditions were made uni
form. Yesterdays plate was finished
to size and cost about SeO. 600. IL
weighed y, 800 pounds, and was lG feet
o. inches long. feet il-l6 inches
wide, and was OF tapcring thickness,
being j. inches thick at the top. ex-
tending feet down where the taper,
To : inches thickness At the bottom be-
gan. II represented the second OF BOG
tons, or ten plates for the side armor
of the battleship Oregon.
During yesterdays test it was at
tached 10 a backing OF 80 inches of
solid oak by twenty-eight 3-inch bolts.
the entire structure being firmly an
chored in a hillside about 100 yards
from the muzzles of the gun battery.
The first was an s5O-pound la-inch
Hotter shell. driven by 2i9.s pounds
Of brown hexagonal powder, resulting
in velocity Of /. 465 feet per second.
which struck the plate with an energy
Of 1862 foot tons, the point Of impact
being : inches from the left edge and
g. inches from the top. This was des-
ignated the cracking shot, and its
velocity was SO calculated as TO split
the armor, If possible. The Carnegie
plate, however. showed no crack what
ever when the smoke blew away and
the particles Of shell ceased falling.
The nose Of the projectile pushed
into the hardened metal about
inches, causing an annular bulge in
the surface half an inch high and ex-
tending from 3 inches of the hole,
characterized by small patches OF the
surface scaling off. OF the $50 pounds
of shell no piece heavier than a few
pounds could be found.
With the Bethle hem plate the shell
had gone in over IL inches and the
naval ordnance experts agreed that
the new plate would have TO be classed
alone.
The gun was mopped out and behind /
another projectile similar TO the first
one, il3.i pounds OF powder were
placed, giving muzzle velocity Of L.
s26 feet per second and the enormous \
striking energy of l,,>5 foot tons. \
The shot struck forty-two inches 10
the right of the first shot
The plate bad passed the cracking
ordeal and this shot was intended solely l
to try resistance to being penetrated.
The penetration was ten inches as well
as could he estimated. The head Of
the projectile as far as the ex-
plosive chamber, was com pletely /
smashed on the plate, looking |
as il lot Of black mud had been 4
splashed upon the armor. The two
metals had been melted and welded
together by the terrific temperature
due 70 the sudden and complete stop
page OF the shot, the energy Of nearly
%. 900 foot tons being suddenly con-
verted into heat The metal OF the
plate for depth of inches around
the place where the projectilo struck /
had been fused and dubbed up like a
crater. A crack three-fourths
of an inch wide was developed in the
surface OF the plate extending from
the top 10 the bottom.
The plate was accepted by the gov
eminent. and then. with the view of
determining what its ultimate condi-
ton might be under the most extreme
il was decided by the chief
Of ordnance 10 attack il with the
greatest of naval weapons. the big IS
nch gun, from the turrcts of the bat
tle>hips a l3-inch Carpenter she'll.
HOO pounds. driven by 40
pounds Of powder specially adapted to \
this gun. was discharged with We
Iocity Of $50 feet per second in this \
test. 1t had the unprecedented strik- \
ing energy Of $4,000 foot tons, and its
impact vas only % inches to the left I
Of the first shot.
The result was remarkable. II was
expected that this test would demol- \
ish the plate. A crack three inches
wide extended some distance from the /
top. and the shell. after penetrating \
ten inches was. as one of the officers de- 4
clared. almost pulverized. The solid 4
oak backing however, demonstrated
the terrific energy Of the projectile.
for it was shut up like an accordion
and split into kindling wood. The ef
feet Of such gun fire on battleship in
action, in the opinion of the experts
present. would be incalculable.
Upon careful examination the abil-
ity of the plate TO keep ont the heavi-
est projectiles was fully proven by the
fact that but one of the fastening
bolts was damaged and the other
twenty-seven would have held the
plate in position on shipboard.
This plate is said to indicate that
the endless fight between gun and
armor which has recently been one
sided in the guns favor. is now about
A tie, and with the reforging process
the armor may soon be invulnerable
10 am existing weapon.
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