The Hawaiian gazette., 1898-07-26

At Santiago, the Vesuvius was kept
out Of sight Of the enemy until night
fell, in order that her possibilities
might be better tested against an I'M
suspecting foe. The object Of the
naval officers was to bring the vessel
close enough to the mouth OF the har-
Dor to be able to throw the guncotton
projectiles far enough into the channel
to strike the Spanish ships that lay
at anchor behind headland. 1t Is i'm
possible to state at the present writing
whether or not this object was sue
cessfully attained, for no one but the
Spaniards, and they will not tell, II
there any left on board the ships to
report.
The Vesuvius moved to within 600
yards of the Notifications Of Santiago
Harbor. heading directly toward the
opening, and went into action. The
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most pleasure She has record
Of q 2-3 knots, or about twenty-five
miles an hour. She Is 252 feet long,
$50 tons burden, 1000 horsepower, and
when loaded draws 10 feet ~ inches
OF water. She Is armed with three So
called dynamite guns, which are really
three fixed tubes that project at an
acute angle from her forward deck.
These are IS feet long and Is inches
in diameter. They are stationary, and
cannot be shifted in any way, SO that
to aim them 1t Is necessary TO move
the entire vessel. For this reason 1t
would be difficult for the Vesuvius to
hit q moving target, but an easy mat
ter, as was proved at Santiago, to do
great execution against land fortifica-
lions. She was called by the Span
iards "the hurler of earthquakes" The
projectiles used in these guns are 10 IL
inches in diameter and 3 feet long.
looking much like huge cigars. They
are hollow, and the explosive, usually
guncotton. is stored in them and set
off by primer that Is itself exploded
by contact with some solid substance,
or by a mechanical device which can
be regulated before the shell is dis
charged. The three tubes run down
into the bowels Of the ship, and at the
base of each one Is mechanism much
like that of an ordinary pocket revolt
yer. There are five revolving chamb-
COS at the base of each Of the tubes, SO
that fifteen shells can be fired without
reloading. The force used for the dis
charge OF the guns Is compressed air.
A guage fixes the amount OF air force
necessary to throw the cartridge GER
tain distance, say one-quarter, one
half, of full mile. There Is scarcely
any sound at the discharge and OF
course no smoke so that shortly after
the projectile leaves the muzzle 1t Is
visible to those on the ship, and the
place where 1t strikes can plainly be
seen. The firing of these air-guns Is
done from the conning-tower by means
of levers. The projectile rises swiftly
to height of nearly 800 feet, and then
travels horizontally as though follow
ing straight line marked Off against
the sky, and finally dips sharply and
plunges into the target. There Is a
peculiar spiral safety arrangement on
each projectile by which The fuse is
rendered harmless until a flight
through the air of about one-eighth
Of mile is accomplished. Otherwise,
the primers might explode just as the
projectile left the tube, doing great
harm to the vessel itself
Until she was used at the lombard
ment of Santiago, the Vesuvius had
only thrown projectiles with service