The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-21
UNCLE SANS BIG GUN.
Largest Cannon I'm the World to he
Mounted in New York HarbOr.

A"rSest cannon IN the world TO he
Mounted in New York Harbor.
In few years the United States will
own one fthe biggest guns in the
world. 1t is to be sixteen inches IN
diameter on the inside and will shoot
projectile larger than the body of
good-sized man and weighing over
1900 pounds.
At the war department this after
noon bids were opened for furnishing
the mount and the steel forgings nee
essary before the gun itself can be
built. Some idea of the size of this
gun can be gained when it is known
that it will take three years of steady
work to make it. 1t will cost a small
fortune. and viii consume 800 pounds
of powder at single shot.
The building of this monster gun is
largely an experiment. Ever since 1856
the board which has charge of fortifi-
cations and coast defenses has urged
congress to set aside enough money
for building a sixteen-inch gun. Sew
eral foreign countries have such guns,
both for use in coast defenses and
aboard vessels of war. Though there
has been no opportunity to test them
in active warfare, 1t is claimed that,
Notwithstanding their enormous size
and the force of their recoil when dis
charged, the result of their work will
fully warrant their cost and the nee
essary danger connected with their
use. A sixteen-inch gun when dis
charged is not only dangerous at the
muzzle but at the breech, for the re-
coil, If not properly provided for,
might sink the ship, gun and ALL
The United States government does
not intend to use this big gun aboard
ship, but it will be placed on one of
the Notifications in New York harbor.
Gen. Flagler the chief of ordnance Of
the army, said today that one we'll
directed shot from the sixteen-inch gun
would destroy or stop any vessel known
at the present time. He says one such
gun in New York harbor would do more
good in case of war than a dozen guns
of twelve or thirteen inches in size, the
largest now in use by this government
on land or sea. The more conservative
officers of the war department have re-
commended until recently, the building
of more twelve-inch guns, but 1T has
been demonstrated within the last year
that twelve-inch projectile viii not
penetrate the armor now used on war
ships unless the shot is especially IA
Vorable.
The argument for the 12-inch gun has
been that if one shot at a hostile war
ship did not do the work, more shots
would, and that the largest vessel in
the world could not stand dozen
shots from a 12-inch gun. Gen. Flagler
meets this argument by saying that
while the 12-inch guns of the United
States were pounding away at foreign
ship the guns on board the vessel
would not be idle, and he thinks it
wise, therefore, to have a gun big
enough to do the work quickly.
The big gun will weigh about seven
ty-five tons and will be about fifty
feet long in the clear, the inside bore
or barrel being about forty feet in
length. Two miles will be a short dis
lance for its proiectiles to reach. and
even at that distance they will be
skipping along at a speed of 1000 feet
every second. The destruction that
would be wrought by 1900 pounds Of
hardened steel. shaped like a MIME ball,
going at the highest speed, can scarce
ly be imagined.