Arizona republican., 1898-04-08
WILL FIRE GUN COTTON.
The High Explosive Adopted for the
 Army and Navy.


 The High Explosive Adopted TOT the
 Army and Navy.
 New York, April 7.-Gun cotton. one of the most powerful destroyers known to man. has been adopted by the Unit ed States as the service high explosive for the great guns of warships and sea- coast defences, as the tests at the 1n- dian Head and Sandy Hook proving grounds have demonstrated the entire feasibility of firing from modern rifled guns, with smokeless powder as the propelling agent, steel shells carrying heavy charges of gun cotton. This action of the government, for a long time contemplated, was hastened by the strained relations with Spain. Among all the measures taken within the last few weeks for strengthening the national defences, this is one of the most important.
 Armor piercing prOjectiles, heavily charged with gun cotton, would make our fortified harbors safe from an at tack by hostile fleet. A single shell from the great Watervliet gun to be mounted on Romer Shoals would carry such weight of the powerful explo- sive as to put out of action the most heavily armored ship af1oat Should a portion of an attacking fleet run through the fire of the long range guns and come within range of the mortar batteries, upon the decks would fall tons of gun cotton incased in deck piercing shells, which would explode between decks with terrible effect Armor plate would be crushed like tin, guns dismounted, boilers exploded ana crews decimated by the flying fragments of steel and the force of the explosive.
 Modern high explosives have never been used in large quantities to charge rlne shells in warfare, but secret ex- perlments in Europe have met with such success that it is believed that should there be another great Euro pean war the .combatants would all be found supplied with high explosive shells. Dynamite and gun cotton were used In torpedoes and submarine mines in the war between Chilli and Peru, the Iurco-Russ1an war of 1877, the Franco-Ch1nese war of 1884. the Bra zlllan CIVIL war, and the last war in the east, but only in the conflict be- tween China and Japan was any use made of high explosive shells. Dur Ing the few hours of naval fighting terrible destruction was wrought by Japanese shells charged with small quantities of cordite, the service smokeless powder of England. Many of the shells failed to explode and the ann Of the gunners' was bad. but the effect of high explosive shells. even under these adverse conditions. was terrific. In the action off Asan on July 15, 1894, in which three Chinese and four Japanese warships were engae eed the Tsi Yuen, one of the Chinese ships received the heaviest fire. An Eng l1sh officer went aboard after the bat- | tle VOL The vessel presented the appear l ance Of an old wreck" he said. "On | deck the sight was cruel and beegars l description. Wood work, cordage. bits or iron and dead bodies all lay Tn confusion. Between decks matters were as bad. The slaughter had been awful, blood and human remains heinz scattered over the decks and guns. ! Three of the five men working the | four ton gun in the after turret were blown to pieces by a six inch shell and a fourth was shot down while at tempting to leave the turret. The re- ma1n1ng gunner stuck to his post and | managed to fire three rounds at the | Nan1wa, and one shell entering her engine room and another blowing her fore bridge away, she hauled off. The Chinese admiral awarded to the plucky gunner 1000 taels. One shell struck the deck and, glancing, passed up through the coming tower and ex- ploded, blowing to pieces the gunner lieutenant and leaving his head hang ing on one of the voice pipes. Huge | fragments of armor and backing had been torn from their fastenings and carried inboard, crushing a number of poor wretches into shapeless masses even the upper part of the tunnels be- ing splashed with blood"
 Gun cotton shells for heavy guns have been adopted by the United States as the result of experiments ex- tending over a period of years.