The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1897-11-09

may lie done without The slightest dam
ser 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 90 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 proiecllles fired were Pal
User shot. weighing 3S2 pounds each.
and requiring for discharge an indiyid-
ual charge OF 21O pounds Of powder
The gun was fired AZ various ans Zee
OF elevation. the maximum range OBJ
taincd 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 proicctlle and deter
mined that the extreme height OBJ
talned by q was In the vicinity OF lG.-
900 feet. or about three miles. The
time occupied by the entire aight was
exactly one minute This result is re-
garded as one OF the greatest achieve
monts Of modern gunnery. The power
OF great range and exceeding penetra-
ton which the proiectile undoubtedly
possesses under the circumstances de-
scribed are unquostionahly due to the
wire winding system. which gives high
resistance power to the guns. and thus
enables heavier charges 10 be used
The gun which will In general be used
upon the coast Of Britain weighs q
tons and has a muzzlo energy OF 10. 200
foot tons II Is doubtful n any exper-
iment with artillery for thirty years
has resulted In the revelation OF facts
10 important 10 naval powers. II
needs no elaborate explanation TO dem
onstrate that no vessel can BE- 50 con
strucied on modern lines as ~ be- Inn
peryiuus TO proicctlles dropped from
The clouds as well as those which are
fired 40 her sides Yet that o. exactly
the position the modern baiuoshin o.
placed In by the adoption OF high anrle
firing The great advantage OF high
angle Gre from ours on shore ls that
they can De- mounted behind earth
works or pasapeis entirely concealed
from view. so that u would De- q matter
of great difficulty TO silence them.
Again. their Gre has a plunglng char
acter, and is thus effective against OBJ
iects themselves invisible. The great
effect made possible by the use Of guns
Of this class has caused a ccntrallza-
ton Of attention from military men up
On them. all OF whom say without hest
tation that the practice OF high angle
firing has unquestionably a great fu-
ture. The main ideas OF the high an
Gle firing a. 20 furnish a mode OF at
tack against ships 30 heavily armored
a. 10 be- almost proof against artillery
used In the ordinary fashion. Al nrat
Il might be thought that a lombard.
ment by high angle guns mounted 80
deeply In the earth that Il would be
well nigh impossible 20 direct their aim
AZ all would be- In the nature OF shoot.
Ing az random A a matter OF fact.
Il would be- anything but that. Il Is
now possible 10 tell the speed At which
a projectile travels and 20 calculate
from this speed the distance ira, ersed
with certain charges Of powder used
to give the necessary impetus Now.
with these calculations possible. and
the points Of the compass carefully cal
culaied. Il Is not at all among the i'm
possibilities 20 place a shot with fair
accuracy.