Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-10-22

may be done without the slightest dan
ger to the men who man the great
guns which perform this task. The
new method is known as high angle
firing.
The one experiment which demon
strated the fact cited beyond question
was conducted with a wire wound. piece
of service ordinance. Of 9.2 inches cali
Der, weighing nineteen tons, and which
was on an expanding mounting placed
for high range firing. The gun utilized
was one of great power, range, and
penetration. In the series of trials Of
the gun the projectiles fired were Pal
User shot, weighing 9S2 pounds each.
and requiring for discharge an individ-
ual charge of 270 pounds of powder.
The gun was fired at various angles
of elevation, the maximum range OBJ
tanned not being less than twelve
miles. The elevation was then forty
degrees. Those who had charge of
the experiments carefully calculated
the speed of the projectile and deter
mined that the extreme height OBJ
tanned by it was in the vicinity Of 49,,
900 feet, or about three miles. The
time occupied by the entire fight was
exactly one minute. This result is re-
garded as one of the greatest achieve
ments of modern gunnery. TIE power
of great range and exceeding penetra-
ton which the projectile undoubtedly
possesses under the circumstances de-
scribed are unquestionably due to the
wire winding system, which gives high
resistance power to the guns, and thus
enables heavier charges to be used.
The gun which will in general be used
upon the coast of Britain weighs q
tons and has muzzle energy of 1920
foot tons. 1t is doubtful if any exper-
iment with artillery for thirty years
has resulted in the revelation of facts
so important to naval powers. 1t
needs no elaborate explanation to dem
structed on modern lines as to be i'm
pervious to projectiles dropped from
the clouds as well as those which are
fired at her sides. Yet that is exactly
the position the modern battleship is
placed in by the adoption of high angle
firing. The great advantage of high
angle fire from guns on shore is that
they can be mounted behind earth
works or parapets entirely concealed
from view, so that it would be matter
NJ Ifxv fn Gil
Again, their fire has a plunging char
acter, and is thus effective against oh
jects themselves invisible. The great
effect made possible by the use of guns
of this class has caused centraliza-
tion of attention from military men up
on them, all of whom say without hest
tation that the practice of high angle
firing has unquestionably great flu
ture. The main ideas of the high an
gle firing is to furnish a mode of at
tack against ships so heavily armored
as to be almost proof against artillery
used in the ordinary fashion. At first
it might be thought that a lombard
ment by high angle guns mounted so
deeply in the earth that it would be
we'll nigh impossible to direct their aim
at all would be in the nature Of shoot
ing at random. AS a matter of fact,
it would be anything but that. 1t is
now possible to tell the speed at which
a projectile travels and to calculate
from this speed the distance traversed
with certain charges of powder used
to give the necessary impetus. Now,
with these calculations possible, and
the points of the compass carefully cal
culated, it is not at all among the i'm
possibilities to place a shot with fair
accuracy.