The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-04-30

Inc enR2Sernent WOulu very timely
take place off the Cuban coast, Spain
having hurried her best ships thither
to retain her sole American possession
! Suppose her crack battleship, the Pc
layo, came out of Havana harbor to
debate the question with us. The fair
| est encounter would be to pit against
her. not the superb Iowa, with her dis
/ placement of II 900 tons, for the Pelayo,
/ though the pride of Spain's navy, is of
| l COO tons less, but the Massachusetts,
! a battleshIp of 10,2SS tons. Then the
disparity in favor of the Stars and
/ Stripes would be only matter of some
! 3O0-odd tons.
I THE TWO LEVIATHANS.
! AS to the armament, here is the way
the two leviathans compare:
MASSACHUSETTS,.
Main Battery.
J 13-inch breech-loading rifles.
8 S-inch breech- loading rifles.
6-inch breech-loading rifles.
| Secondary Battery.
| 90 6-pounder rapidtiring guns
+ 1-pounder rapid-fire guns.
Calling guns.
Torpedo tubes.
PELAYO.
. 125-inch breech-loading rifles.
11-inch breech-loading rifles.
/ 62-inch breech- loading rife.
u 47-inch breech-loading rifles
Secondary Battery.
9 27-ineh breech-loading rifles.
II 1-pounder breech-loading rife.
Torpedo tubes.
WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IN AN
HOUR.
+ If either ship were so disabled that
she sank fortune of s5,67000o would
be submerged More than likely each
would sustain damages calculated at
half the total cost of either. or $1.S35,0OO
A conservative estimate of the amount
of material utterly ruined or destroyed
would be $5,973.0o0 All this. be it re-
membered. without for a moment cor
sidering the loss of human life involved.
"A modern man-o'-War," said Captain
Howard Patterson, graduate of the
naval academy, author of the naval
dictionary and other maritime works,
sis not only a floating volcano, but a
floating coffin. In an engagement to-
day all the boats would be cut adrift
cited together perhaps), all deck appur-
tenances not absolutely necessary in an
action would be cast overheard, so that
a telling blow at the ships vitals would
mean the quick sinking of the iron
not and the impossibility of rescuing
her men,
Imagine battle lasting an hour only.
In that time the Massachusetts, might
fire her four 13-inch guns 20 times. That
would mean so projectiles, weighing
SIS. AGO pounds. or a tons, of shot and
sholl hurled toward her opponent.
Her eight eight-inch guns might
belch forth their fierce greetings half
as often again. That would mean
nearly IS tons more. The four six-inch
manipulated oftener, and during the
argument" they might present ma
terial" reasons weighing as much
more.
Powder today costs % cents pound.
averaging the different sorts used on
battleShip. The quantity of powder
used to eject these 100 tons of projec-
tiles from the main battery only world
amount to so tons. or $4,000 worth. The
fuses for these proiectiles cost from 81
TO SIS each. The number used would
approximate 100. and probably more.
That v-ould mean 81, 800 more of money
burned.
The proiectiles. however. are the
most expensive part of the whole fusil-
abe. They would mate n ho1o in that
$50 GOO.OCO defense fund Of s24O,OO0.
working the secondary battery. The
rapid-fre guns would live up to their
names. and if the two antagonists APP
preached each other in q handto-hand
graphic, so to speak. these spitfireS
would cough and rage necessarily.
Their firing. though comparatively a
paltry expenditure if each single dis
charge were considered. means another
huge sum in the aggregate. These
4
tiles weighing from a pound to 125
hounds. They can be fired 10 to 20
times every minute. They are dis
charged as rapidly as the breech- block
can be opened, a cartridge inserted. the
block closed and the trigger pulled.
With dozens of nervously energetic
arms at work in patriotic fervor, these
guns would give-a continuous perform
ance. costing thousands upon thousands
of dollars. The verv tiniest shot from
the Massachusetts Cuttings would cost
so cents. and the larger ones SO each.
At ten shots a minute from the 20 six
Founders, u shots from the four one
Founders, and 200 a minute from each
of the quartette of Cuttings. on con-
servative basis the secondary battery
would hurl $4,000 worth of projectiles
and burn $500 worth of powder.
THE PAST WOULD PALE.
Thus, as nearly as can be calculated.
the Massachusetts would eXpend
fortune OF 1926, 900 in an hour, or almost
exactly $4,000 a minute. In a single
second, at this rate, the Massachusetts
would spend $685.
Then consider her opponent. II the
Spanish Dons worked their guns as rap
idly as we did ours, and just as long
before crying quits. the already de-
pleted Spanish treasury would have
suffered a forced draught of 1926, 600.
The Pelayo has II big guns A single
discharge of all of them involves S10,05O.
One of her guns costs $3.50 each shot.
Twelve others dispose of $500 each every
time one speaks The twin 11-inch dogs
of war cost $500 apiece every time they
bark. The two 12.5-inch rifles cost
nearly $1,000 apiece when service
charges are used
Her secondary battery would cost
$4,000 every quarter of an hour, If
every one-pounder six-pounder and
small gun were utilized to the utmost
limit. That would mean $4,000 for an
hour.
A hot engagement of an hours dura-
ton, then, would mean more than half
a million dollars worth of powder and
shell exploded
The damage done would be at least
twice as much, dollar for dollar-or ST.
900. 600.
Already there is talk of having on
hand the veteran commanders of the
leading navies of the world. should war
break out, so that the mightiest con-
test of modern high power guns, /
smokeless powder and steel-piercing
projectiles versus Harveyized steel ar |
NOR plates may be duly observed.
The Chinese Japanese affair at Yalu, |
the only recent example of nineteenth