The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-05-12
THE PEERLESS OREGON.

Altruistic doctrines are not woven into the
fabric of q big battle-ship. There is no unself-
ish principle or design nodded in the metal
that shapes her huge body. If there is any re-
gard for another during her construction, it is
to mar and destroy that other.
Two objects are always in view when the
modern cruiser is making ready for her dip
into the sea-her guns must crush and her
armor must not be crushed. This little selfish
but highly practical-one might say "proper"-
design, considering the fact that the fellow
whose guns are to be resisted and whose armor
is to be crushed is building ships under the
same egotistic plans and specifications, must
be and is carefully carried along to possible
perfection. 1t is a pity that nations will not
learn to war no more, but it will not do for q
single nation to master that lesson and have
the ignorant but highly civilized barbarians
around him, STAYING in his plates with ponder
Gus cones of chilled steel and bursting cubes OF
villainous saltpeter, mined from the earth.
Over in the Carnegie works they are rapidly
unlearning the lesson of universal peace, using
our Oregon's 1s-inch plates of metal as text
book; and the information gained is, that the
armor of the battle-ship now being made up
for war at the Union Iron Works deties all
modern projectiles. The slab of steel tested
was 16 feet 9 inches long and feet inches
wide and l foot inches thick and weighed
1890 pounds. 1t was secured to an oak back
ing three feet thick The first shot was fired
from q 12-inch gun (same ealiber as the new
ordnance being mounted at the Presidio) with
a powder charge of 249 pounds. The shell had
velocity of 1855 feet per second and striking
energy of IL ,662 tons to the square foot. The
penetration was only inches or one-third,
and the $50 pounds of projectile was broken
into small fragments. The head of the shell
was tightly welded in and there were no cracks
in the plate, showing that the tensile strength
of the metal was perfect.
The second shot was with charge OF 443.4
pounds of brown powder, projectile velocity
1926 feet per second and 81 1856 foot tons. The
shell struck ~ inches from the first shot and
the penetration was 10 inches. The projectile
was smashed its head remaining in the hole
and only slight crack extended across the
inner surface of the plate.
Then shot was fired from 13-inch rife.
This gun, be it remembered, is the Oregon's
own, as four of the fine fellows of that class will
do duty in her turrets, and the object was to
see how much battering she could stand from
her own ordnance They weigh sos tons each
and have service charge of $50 pounds, pro-
jectile of HOO pounds and muzzle energy of
SO, 627 tons per square foot. The shell fired at
the plate penetrated 10 inches and broke up,
the head being welded in the target. small
crack was noticed on the surface, but it was
not continuous.
When this thoroughly tested armor is riveted
to the Oregon's frame she will be invincible
invulnerable and impreganble to modern rifles.
Her four guns are the heaviest in the United
States naval service: only she and her sister,
the Indiana, being as yet armed with the noble