The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-06-14

y monitors in the West Indies speak IL
o the highest terms of the behavior OF the
: heavy guns mounted on these ships.
Not one of the big guns has exhibited
any signs of weakening, although some
: of them have already been fired more
times than foreign ordnance experts ex-
. pected they could be fired with safety.
American naval officers, who know how
guns are made down at the Washington
gun factory, confidently predict that
every big gun i'll SIMPSONS fleet VIII
outlive the war unless put out OF action
by the enemy
Since the war began deal of non
sense has been printed about the life
of big guns, as the result of which the
general opinion held among persons who
have not the opportunity to learn the
truth is that one of the 'peacemakers"
on the Oregon, for example, gun
which hurls half ton of steel through
33 inches of wrought iron-cannot be
| depended upon TO stand the strain OF
more than 100 firings and may even go
TO pieces much sooner. 1t is mot difficult
TO discover the origin Of the 100 fir
ings' fallacy 1t is the same as that of
some other similar ones
Not long ago a book was published in
England on Modern Naval Artillery, "
in which was described the manufacture
Of heavy ordnance at the great Elswick
factory. "BraSsey's Naval Annual,
the leading authority in Europe on ma
val statistics, declared at the time the
book came ont that there was no better
authority on the subject of the life of
big guns and quoted from it this state
ment: 1T is generally understood that
the life of the 81 ton gun may be taken
at 800 rounds and the 10 ton gun at 70
rounds both with full charges. And
Captain Orde Browne, the English ord
nance expert, adds, 1.-THE number Of
rounds which heavy gun will fire be-
fore becoming unserviceable is unfortu-
nately very small. "
We began making modern guns only
ten years ago, the armament of the first
cruisers of the white squadron having
been bought abroad. Just / years ago
this month the first contracts for gun
forgings of modern construction were
let TO the Bethlehem Iron company. We
began the manufacture Of the very type
Of guns about TO be discarded abroad
Since that contract was let we have
built gun factory at the Washington
navy yard, where have been built all
the heavy guns on our battleships, mon
itors and fighting cruisers Americans
do not generally know it, bat it is a
fact, undisputed by foreign experts who
have studied gunmaking i'll the United
States, that the Washington gun factory
turns out the finest chopped" guns in
the world-far superior to Krupp's-
and, in fact, the only heavy naval guns
of this type which will stand the strain
of long service.
Just how long our big naval guns
may be expected to live is matter of
opinion, for none of them has died yet
Not one of them has ever even broken
down III service. One of the Miantono-
moh's 10 inch guns, now waiting for a
chance TO sink an enemy's ship, has had
about as severe test as any of the big
guns in the navy for the gun was one
of the first turned out of the gun facto.
ry. Gunner Michael w. Gilmartin, now
on duty at the New York navy yard,
| fired this gun more than 100 times al
the Indian Head proving grounds. That
was some years ago, before the gun was
mounted aboard ship. Since it was first
shipped to the testing ground this gun
has been fired more than 200 times and
1t Is just as fit for service today as the
day it left the factory No gun abroad
can show such a record.
The Miantonomoh's guns, it must bt
remembered, were among our early
guns In strength and stability they arr
inferior to the newer ones. The wal
with Spain may result in data from
which may be determined the averag,
life OF the IL inch and l3 inch guns
but ordnance officers say the war will
have to be long one to put any of on
heavy guns out of action. That all O
the new guns will be serviceable afte
as many as 300 firings is the opinion 0
many OF the experts, and some place tin
figure much higher, Abroad the gun
makers doubt that their big "hooped'
guns would live through a single heav,
engagement. American experts believ
that American guns will outlive thei
usefulness, be serviceable when thei
. places are usurped by guns of still fine
construction
While none of our big guns has bee
long enough in service to indicate hoy
many more times it may be safely fired
the fact that none of the Washingto
guns has ever burst in service goes
long way toward proving the superior
ity of American guns over those of fol
eign make. Down at Indian Head th
other day gun was destroyed by til
explosion of a high explosive she'll i
the breech during an experiment. Fol-
tunately no one was injured. But abroa
gun accidents under service condition
are Of not infrequent occurrence. RI
ports from our naval attaches show tina
these accidents are seldom reported i
the newspapers, excepting where ther
} is loss of life. Especially is this true
: Germany, where number of bi
/ ko. -. /