The evening times., 1898-05-25
rur RAPrp-rrxx CUR.
4 wo.a..s..iy U.ss.I xs,..s.


the mOdern Navy.
New York. May 2s.-Raptd-lre guns are
guns In which the manipuIafion Of the:
piece b greatly facilitated b.. having the
charge q powder and shst put up toseth-
er as one. quite after the manner of small
arm ammunition. An essential to secure
this rapidity OF fre = diapatch In handling
ammunition-loading. firing and loading
again. Hence. 1t Is matter of the first
importance to havs the ammunition ar
ranged with this object In view. Copper
cylinders are usually the means employ
ed. This employment of metallic cart,
ridge cases to hold the shot and shell
renders unnecessary the sponging OF the
gun after each round. as must be done
with other systems OF loading. for any hot
residue would be Of great danger In ordin-
ary guns II not removed or cooled by
sponging. Such burning fragments could
do no harm to powder charge sealed up
In metal case; 80 the time usually given
to sponging the gun is saved. Again, In
ordinary guns. considerable delay usually
occurs from having to insert In the vent
primer. and from having to extract the
old one. In the rapid-fire-gun ammuni-
ton the primer Is already attached to the
base OF the case. and Is exploded by Q
same manner as In y small arm. and hence
all the time ordinarily- needed to prime
the charge Is therefore saved.
The rapid-fire gun was developed from
the machine gun. the French mitrailleuse
being the first successful piece of this ma
ture. 1t gained great notoriety during
tho Franco-German war, and extraordi-
nary results were expected from It The
mitraiileuse. however, was not altogether
ef1lCAci0uS onficina fad CT
II showed the way. which eating was
not slow to follow. nor was Nordenfeldt
far behind. and several other inventors
were soon in the field.
1t was during this e--iS75-7s-that
the torpedo boat shot into prominence
long. low. nearly invisible. as swift as an
arrow. carrying death-dealing weapon
to fright the souls of fearful adversaries.
Everything in the way of offensive sea
warfare was expected of these craft. in
deed. they were thought by some capable
men-notably Frenchmen-to be the one
decisive naval element- Of strength Of the
future. Hotchkiss, name synonymous
with small-caliber rapid-fire guns. came
to the assistance of those who were de-
termined that some means must be found
to annihilate theser torpedo boats, bring
Ing forward the revolving cannon of sew
eral sizes of bore. In pieces of this type
each barrel. usually four In number. was
revolved by crank gear until 1t came
opposite stationary chamber. where the
projectile was inserted and then fired.
all by the turning OF crank. About an
inch and a half diameter was found to
be the largest size of barrel that could
be advantageously operated by the gear
ing; above that the weight was too heavy
for the gun to be worked as a machine
gun.
While the machine gun was growing in
power and efficiency so was the torpedo
boat: Its size was Increased and the boil
ers were arranged SO as to be protected
against these revolving cannon projec-
tiles by coal: then 1t became necessary TO
provide guns possessing not only the
quality of rapidity of fire. but discharging
heavier projectiles' with highzr velocity.
The success attending the using of metal
cartridge cases for holding the ammuni-
tion of the large revolving cannon DEM
onstrated the practicability of construct
ing heavier guns to fire the same descrip-
tion of ammunition, and 1t was also rec
ognized that better results could be gain
ed by giving up the mechanical loading
such as was common to guns of more
than one barrel-and instead to design
the gun with only one barrel. Again
Hotchkdss and Nordenfeldt appear to
have been the first to adopt this improve
ment, though other gun designers soon
followed suit.
The results OF the labors of these two
inventors were the production OF the first
rapid-fire guns using shot weighing three
pounds and six pounds. Subsequently the
1-pounder was manufactured. These cali
bers are the ones used today In our serv-
ice Latterly the 6-pounder has been sup
piled alone to our new ships. From the
3-pounder and 1-pounder about thirty
shots minute can be fired by a trained
crew. and from the 6-pounder about twen-
ty-five. This speed will not be considered
too great when 1t is recollected that a
torpedo boat has to be repelled or de-
stroyed from say 1,ooo yards to 100 yards,
during an interval of less than a minute
moreover. as torpedo attacks will prob-'
ably be made by several boats at the same
time. and from different quarters It is
evident that a large number of quick
ing guns must be included in the arma-
ment of all men-of-war.
They are therefore placed on board shin
wherever there is room for them, and in
such positions that several guns can al
ways be concentrated on any point. Thus
they are found in the tops on the poop.
forecastle. superstructure, on bridges in
any spare port, on the main deck, and In
the ports of the captains cabin, where
they protect the stern and the propel-
lers.
The Hotchkiss and 6-pounder guns
mounted on board our ships are made at
the Colt Works. Hartford, Conn.,, en-
tirely of steel. in two principal parts, the
barrel and the jacket, the latter being
shrunk on the firearm- The jacket car
ries the breech mechanism, which is on
the falling breech principle, and is work.
ed by two-handle lever on the right of
the gun.
To load the piece, point 1t, fire It, ETC.
In other words q nr S-nn
a crew of four men. No.
is the captain Of the gun. He does the
pointing, and firing. and he
the men of that gun. No.
attends at the breech. opening and closing
1t, and wiping 1t on. No. does the load
Ing. inserting the cartridge. and generally
sees to the ammunition at the gun. No.
carries the ammunition from the boxes
where It is kept and hands 1t to No. g. He
also takes on the empty case and lays It
aside out Of the way. Usually there are
two more men assigned to each gun. Their
duties are to provide ammunition and
keep the supply equal to the demand.
One man, Of course, can do everything
himself, but not so quickly as two or
three or four. More than four cannot be
utilized to any advantage about the gun
To have sufficient ammunition on hand
Is a most important matter. for IL a tor
pedo boat be coming on Johnny will need l
to get his gun quick. The ammunition Is |
stored in wooden boxes. each cartridge
so that It cannot touch the adjoining one,
and also so that neither the point of the |
projectile nor the base Of the cartridge |
case carrying the primer shall be In con. |
tact with anything. Usually there are
about a dozen 6-pounder rounds in box,
about sixteen rounds In 3-pounder box |
and nearly twice as many In 1-pounder. |
The 1-pounder Hotchklss Is used exteu.