The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1898-04-29
CheAemorrat-S Star
A FINE Navy.
No Nation, Save England can
Equal Uncle Sam as a Ma
val Power.
St. Louis Globe Democrat. April 10.

d ulnSt IoTuldatle naval power. H.
cluding the Kentucky and Kersage,
we have %sixty-obe ships that are tech
nically claSSed as ''vessels OF war;
which were constructed at our own
shipyards. There have been added to
this number fourteen fighting ships,
built for other nations in England and
France, and two at German yards.
This gives the United States seventy
I'VE OF the latest pattern lighting ships
mostly OF the armored cruiser type.
No nation in the world except Great
Britain has such a number OF YES
sells OF war, all new and OF the most
approved designs, in their respective
classes.
WI have now afioat Ave tfrst-class
battleships, and in two months the
Kentucky and K~earsarge will be ad-
ded to the list.
The finest vessel In the American
fleet OF the battleship pattern is the
Iowa. She is II, 200 tons displacement.
Her battery is nne OF the heaviest on
the seas. She carries four Finch
rifles. These guns are As feet long
and nearly five feet in diameter, out.
side measurement, at the breech,
while at the muzzle they taper of to
9 inches thickness OF steel. The
charge OF powder Is 425 pounds. which
Is divided into three equal parts en-
cased In white flannel bags. It has
been found that the projectile gets
the full force OF the charge by this
subdivision OF the powder, and it
burns slower, which is the reason for
the great length Of the gun.
The powder is brown, like confec- |
TONERS chocolate, the grain is a trile
over an inch square. On the heaviest
guns, like the 10 and 16.inch, orIs-
matte, or six sided grain powder is |
nsed.) The armor-smashing shell Of
this gun weighs s25 pounds, ard the
solid shot 900.
The increase in the powder charge
OF our heavy guns since our late war
Is something tremendous. Gen. Gil
more, when he slelled Charleston in
1854, at a distance OF eight miles.
astOnished the world, and lnaucurate0
a new era in lOng-range emery. He
used 200 and 300 pound Parrott guns.
ln the 2OO-pounder the powder charge
was 30 pounds, and, in the 300 FOUNDER
% pounds. These were 8 and lO-inch
guns, and, at the tremendous eleya.
ton of 40 degrees that had to be given
them, their muzzles blew of frequent
y after the twenty-afth round and
they were liable to burst after the
2O0th round.
THE IOwA's GREAT GUNS.
The lowa's cight-inch guns will
stand 500 rounds each without show.
Ing any danger signs. and the charge
Is 80 pounds Of powder and a $50 pound
shell. driven through the air at a rate
OF 2l50 feet per second when it starts
and 1913 feet each second a mile from
the gun, and when two miles away
the she'll is still flying at the rate of
l64S feet each second.
This rs what modern gunncry means
and is what will happen of the Moro
within ten days unless the unexpected
jntervenes.
The accuracy OF these S-lnch and
6-lnch rifles was shown during a recent
experiment.. Within the last week
Commodore Schley's fleet went out to
sea to test its guns and give the men
some incidental target practice. The
target was "a piece Of canvas 10 feet
wide by II feet long, stretched on a
frame and put up on a bouy. At n
mile distance the S-inch guns cut it to
bits the first round. The 5-inch rifles
-lOO-pOunders-were even more &C.
curate than the larger calibers.
The American gunner is admittedly 4
the best ahoat, as was shown in our
war OF 1879, and again when the gun.
ners Of the Kearsarge were successful
over those Of the Alabama, who had
beeen trained on what Europe re-
garded as the finest gunnery school
IN the ~world-the British ship Excel.
lent.
Spain has but one battleship like
ours. 1t Is the Pelayo, OF 5000 tons.
IL Is older than any Of ours, and rated
two knots slower. Her best vessels
are OF the armored cruiser class, such
as the Vizcaya and Oquendo, neither
OF which is equal to the New York or
Brooklyn, while the Columbia or Min
neapolis could run away from them
on one-half a head OF steam. So say
the naval attaches OF England and
Russia, On duty here with their EN-.
bassies.
In addition tn the vessels already
ordered and building In the naval an.
preparation bill, now ready, four /,
concentrated monitors are author.
zee. They are TO be CT the p~uritao
c'ass' not to cost over 81, $50, OCO each.
OUR AUXILIARY FLEET.
besides the seventy.ave regularly
classified warships Of the navy, there
an auxiliary fleet OF fast ocean
.nels acquired in the last ninety days.
NJ o head Of thc list stands the
magnificent ST. I0uts and CT p.,,, -.