Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-06-25
EXPLOSIVES ON A SHIP.
The Methods of Storing in Vogue in
the British Navy.

the British Navy.
From Invention
The British navy has not been without its
Maine disasters. though, fortunately, these
have been unattended by any questions OF
| foul play-and they have taught us a les
| son. The last such catastrophe was In 1882
! when the gunboat Dotterel was sunk and
145 lives lost through an explosion in one
Of her magazines.
| Since that time great attention has been
paid to the storing of high explosives on
board all the ships of our navy. The maya
zines are now huge iron tanks built sepa-
rately into the ship. The sides. bottom and
crown OF these are made OF thick steel
plates weighing ten pounds to the square
foot. These plates are lap-jointed and
strongly riveted.
bunker be exploded, that side is built of
plates that weigh twelve and half pounds
to the square foot. This additional strength
Is In order to prevent any explosion of coal
gas that may occur in the bunker from
tearing open the magazine. Further, the
plating Is stiffened with heavy bars that
make all parts of the surface of equal
strength. Should the magazine be placed
where there is a high temperature, it is
coated with asbestos. Electricity is used
for lighting purposea
All the lights are in what are called
III
penetrating into the magazine itself
through thick glass illuminators, which are
protected by gratings Of brass wire. The
keys of these boxes are kept by the gunner
of the ship. Near them is a stock Of can
dies ready for use In case the electric cur
rent should fail. Entrance to the magazine
is from the top. but out of what is termed
the handling room. The hatch of this Is in
line with the crown of the magazine and
the floor of the room is lead-covered
For Ventiiatlng purposes, air Is pumped in
at the bottom, and passes out through n
specially constructed up-take; but on very
dry days air is let into the magazine nat
urally in order to prevent too much mois-
ture accommodating on the cases, and thus
causing the powder to deteriorate. In an
engagement the magazines would be kept
closed down, SO as to prevent the enemy S
shot from enteringth and air would be
pumped in, or the men working inside
could live but a very few minutes. Before
entering the magazine the men have to
leave behind them their knives, pipes and
matches, and to put on special boots that
are studded with brass nails.
With the old-fashioned powder a spark
caused by the friction of nail in ones
boot with the floor was sufficient to cause
an explosion. Nowadays there is far less
danger of accident Many of the explo-
sives now used will only ignite by detona-
ton. Prismatic and pebble powders if set
on fire will frixzle AWAY like fuse, while
cordte, If handled with ordinary care, is
quite harmless.
with the number Of cases that are to he
slowed in them. and they are provided with
strong wooden uprights to prevent the
cases from being srhrown out of place by
the motion Of the ship. The doors of all
the magazines open outward, SO that If in a
violent storm the. cases broke loose they
would not block the entrance. No fuses,
tubes or other articles that contain their
own means Of ignition are ever slowed in
magazines. All such articles are placed in
special store rooms far away from the
powder. Quick-iring ammunition car
tridges for machine guns and rifles and dry
gun cotton also have their separate COM
partments. All magazines are fitted with a
flooding arrangement, so that, should the
ship catch fire, they can be at once filed
with water No one but responsible Off
Ger is ever allowed to handle the keys and
he must first obtain permission from tho
captain. The heaviest charges are placed
nearest the doors. In the old days the pow
der monkey used to carry the cartridges
from the magazine to the guns In a case
Now the ammunition goes up a hydraulic
lift that works on armored shoots Carry
ing 1t would be an impossbility as some of
the charges weigh 96O pounds. Tanks con-
tanning fresh water and drinking cups are
fixed in the handling room for the use of
the men. and all the floors are sprinkled
with water before work begins
Speaking tubes lead from outside the
magazines (Which, by the way, are usually
below the water line) to the gun decks, the
bridge and the coming tower.
There is a quarterly examination of the
dry gun cotton to ascertain whether acid
is accommodating. If it is, the explosive is at
once saturated with water Wet gun cot
ton, being Il very safe material, is kept in
al ordinary store room, and is weighed
periodically to detect deterioration a plug
being at the same time removed in order
that gas may escape. The "warheads' Of
the Whitehead torpedoes, being filled with
wet gun cotton, are slowed by themselves
and tested in the manner just described.
But the pistols which contain dry gun
cotton. and the decorators for igniting the
wet gun cotton in the torpedoes are placed
together in compartment that can be
flooded If necessary.
The only other dangerous explosives car
ried by our warships are the filled shells,
which are given place to themselves
None but the most stubborn fuses are fit
ted to these, unless they are at the gun and
ready to be fired. Their dangerous nature
is indicated by their red-painted heads and
the broad red band around them. Seamen
are trained to handle them with the utmost
care. Even signal lights and rockets are
kept carefully out of the way of irrepon-
sibe persons. In fact, every possible pre-
caution Is taken to prevent an accident
with explosives occurring on any Of our
warships.