Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1898-08-25
RAPID FIRING GUNS.
Are Important Instruments of Destructiea
In Modern Naval Warfare


hears the most during the present war
is the so-called rapid" OF "9uick-
firing" gun, says Park Benjamin, in
New York independent This is es-
pecially the gun of to-day, since its
chief development has taken place
within the last ten years. OF course
all guns which throw proJectiles in
rapid succession are quick firing; but
a distinction is made between the ma
chine guns and the rapid-iiring guns, |
the former being literally machines
having many moving parts which CO
operate to throw great many small
shells in a very brief period of time,
and the latter being simply single
shot guns which use what is termed
''fxed" ammunition; that is to say,
instead of being loaded at the breech
successfully with shell and then one
or more cartridges and finally pro-
vided with a primer which is ignited
when struck by the hammer of the
lcck, they have their projectile, charge
and primer an combined, just as in the
ordinary revolver or sporting small
arm; and hence but one operation is
necessary in loading. But as COM
pared with the little metallic cartridge
of ones pistol, the load of big quick
firing gun is rather gigantic. For
gun of a caliber of five inches, the
combined proiectile and cas6 measure
nearly four feet in length and weigh
about 95 pounds, while for the six
inch guns the total weight II the COM
plete cartridge is about 135 pounds.
Fixed ammunition saves time in
loading, and still more time is saved
by arranging the door in the breech of
the gun which is closed after the
charge is put in, SO that it can be very
rapidly opened and shut by means of
hand levers; and, lastly, the gan itself
is so supported that it can be trained
quickly upon its target. So that the
"quickness" depends first upon the
fact that you put in the whole charge
at once, instead of in separate parts;
secoud, upon the celebrity with which
the breech can be opened and closed,
and third upon the ease of pointing;
and as a consequence of all this, two
shots can be fired in much less time
than it would otherwise take to fire
| one; and for war purposes the man
| who does that is more useful, even,
| than the much-vaunted hero who
coaxes two blades of grass out of the
| reluctant earth which ordinarily
yields but a solitary stalk.
! From what has been said it will be
evident that the rapid-fre gun is by
no means necessarily small affair.
True, there are little rapid fires which
throw projectiles ranging in weight
from one to six pounds; but the big
ones of calibers of four, five and six
inches are powerful enough to arm
the lighter cruisers and gunboats all
| by themselves. The six-inch gun is
over 20 feet long and weighs six tons.
With the so-cslled DashieH breech
mechanism this gun has been fred
ten times in two minutes and ffty-six
seconds, or in about half the time re-
| CURED to deliver the same number of
shots when the ordinary breechsclos-
| ing devices were employed
| But Of course speed of shooting will
depend upon many factors. With
such great cartridges as are required
by the si1-inch gun, the supply of am
munition is necessarily much slower
than when the light charges of the
one-pounder pieces are handled, and
the thorough drilling Of the men in
the operations of loading also in
creases the rapidity of fire.
On board ship the quick-fre guns
form the principal part of what is
known as the secondary battery. Thus
the Iowa in her main battery carries
four 12-incb, eight 8-inch, and six
4-inch guns, and In her secondary bat
terry 20 6-pounder and four 1-pounder
quick-fres. They are used to destroy
the ends of vessels which are protected
only over their boilers and engines, to
disable unshielded guns and gun ma
chinery, and with the machine guns
they are the great safeguard against
attacks of torpedo boats; for it is well
demonstrated that these light craft
are powerless when confronted with q
concentrated hail of quick-fire pro-
iectiles. The two Spanish boats
which rushed upon Admiral Dewey's
squadron at Manila were literally torn
to pieces; and even the much larger
and faster torpedo destroyers which
attacked the Texas off Santiago de
Cuba were driven back almost as soon