Daily Kennebec journal., 1895-05-06

Meanwhile Brother Jonathan looks On
and allows his small neighbor to be maj
treated. Jock is something of an Anglo
maniac himself.
Gun and Armor.
(N. Y. SUM-
The notable resistance offered by the
thickest ship plate of our navy 10 lis
heaviest rifle, in Wednesdays trial at IN
dian Head, adds new chapter TO the
annals Of the long and evershifting strug
gle for supremacy between target and pro
jectile.
The plate was one of a group made py
Carnegie of Harveyized nickcl-steel about
l634 feet long by ~ feet deep and Is
inches thick from the top to little De-
low the middle line whence 1t tapered TO
eight inches, since there, when Installed
in a vessel, it would be well under water.
| 1t was part Of the belt of the battle ship
| Oregon.
The acceptance test prescribed by the
contract called for an attack OF the upper
half by two shots from a II inch, hlgh
power gun, the first of which was not TO
crack the plate and the second, with
higher velocity, though it might crack
must not destructively perforate it, The
first round, with S50-pound Hotter
shell, and nearly $50 pounds of powder, at
a velocity of 1465 feet per second and
striking energy of II, 662 foot tons, struck
the plate a few inches above the middle
bevel already spoken of, penetrated about
six inches, or one-third of the thickness
and broke into unnumbered fragments,
making no crack in the plate. For the
second round ALB pounds of powder ftr-
nished muzzlo velocity of 1926 feet and
a striking energy of 2l, So5 foot tons. In
this impact, seven feet to the right OF the
| first, although crack not quite an inch
wide was developed from top to bottom,
the penetration was only ten inches OF the
eighteen, and the armor passed It's ordeal
The chief of ordnance then, as crucial
test, attacked the plate with the big Is
inch gun, the largest rifle ever made in
this country. A carpenter projcctilc,
weighing 100 pounds, propelled by over
iS9 pounds of powder, with velocity OF
1910 feet, struck the plate 32 inches to
the left of the first impact A crack,
three inches wide or more at the top and
two at the bottom, appeared, and the
stout oak backing behind the plate was
crushed and splintered; yet the plate held
together, and the projectilc could only
penetrate ten inches, the head welding and
the body and base being driven back,
while only one arrnor bolt in the backing
was destroyed.
The results of this trial will be specially
studied, no doubt, in their bearing on the
selection of a battery for the two new bat
tie ships authorized by the recent act of
| alc 4 hn
question of what should be tho heaviest
oalibres used on shipboard When repeated
mishaps to the Armstrong 16 inch guns
caused that calibre to be discarded for
future war ships the revulsion in England
was so decided as to fix the maximum at
the 12inch calibre. 1t is true that vari-
Gus clements entered into this decision.
among them being the greater rapidity of
fire with decrease of calibre, the value of
being able to employ hand power should
accident disable the hydraulic or other
mechanism, and finally the ability of the
| 12-inch gun to penetrate any armor then
afoat. Our naval authorities so far con-
cured in these views as to order 12-inch
guns for the battle ship Iowa, although
her three predecessors, of the Indiana
class, which were of less displacement, all
carried the 13-inch
But of late great advances have been
made in armor. Tho Harvey process of
hardening the surface by super carboniza-
| tion, at first looked upon doubtfully, is
now so successful as to be adopted even
in England. The first experiments with
i7-inch and 1Sinch plates caused some
ordnance experts to question whether the
process was of value for armor of that
thickness; but new trials soon showed
that the system was equally applicable to
either. The difficulty found in boring
holes through Harveyizcd armor for fasten
ing other CONSTITUTIONAL parts of the ship
at the edge, formed an objection, but this
has been overcome by the electrical pro-
cess. Finally, the additional resisting pow
| or hoped for through the new method of
forging down plate, when Harveyized,
to about one-fourth less thickness,
promises another gain for armor
| Thus it becomes q serious question
whether the two new battle ships should
not carry 13-inch instead of 12-inch guns.
The ordnance bureau has formally urged
| that view, but Mr.. Herbert and the con
struction bureau have been inclined to
favor the 12-inch calibre, for the reasons
already noted, and on the assumption that
it is powerful enough, while saving weight
and cost. But can the 12-inch gun cope
with the thickest armor now carried? 1t
is true that smokeless powder will give
higher velocities than were used on We'd
nesday, and hence greater penetrating
power. But, on the other hand, the
guns advantage on the proving ground
fired with great deliberation at target
| immOVahlv n rod Only n faxp scoro ward .
distant, with the shot striking it normal
ly or at right angles cannot be expected
in actual battle against u floating target
which may be thousands of yards away,
and not struck squarely.
L l. IL. -