Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1898-07-05

peat this feat Is times in ten minutes.
That means 81 tons of high explosive
thrown upon the enemy's ships or forts
or whatever the object Of attack may
be. The destructive power of such a
broadside is almost beyond compute.
ton. It is enough to destroy city. to
wipe it off the face of the earth and
eliminate every trace Of its existence.
The nitrogelatin is half as strong again
as dynamite. Imagine the effect Of 81
tons of it.
"The Vesuvius has not one small dy-
Mantle gun, but she has three big ones.
Their caliber is Is inches. I can give
you suggestion Of their force. There
are three Is inch dynamite guns at the
Presidio, near San Francisco. AS test
one Of these guns sent projectile con-
tanning 200 pounds of nitrogelatin across
the Golden Gate into one Of the noun
tains one mile away. The explosion of
this shell dug crater in the solid rock
IS feet deep and Is feet i'll diameter.
OF course it must not be forgotten that
the Vesuvirs is using gun cotton in her
Erojectiles. Gun cotton is only one-ffth
as strong as nitrogelatin.
"Where a shell strikes from one Of
the guns of the Vesuvius the havoc is
awful. One Of her projectiles dropped
in the midst If regiment would elm
mate it from the war. If any man in
the regiment was not torn to bits, he
would not be fit for fighting. Against a
ship the Vesuvius will be deadly. One
Of her big shells dropping on the deck
would crush through the armor, and
exploding in vital part shatter the
ship If one of these shells explodes in
the air or in the water within so feet
Of a ship Of war; it will crush her side
or bottom and sink her. If one Of these
shells explodes within so yards Of a
modern man-of-war, it will render her
useless for fighting, for the defamation
will throw the bearings Of her engines
out of line, dislocate the shaft or jam
the neatly fitted parts. Thus the ship
will become mere helpless target.
Many leading artillerists in the army
are greatly in favor of the use Of high
explosives, and in their official commu-
nications to the war department have
advocated its more extensive use. The
only thing that has worried them is the
absence of q convenient as we'll as fit
ting means of firing it. The great dyna-
mite guns at Fort Hancock and at the
Presidio, San Francisco, are to GER
tain extent regarded in the light of ex-
periments. In the last report Of the
board Of ordnance to the war depart
ment suggestions were made for further
experiments with the old style smooth
bore guns ais projectors Of dynamite by
means Of moderate powder charges. OF
late a number Of experiments along
these lines have been conducted at San
dy Hook with some measure Of success.
The following extract from the last re-
port of the board of ordnance covers this
point:
Experiments are now in progress
under the auspices of this board with q
view to discharging high explosives
from powder guns. The batteries Of
these guns that have been erected at
Fort Hancock and at Fort Scott, San
Francisco, have shown that these guns
are capable of throwing 100 pounds Of
nitrogelatin distance of 4, 800 yards,
200 pounds $500 yards and 500 pounds
q, 900 yards with great accuracy: The
board, however, has not abandoned the
expectation of some time being able to
discharge aerial torpedoes Of great Ca
pacity from powder guns, and expert
ments with that end in view will be
continued.
Believing that the action Of these
substances fired from IL inch shells,
steel mortars, with 1000 pound tor
pedo shell, holding large charges, would
be even more conclusive than results OBJ
tanned from the inch shell, it was pro-
posed to fire three rounds each from this
mortar. The charge Of wet gun cotton
was III pounds and the propelling
charge 40 pounds of smokeless powder,
the resulting pressure being 50, 900
pounds per square inch and estimated
velocity $4,000 foot seconds New
York World. .
Moro Appropriate For These Times.
Not long ago q Radcliffe college girl