The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-07
MAxlM'S SCHEME OF WARFARE.
HE EXPLAINS a NEW WAY TO
THROW PROJECTILES.
Revolutionary Idea which Is Pre-
scented to America Free of Charge.

| The Star is in receipt of a letter from
Hudson Maxim, brother of the inventor
of the famous Maxim rapid-fire gun, him
self an inventor of note. and deeply inter-
ested in all matters pertaining to naval
warfare. The letter, which was written
at London on the 9th Of the present
month. is as follows:
Enclosed 1 send you reprint of my
lecture before the Royal United Service
| Institution. on my system of throwing
high explosives from ordnance, and which
has just been published In the April num-
| Der of the Journal of that society.
Il shall be glad of any publicity which
you may see fiji to give this matter espe-
cially in the event of hostilities between
the United States and Spain. shall also
be glad of any publicity which you may
| give to the expression of my earnest de-
| sire to serve my native country in any
way. Just one cruiser, built and equipped
complete with torpedo boats according to
my system, explained in the inclosed lee
ture, would be sufficient 10 destroy every
Spanish war ship which it might encoun-
ter at sea. Taken in rotation, such a
cruiser would be more than a match for
the entire Spanish navy. The cost of such
a cruiser would be about $500, 600.
Il beg to make the following proposition
through your columns, either to the Uni
ted States government, or to any of my
patriotic fellow citizens who may be will
ing to furnish the capital necessary for
the construction and equipment of one
such cruiser; will grant the free use,
without royalty. of all my inventions, for
the purpose. and will come to America and
eat. rf.,ta !
Will get it built here in England by Sir
William Armstrong Whitworth & Co,
and will make no charge whatever for my
personal services or expenses in connec-
ton with the work.
IAN opportunity to serve on board in an
enga cement would also be very accepTa-
bic TO me-"
The lecture delivered by Mr. Maxim,
as noted in this letter, was in part as fol-
lows;
For a generation there has been a race
for supremacy between guns and armo7
between penetration and resistance. be-
tween offense and defense. This race has
resulted in the development of cannon of
compare lively small caliber, but with
great thickness of wall and tremendous
weight. in order to withstand the enormous
pressures necessary TO impart requisite We
locities to long and heavy armor- piercing
projeetiles. Powder space within the ar
mor-piercing shell has been sacrificed to
weight and strength of metal, reliance be-
ing mainly placed upon the smashing CT
feet of a huge body of steel Opposed to
this we find the modern battle ship. cloth
ed in a wall of steel SO ponderous as to
reduce mobility to a minimum.
I'VE find in history something like a
parallelism with this before the invention
of firearms when warriors clothed them
selves in armor which was constantly in
creased in weight and strength to resist
penetration of improved weapons. How
ever, upon the advent of firearms all err
. NOR was cast off, for it was found i'm
practicable for an individual to carry suf-
ficient .armor toswithstand thefpenetratlng
force of missiles hurled by ogunpowder,
resistance TO penetration being wholly sac
rificed to mobility. u
Nov, with the advent of a system Of
throwing high explosives in sufficiently
large masses TO render armor absolutely
useless we shall find navieS discarding
their armor, and everything will be made
subservient to speed and mobility. This
will work a complete revolution in the con-
struction of ordnance and ships-of-war.
Heavy ordnance instead of being made,
as at present, of small caliber, with thick
and heavy walls, will be made of much
greater caliber, and with comparatively
thin walls. The projectile which
simply thick enough TO support the mass
OF contained explosive in its flight from
the gun, and the explosive will be suth-
cient in quantity to work infinitely more
destruction upon any target than any such
projectfles as are at the present day
thrown from heavy guns.
"One of the requisites of primary i'm
portance to a system of successfully
throwing high explosives in large masses,
rests upon the propelling charge-upon a
suitable gunpowder--one which shall give
a sufflclently low initial pressure, and
maintain that pressure behind the projec-
tile in its fight throughout the entire
length Of the gun, and powder whscn Will,
with absolute certainty, burn alike at all
times, under like conditions, in order that
predetermined pressure and veloctties may
| be depended upon.
''The value of high explosives in naval
and military operations is becoming more
and more to be recognized. Submarine
mines and various forms of self-propelleo
torpedoes have shown us how a well-df-
rected blow, from even comparatively
small charge of high explosive, may throw
a huge battleship out of action or send her
10 the bottom. Some types of automobile
and dirlgible torpedoes have reached
very high state OF perfection, and their
evolution has led TO the torpedo boat and
again to the torpedo boat destroyer.
"One of the great advantages of high
| explosives as an agency of destruction is
the impossibilty of opposing to them any
efficient means of protection, when ap
Piled in large quantities. But the sub-dl-
vision of the hull of the modern battle
ship into a honey-con1b of water-Hght
compartments and by surrounding it with
torpedo netting, some protection is secur-
ed against attack from even the largest
of present forms of torpedoes, such as the
Whitehead. but the largest and latest type
of these will carry but 200 pounds of gun
cotton. 1t remains only to be able to at
tack with a sufficiently large quantity OF
explosive IN order to render absolutely
useless as q means OF protection all pre-
cautions in the form of net work and wa
ter-tight compartments. Five hundred
pounds of gun cotton exploded against
the torpedo netting surrounding a modern
battleship would insure her destruction, 10
say nothing of what would result from the
explosion of still larger quantities.
e"In order to form correct estimate of
THE ONLY GENUINE HUNYADI WA.