El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-05-06
BIG GUNS
Some Interesting Facts About Modern
WeapOnS

Wonderful in it's destructive effect
and marvellous in its construction is
the most powerful type of modern
weapon, a 13-inoh gun. This is the
biggest kind of gun that is carried by
any of our shios. The Indiana has
have the Massachusetts and the Ore
gon. 1t is 40 feet long, weighs 81
tons, costs $50. 900, and cannot be made
in less than year. To load it requires
800 pounds of powder for each shot,
and it can be ii red once in five minutes.
One of the Ind aua's big guns is alb
to deliver crushing blows as far as
the tars ct can be seen. The distance
for effective fighting does not exceed
two miles, becsuse, owing the curv-
ature of the earth, the bulk of the ves-
sci aimed at is apparently below the
water level when she is further off.
The gun is worked entirely by
hydraulic pressure, and the exertion
needed to load, aim and fire it is
: scarcely more than is required to shoot
i seit-c )cxing pistol.
1t throws conical steel shell weigh
in 1, 100 pounds distance of twelve
miles At 800 yards one of these pro-
jectiles will pc etrate tweuty-tbree
IN hes OF solid steel. The projectile at
, 800 Yards has a smashing energy of
%, 900 foot-tNns-s uffi cient to lift two
ve.sels like the ] diana enc foot,
A gun of this kind dis harges two
-orls Of projectles-ihe bursting shell
md the armor-oierc ng shell. The
tormer is of cast s'eel, load d with
gunprwder, and is so CONSTRUCTED a.
to expl de On impact.
The armor-pIercing SHE'LL is of TO-
ged and tempered steel, extr .nely
hard at The point, 80 AS % pass through
. dozen inch - Or more Of Ha -veyizei
.,rmor plate without b ing broken up.
This kind If probe tile il dssigned t,
make holes thrnugh the armOr plates
OF q sh p whereas the eX loslve she'll
= meant 10 enter throug Oh unarmor-d
II ghty armorcd parts of VS. ell.
bucs5Ins Inside and creating havoc.
1t shou d be r-mem bered thai even a
ba,tle ship carries heavy amor only
over its middle cart or vitel-, VIII r.
them .cbine rs land this pro: section ex-
t-,odI olly from 1 feet above the wa 5er-
line to 4 feet below it.
An arm ,r-pierciug shell for 13-
inch gun costs $500. Travel. ing at the
rate Of ar'y half mile second
when it leaves the nuzzle, nothing
can resist it's terrific impact, if it
strikes fairly, At dis. auce of a mile
The most that can be expect d of the
4rmor plate is that it will not split into
piecss. VIII the projectile passes
through, the corn-pi h, wi h which
the coffer-dam behind the armor is
filled, chOkes up the hole and prevents
the entrance OF water. In actual sea-
fighting, however, armor is rarely
struck so true and fairly as to p. ne
trate il; it is more than apt to divert
the course of the she'll, which glarces
off.
In the Gaze of a bursting shell, the
armor causes it to explode outside
hsrmlessly. A bur sting she'll tha.
enters a vessel is dangerous in four
ways; it makes hole. 1t sets fire to
woodwork, it throws splinters about
and it liberates suffocatiug fumes.
The Pelayo, which is Spain's only
prowlipg ab0ut the North Atlantic, has
no guns bigger than her two 12-inca
braech-lo sding riffs. These are for
midaole weapons. but they are very
inferior to the 13-igch rifles of the
American battle ships. The later can
strike as hard and as penetrating blows
at 2, 500 yard as the guns of The Pelsyo
can deliver at 900 yards. iaasmuch as
shell from one of the Pinch guns of
the Pelayo strikes with a force of 81,
900 foot tons at 1000 yards, whereas, as
the Iudiana's great rifles deliver a
blow of 2, 900 foot tons at ,, 500 yards.
= The Indiana carries thirty rapid-fire
guns ard several machine guns in ad-
dition- The typical rspid-ire gan is
rifle with peculiar breech m schan-
ism, which enables il to be fired very
fast. The calibre runs all the WY
up from The diameter of a one-pound
she'll to six inches.
A six-inch rspid-ire gun throws in
actual service three or four 100-ponnd
eve"y minute. The shell
for a five-inch gun of this type weighs
fifty pounds, and the rate of fire is
slightly greater. A Jhree-inch rapid
fire gun throws a thirtyslx pound shell
every eight Sc ;ond5, with range eX-
ceeding four mile. The rage of the
six-ioch gun i m IRE than six miles.
The shells used for weapons of this
K n are of br SIS and con cal in share.
More accurately sp Aaking, they ara
cylindrical aoh pointed at the front
end. The rr jec lie for a slx.inch
cal bre is about five feet hicI.
From thu figures here given it may
easily he i'm Aoiped THAT storm of
prajectiles can be directed at any
target at the some time. 1t is said
thst in he fight between the Chinese
and Japarc So Iieess at Yalu the vessels
engaged were struck so often that
they actually turned gray. The shells, :
bursting as thy struck. killed every
expos d MN and st the woodwork of
tn ships on fire or all sides. At o
time the Chin Sc hag-sh p was on fire
IN three places, and all the host5 on
most Of the vessels were smashed to
sp' inters early in II g contest.
On hoard TIE ba' eShip commanded
BY Captain McGiffiu, an American of