The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-06-08

Naval ordnance bureau reports z ,
the officers on board the battlesjli N, m Il
monitors in the West Indies sic. Il q )
the highest terms Of tho behayior a "a.
heavy guns mounted ON these f!i
Not enc Of the big guns has oxhi4;.' I.
any signs Of weakening, although s1''o
of them hSve already been fred n@or0
times than foreign ordnance experts cxS
pected they could be fred with safety.
American naval officers, who know how
guns are made down at the WasEinGton
gun factory, confidently predict that s
every big gun in Simpsons feet will
outlive the war unless put out of action 4
by the enemy.
Since the war began deal of nom
sense has becn 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 "peaccmakers'
on the Oregon, for cxample--a guu
which hurls half ton of steel through
33 inches of wrought iron---cannot be
depended upon to stand tho strain Of
more than 100 flrings and may even 20
to pieces much sooner. Iisnot difliculs 5
TO discover the origin of tho 100 fir.
ings" fallacy 1t is tilc same as that Of
some other similar onos
Not long ago book was published In
England on Modern nf'aval,-Artillcry, -
in which was descril ihc manufactures
of heavy ordnance al l.ie great Elswick
factory. "Brassey's Naval Annual. ~.
the leading authority in Europe on na-
val statistics declared at the time the
book camo ont that there was no better
authority on the subject of tho life Of
big guns and quoted from il this state
ment 1T is generally understood that
the life of the 81 ton gun may be taken
at l20 rounds and the ITO ton gun at 20
rounds, both with full charges. And
Captain Ordc Browne tho English ord
nance expert, adds. 'The number of
rounds which heavy gun will fire be.
fore becoming unseryiceablc is unfortu-
nately very small"
We>began making modern guns only
ten years ago. the armament of the first
cruisers ofa the white squadron having
been bought abroad. just Ii 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 .
fact, undisputed by foreign experts who
have studied gunmaking in the United
States that the Washington gun factory
turns out the finest "hooped" guns Ia
the world--far superior to Krupp's--
and, in fact, the onH 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 in service. One Of the Miantono-
moh's 10 inch guns, now waiting for
chance to sink an encmy's ship, has had
about as severe a 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 at
the Indian Head proving grounds. That
was some years ago, before tho guIl was
mounted aboard ship. Since it was first
shipped TO the testing ground this gun
has been fired more than 200 times, aud
it Is just as fit for service today as the
day it left the factory. No gun abroad
can show such record.
The Miantonomoh $ guns, 1t must b.
remembered, were amcng our early
guns In strength and stability they are
inferior TO the newer ones The war
with Spain may result i'll data from
which may be determined the average
life of the I2 inch and l3 inch guns,
but ordnance officers say tho war will
have to be long one TO put any Of our
heavy guns out of action. That all Of
tho new guns will be serviccabic after
as many as 800 frings is the opinion Of
many Of tho experts, and somc place the
figure much higher. Abroad tho gum
makers doubt that their big "hoopcd"
guns would live through single heavy
engagement American experts believe
that American guns Will outlive their
usefulness, be sorviceable when their
places arc usurpcd by guns OF still finer
construction.
While mono Of our big guns has been
long enough ia service to indicate how
mnny moro times it may be safely fred,
tho fact that mono of the Washington
guns has ever burst in service goes .
long way toward proving tho superior
ity Of American guns over those Of for
eigu make. Down at Indian Head the
other day q gun was destroyed by the
explosion OF high explosive shell IA
tho breech during an experiment. For
tunately no one was injured. But abroad
gun accidents under service conditions
are OF not infrcquent occurrence. ks-
ports from our naval afiaches show that
these accidents are selsom rpcrrcc in
the newspapers, excepting where there
4. L.. - f.f.. Eexso.tallx IL This t.~ls IN