The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1895-05-11
Armor Plate Tests.


At the Indian Head proving ground,
near Washington. D. C.. on May first
there was battle roval between the big
gr9t guns of the navy and an lS-inch
Haryeyized steel plate. made by the Car
negie works with wholly unprecedented
results. After firing twice at the great
piece of steel with ! , inch rife without
maxim. any practical impression on it, the
great .peaecmaker as the l3-inch Gun
l. called discharged its half-ton proiectile
point blank a the armor. and though
driven bodily back into the sand bank sup
porting IT, the plate survived
Great interes, has been manifested in
today test Is it vas practically a compe
titinu Of the hitherto suspected Carnegie
product and the uniformly successful Beth
lehem manufacture. The Bethlehem Com
pany furnished the lS-nch plate that
passed the ordeal two weeks ago and to-
,lay the Carnegie armor wa> tested with
exactly the same Grade of shells made in
France for testing purposes. aud all the
conditions were made uniform Today
plate was finished To- size and e,st abou;
S20. 900 Il weighed "a, 500 pounds
Wa, l6 feet - inches long. and feet
) 1916 inches wide. and was Of ,apering
thickness being ; inches thick At the top
and extending feet down where the
taper Ia ; inches thickness at the bottom
began Il represented the second lot If
500 tons "r ten plates, Cor the side arnor
ng the battle ship Oregon, nearly com
pleted AZ San Francisco The plate was
attached to a hacking ct 81 inches Of solid
oak by 26 three inch b,lts. the entire
structure being firmly anchored in hin
side about loo var,ls from the muzzles Of
the gun battery
The 6rst prljectile was an S5O-pouud
Il inch Holitser she'll, driven hy 2ta ;
pounds Of brown hexagonal powder, re
sulting in a velocity 81 I. ITO ieet PER see
pud The shell struck the plate with an
energy Of | >. 662 foot tons. the point If
impact being - inches from the lett edge
and = inches from the top. This was
designated the cracking Shot. and It's Ne
locity was - calculated a. To split the ar
NOR If possible The Carnegie plate, how
ever showed no crack whatever when the
smoke blew away and the particles Of shell
ceased falling. The nose Of the proSectile
pushed iuto the hardened metal about SIX
inches. causing an annular bulge in the
surface half an inch high and extending
for three inche, around the hole, eharae-
termed hy small patches Of the surface
sealing off OF the $50 pounds of she'll
NJ piece heavier than a few pounds could
h, found. With the Bethlehem plate the
shell had gone ia over | , inches and the
naval ordinance experts agreed that this
new plate would have 10 be clas-ed alone.
The gun Was mupped out. aud behind
another pr,jectile similar TO the first one
rs. 1 pounds Of powder was placed, giving
a muzzle velocity Of ! 92G fee, per second
and the enurmuus striking energy of II,
50 foat tons. The shot struck n inches
a. the right Of the first one The plate
had passed the cracking ordeal and this
shot was intended solely to Try It's resist
ance to being penetrated The penetra-
ton WIS ten inches, as wei a. could be
estimated. The head Of the projectile as
far a, the explosive chamber was com
ple,ely smashed on the plate looking As if
! lur Of black mud had been splashed upon
the aruior, The two metals had been
melted and welded together BY the terrific
temperature due to the sudden stoppage Of
the shot. the irightiul energy Of nearly
- 900 foot tons being suddenly converted
into heat. The metal Of the plate for a
depth of three inches and for siN inches
arlund the point where the proiectile
struck had been fused and bubbled up ike
a volcanic crater \ crack three tuurthS
Of an inch wide was developed in the sur
face OF the plate, extending from the top
TO the bottom.
The plate was accepted by the Govern
ment. and then with the view of detem-
ming what its ultimate test might be under
the most extreme conditions it was decided
bv the Chief of Ordnance to attack it with
the greatest of naval weapons, the big l3-
inch gun, such as in the turrets of the bat
tie ships. \ l3-inch Carpenter shell,
weighing 100 pounds driven by lS9
pounds of powder specially adapted 10 this
gun. was discharged with velocity of |.
$40 feet per second in this test. 1t had
the unprecedented striking energy OF p,
600 foot tons, and its impact was only b
inches to the left of the first shot. The
result was remarkable 1t was expected
thar this test would demolish the plate.
\ crack 3 inches wide extended some dis
lance from the top, and the shell, after
penetrating i inches. was, as one of the
officers declared. almost pulverized.
The solid oak backing, however, demon
strated the terrific energy Of the projectile,
for it was shut up ike an accordion and
split into kindling wood The effect of
such gun fire on battle ship in action, in
the opinion of the experts present, would
be incalculable Upon careful examina-
ton the ability of the plate to keep
out the heaviest proiectile was fully proved,
by the fact that but one Of the fastening
bolts was damaged, and the other twenty
FIVE would have held the plate in position
on shipboard.
This plate is said to indicate that the
fight between gun and armor, which has
recently been rather one-sided in the gun
favor, is now about tie, and that with
the reforeing process the armor may soon
be invulnerable to any existing weapon.