The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1898-09-16
MEANS DESTRUCTION IS
SHELL FROM A MODERN le-
INCH GUN.
What . Shot from Our Uncle samuel's
Great Coast Defense Monsters Can DO
to An Enemy's Ships when It Hits
Them. "a

From the New York Journal: Just
what destructive power does great
16-inch gun. such as that nearing COM
pletion at the Watervliet arsenal. pos
sess? Gould it put a hole through
the Vizcaya, or would 1t simply make
big dent in the armor? Well, most de-
cidedly it could put hole through her.
1t could put a wide, yawning hole
through her thickest armor and send
the big 2,300-pound shell flying into
her machinery and magazines. The
great power which this 16-inch coast
defense gun has is forcibly shown by
the accompanying illustration. When
the Worlds Fair Krupp gun was being
tested as to it's power Of penetration,
shell was fired into a composite target,
consisting of armor plate, wood, stone
and concrete. The face of the target
was a 28-inch compound armor plate
OF the most improved style. Back of
this was placed solid wall of oak
twenty feet thick. 1t was built of great
oak beams fastened together securely
into one compact mass. Back of the
oak wall came one of granite five feet
thick. Great blocks of the solid stone
were cemented into one. Back of this
PED OF hard concrete was formed for
about twenty feet. The great gun was
nred at close range into the center
OF this seemingly impenetrable target.
The shell passed clearly and squarely
through every bit of the obstruction
except the last few feet of concrete. It
went into this carefully constructed
target exactly thirty-eight feet four
inches. Such was the feat of a gun
whose power of penetration is less
than the estimated power of our own
l6-1nch monster. The new American
gun will surpass Krupp's in every de-
tail that figures in the estimate of
guns ability. The speed of the she'll
as 1t leaves the mouth of the gun will
be 1875 foot-seconds, which means
that the she'll travels nearly 1000 feet
per second. The muzzle energy of the
gun will be 64,0S4 foot-tons, or power
capable of moving that number of
tons distance of one foot. Such en-
ergy would send the great 2,30O-pound
shell right through thirty-five inches
OF the heaviest armor plate steel at
the muzzle and carry it far beyond.
The shell could cut through thirty
inches of solid steel placed $500 yards
away from the lannon's mouth. When
we consider that the heaviest armor
carried by a modern battleship is but
eighteen inches, and then only in GER
tain exposed parts, it is easy to i'm
agine what would happen If a shell
from this new 16-inch monster were
to strike one. of Spain's ships. fired
from reasonable range. The heav-
lest armor on the Vizcaya is twelve
and a half inches thick; the wooden
backing to which this is bolted is three
feet thick. Back of this comes the
one-inch steel frame of the ship. THIS
makes total thickness of four feet
one and half inches through which
a shell would have to pass before
reaching the interior of the vessel
In view of what has been said of the
power Of the big coast defense gun it
can be seen that projectile would
easily force its way through the Viz
caya's side and into her engines, maya
zines or whatever happened to be in
the way. to their utter destruction,
even if fired at distance of five miles
or more.
Great penetrating power is possible
with guns Of smaller caliber. At or
binary range there is no vessel afloat
which could withstand the 12.fnch
guns carried on the Indiana and Ore
gon. They would penetrate armor and