The evening times., 1898-05-17
BArrIEsH1rs, MONSTER GUMS.
How Those Engiaes of Death are
Traaaea and sHs.dlea.

seamen. In the first place, don't call the
piece of ordnance on board a warship q
cannon. call 1t great gun-which is the
technical name for N-and in the second
place don't say Shoot" say carry
Thus the above question properly framed
would be. How far will a great gun car
| rye"
The answer Is that 1t will depend pri-
mariiy upon the caliber of the gun. that
| is. upon the diameter OF the bore of the
gun; the weight of charge and projec-
| tile are secondary considerations In our
! Navy this diameter is measured In inch
es. Other things being equal, the larger
the diameter of the gun, the heavier the
weight OF the shot, the greater the
charge of powder. the farther the dis
tance the gun will carry. The thumb rule
FOR ascertaining what distance a great
gun will carry Is that the shot will travel
through the air as many miles as the d.
ameter of the bore is inches. For exam
pie, a 13-inch gun will send its projectile
thirteen miles; 6-inch gun. six miles.
Below this caliber of six inches the rule
does not hold SO accurately.
Up to the present time 9.2-inch gun
has attained an actual range of twelve
and One-third miles, which Is within a
lew ulllcS VI the lHtOTellCdlly
range, and the rapid fire guns of 6-inch
caliber have been made to carry nine
miles, but 1t should be remembered that
these guns were mounted on shore on
carriages especially constructed to stand
the strain of this high-angled fire as it
Is called. On board ship ii would be i'm
practicable to obtain such an elevation
as would permit the muzzle of the gun
to go up in the air and the breech TO go
81 hot shn nj. he lail
that angle which would insure the shot
falling at the greatest distance possible
from the gun. Probably the heaviest
guns of the largest calibers now afioat
can do no better than send their shot
a distance of ten miles. These pieces are
the turret guns, the 13-inch. 12-inch and
l0-inch guns in our service, and the 12.5-
inch and 11-inch guns on board the Span
ish ships. Another serious hindrance to
high-angle fire afioat is that the ships
decks cannot be conveniently made TO
stand the downward kick following inn
mediately upon -discharging the gun. A
warship is designed, built. armored and
armed first and foremost for the almost
exclusive purpose of engaging in combat
with another warship on the high seas,
and is SO braced secured and strengthen
ed that she can stand the racking and
straining incident to the firinS of her
guns in any position in which they might
be pointed during an engagement with her
enemy.
No man-of-war would open fire on an
other man-of-war at a distance approach
ing ten miles. Indeed, the ships would
not begin to show up above the horizon
until they were six miles apart, because
the visible horizon to an eye elevated
fifteen feet is only four and half miles.
Probably the first shot would not be fired
before the two combatantS were well
within three miles of one another. How
ever, for purposes of bomba rdment. from
eight to ten miles may be safely given |
as the answer to the question. How far |
will Spain's largest gun carry?"
The thumb rule of ascertainng the |
weight of the charge of powder used in
iring one of these projectiles is that the
weigh; of the powder charge is equal Il,
one-half the weight of the shot. This
-ule is almost exactly the truth. A way
10 arrive at an approximation of the
weight of the projectile is to take half of
the cube of the diameter of the gun in
inches: the answer will be the number of
pounds weight in the shot. For example.
the cube of 13 is 2.1S7 half of it is LOSS
pounds.
All modern great guns are made or |
steel. and are composed of several parts
If cylinders united to form whole SO as |
pest to support the strain brought upon
HciIl, nence tne name 'Dullt up. In our |
Navy these built up guns are constructed
m what is known as the principle of fni- |
ial tension. This principle consists In
living TO the exterior portions of the gun |
certain initial tension, gradually de-
reasing toward the interior and giving |
D the interior parts certain normal |
tate of compression by the grip of tho |
utter cylinders or coils. The general fea.
Ires of this theory of construction when |
Ctirally ann1iad n be hnldipO of |
reat guns may be briefly described as |
blows: First. there is the tube bored |
ut the entire length of the gun from @ |
bid ingot OF steel. next comes the jacket
nd then comes the hoops. BY thus
uilding up a gun of a series of cylindri-
al hoops, each hoop being slid on hot
yer the others and shrunk on in cooling.
lie inner hoops are given the ascertained | :
ormal amount of compression. and the
lter hoops the necessary state of initial r
,nsion. Therefore, the innermost tube | }
lnnot be extended by the pressure of | a
lie exploding charge of powder and shot
the elastic limit until 1t is first forced | q
ON its compressed state. to accotnplish | :
hich all the outlying tubes that are as | r
sting the inner tube in resisting any | !,
sruptive force must have their Initial | p
nsion overcome. =
large caliber great guns have no trun- a
1ns; instead. there are shrunk on with | n
e outer bands of the gun a number of :,
cular lugs which fit into corresponding o
Doves in saddle. heavy casting. con- | i,
tuting in its entirety top carriage !;
The 12.5-inch guns on board the Spanish | n
ttleship Pelayo are mounted this way ~
are those L-inch pieces in the turrets | a
the Carlos V. Vizcaya. Almirante :,
uendo. and Maria Teresa. In order to q,
'e some manner of handling ammuni-
n for and of working heavy guns we | -,
4 do no better than to describe the | y,
ncipal details of the type of turret and .,
unt now fitted ON board these Spanish | =,
ps. e.
he gun mount comprises a cradle. or a,
-riage. which rests upon the slides Of ~
underframe, to which it is held down =.
clips To this Carriage and under a,
me are attached the cylinders. pistons. u,
hydraulic ram necessary for taking a
the recoil. running the gun in and out
l giving vertical train. The forward
of the underframe is pivoted to the
nnion bearings. which bearings are
idly secured to the turntable. This te
ntable, rigidly attached to the turret, | to
Is on series of live rollers. or trucks, =,
ed to revolve on fixed circular track
t within the upper surface of the bar
tes. This turntable- can be revolved
less than one minute. = 10,
ne hydraulic power which revolves the
ret elevates and depresses the gun, /.
cks the recoil, and returns the gun to
firing position. and also operates the
ling mechanism. To train the gun the J
sion officer. from his station on the OF
lting platform, turns a wheel in the I'M
ction in which he wishes the turret VII
evolve: II can be stopped by screwing ma
n on another hand wheel at his right. . no
.,,,,, he has ~ h,s ,er, .noth.r ,f,haa1 sa!
eaasI,.h h;s n,,r,aso bel
lSGoihphSh hio pup pOSSs bs