The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-17
TURRETS ARE TOUGH.
THE FIRST REAL TEST EVER
MADE or THOSE FIXTURES.
A Very severe ordeal, which Is En-
dured So Well That a Dog Inside
Escaped Unhurt-Wicked PrOJec-
tiles Are Used.

Escaped Nuhurt-Wtckeu ErOyec-
tiles Are Used.
From the Pittsburg Dispatch.
Washlngton.-A most interesting test
took place to-day at the government prov
ing ground at Indian Head. 1t was a test
of armor plate and projectiles combined
but more important than ALL a test Of the
stability of the turrets now being built
upon large battleshps.
It had been demonstrated long before
this that the internal mechanism Of a
turret can withstand the shock Of the dis
charge of heavy gun, but nowhere in
the world had a test been made of how
one of the modern turrets would stand
the impact of a heavy shell, fired from
one of the largest guns now used on bat
tleships In view of this. the test to-day
was awaited with interest, not only by
the experts OF our own government, but
by those of foreign governments as we'll
The navy department had gone to the
expense Of $4,000 in building a turret at
the Indian Head proving grounds, that
was as near a counterpart as possible Of
the 13-inch turrets on the Indiana, Masa-
chusetts and Oregon.
The construction of this turret attract
ed a good deal of attention, and when
the party Witnessing the test reached
the proving ground this morning they
found there a structure built as nearly
as possible on the plans of the modern
turrets, with a 15-inch Harveyized nickel
steel plate manufactured at the Bethle-
hem Iron Works put in position in that
part of the turret that was to be fired
at Heavy cast iron plates completed the
turret together with a heavy top.
This armor plate had already been test
ed with two shots from a l0-inch gun. The
structure proper weighed slXty-seyen tons,
while the armOr that surrounded it and
and top weighed 157. and there were in
side Of it 1SO tons of pig metal to repre-
sent the guns, mounts, ETC., that are In
the turret on battleships This made a
total of 404 tons. The whole was mounted
on twenty radically placed cylindrical steel
rollers, ten inches in diameter and thirty
inches long. Arrangements had been made
for measuring any sliding, rotary or YER
teal motion of the structure
The party who left Washington to wit
ness this test was composed Of Secretary
Herbert, the chiefs of the naval bureaus,
mem bers of the House and Senate naval
committees, and prominent officers Of the
army and navy together with represent tai
tiVes of The two armOr plate manutac tur-
ing companies.
Secretary Herbert refused to allow news
paper men to accompany the expedition.
He suddenly came TO the conclusion that
this test is too important to be made pub
lie AS 1t turned out the test was satisfac-
tory and Secretary Herbert could no pre-
out.
Before the first shot was fired at the inn
provised turret, dog was placed within
ii, the object being to ascertain the effect
the impact of a heavy shot upon the plate
would have upon anything living within
it, The test was very severe and was large
ly for the purpose Of demonstrating wheth-
er the rollers on which the turrets are
built would work satisfactorily under
heavy shots, and also how the whole
structure would Withstand the shock.
In the opinion of the experts who wit
messed the test to-day, the structure with
stood the impact of the heavy shells very
well and II is believed that heavy tur-
rets, such as were represented to-day will
be an right under fire from the heavy
guns used in the navy. 1t is feared. how
ever, that the intermediate or eght-inch
turrets would be disabled by shots from
10, Y, 10 or even an eight-inch gun, and IT
is possible that one shot from a 13-inch
gun might knock such a turret over.
The first shot to-day was a Wheeler
Sterling shell weighing 300 pounds, fired
from a 10-inch gun with a striking We
locity Of 1850 feet per second. 1t struck
the plate eight inches to the left Of the