The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-05-26

not put all her guns in an actio at the
same time, but in modern naval tactics
| the ships circle about and ''yaw'' from
one side to the other, so as to keen as
many guns bearing as possible, and are
SO constructed that at all times the heay-
Ter guns can be kept bearing on the enc
my. All things considered, IL ZOO, 600 is
not large estimate for the cost of pow
der and shot expended in one hours hard
fighting.
Some idea of the cost of firing big
gun may be gathered from the fact that
an armor- piercing projectile from 12-
pounds of powder to send it on its mis-
sion of destruction. A 12-inch gun can
be fired once in every three minutes.
A common shell for 13-inch gun costs
S116.63, and the armor- piercing proJect1les
for the same gun at least 500 each. one
charge of powder for 13-inch gun is 500
pounds. An S-inch gun can be tired once
minute; 4-inch gun APO times an
hour. But it is the total cost or powder
and shot fired away in one hours engage
ment which is most impressive as Illus
| trating the immense strides which the
Costumes of naval warfare has mace OF
late years. One single naval engagement
OF any duration would cost more IN tne
value of powder and shot expended by the
NPPOo1iiS llCCbo tIbD IL WOulu leeeO SSSo y"
conduct an entire naval war at the begin
nlng OF the century.
SKILL AND JUDGMENT.
With this greatly increased cost of firing
OF gun on board ship has come posi-
tive necessity for great skill and cool
Judgment in "the man behind the gun"
A fleet in which the gunners simply fired
OFF their guns as rapidly as they could
without hitting anything, unless by acct
dent, would start a nation on the road to
bankruptcy without doing much harm
TO the enemy. Hence the need of con-
stant target practice, discipline and in
structlon. Yet target practice is itself ex-
pens1ye, and only the rich nations can
afford to give their fleets the requisite
amount OF it. Only the wealthy nations
OF the world can afford to fight them.
Ii the North Atlantic feet fought for four
hours 1T would use up in the value OF
powder and shot the entire yearly reve-
nues of Greece.
One interesting thing to be seen from
the table given herewith is that it costs
considerably less to fight those effective
vessels, the monitors Puritan, Amphritite
and Terror than it does the second class
cruisers Montgomery, Raleigh and Mar
blehead. The monitors carry four heavy
guns each (the Puritan 12-inch and the
others 1O-inch), and could engage bat
tleship, while the cruisers mentioned
have no guns larger than 6-inch. The
Iowa also, it will be seen, is more eco
nomical ship than the other two first
class battleships, the Indiana and the
Massachusetts.
AS the monitor type is distinctly Amer
lean and as the first monitor on that glo-
rious day at Hampton Roads revolu-
tionized naval warfare and was the germ
from which all modern fleets have sprung
this is particularly gratifying. The only
fault with ships of the monitor class is
that they are of necessity slow.
EXPENSE OF INJURY.
To illustrate again the immense ex-
pense of naval warfare, take two ships
out of the table, say the first class BATTLE
ship Indiana and the frst-class cruiser
Brooklyn.
The contract price of the Indiana was
IS, 020, 900 and of the Brooklyn 1885, 900
and both of these ships won large bonuses
and their ornaments cost big fortune.
But take them at their contract price
alone and we have two ships, one of them
not a battleship, costing together S6, Co.,,
700, expanding nearly 800, 900 in shot
and shell in one hours fight. 1t is hardly
to be supposed that from naval engage
ment fleet would come out entirely I'M
scathed, and when to the cost of keeping
the North Atlantic squadron in action
for one hour in the matter of powder and
shot is added the certainty of great injury
being done to the costly ships and the
probability of the sinking of one or more
of them the figures which would really
represent the expense of such fight to
the government mount up not only to
one million, but to several. The very
multiplication table, when naval warfare
is in question, cries out: "Let us have
peace" 1t would seem as if prolonged
naval warfare were impossible in modern
times from the great drain it would make
on the resources of even the richest coun-
tries if for no other reason