The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1899-04-26
WAR is EXPENSIVE.
WHAT 1T COSTS TO FIRE THE B G GUNS
OF WAR VESSELS

Thirteen Inch Guns on the Ore g on Require
over Ton of Powder for Single Charge
Some Astonishing Figures and Compar-
isons.
1t is only by going into details of
what the sinews of war actually cost
that one understands how this gov
eminent has been spending $1,000 900
a day, or thereabouts during all the
weeks of fighting and preparation for
fighting. Thousands of tons of gum
powder. for instance, have been bought
at prices ranging from 81 pound
downward. A ton of gunpowder
seems a goodly quantity until one
learns that 1t would not even suffice
for single discharge of the four
thirteen-inch guns on the Oregon
These four guns eat up powder at the
rate of twenty-five tons an hour
$44, 900 an hour if the powder cost
81 Il pound-and some of the bonn
bardments have lasted many hours.
| am assuming that these four guns
keep up steady nring at their max
imum rate of one shot in three min
utes, and, that being the case. the
heaviest item in the expenses is still
to be counted, for each one of these
1,1OO-pound projectiles costs 5000,
which gives $4,000 every time the four
guns go off, or $4,000 for an hours
firing
But there are other guns on the
Oregon, many other guns, and to find
out what an hours firing of big bat
tleship will cost, we must take all
these into consideration A single shot
from one of the eght-nch guns costs
S2OO, and there are eight OF these. so
that a single round from them costs
$1,000. But their fire is much more
rapid that that of the thirteen-inch
guns; each one can be discharged once
in a minute, or sixty times in an hour,
which would give 100000 for an hours
firing by them all, assuming it be kept
up continuously.
Then there are five five-inch guns,
and round from the five costs about
$500. But again the fire increases
very much in rapidity, so that we
may count 240 rounds an hour, or
cost of $4,000.
Thus, for these three classes of
guns alone, we have an expense per
hour during continuous firing'of S216.-
300, or more than the Presidents
salary for his whole four years. 1t
may be that such continuous firing of
all the guns would never take place
IN actual practice, but the figures may
stand for purposes of illustration.
And, of course nothing has yet been
said of the many guns of smaller
CALDER which are on the Oregon; there
are the six-pounders, which throw out
shot each five seconds; there are the
three-pounders, the one-pounders. the
dfty-seven millimeter rifles, the thirty
seven millimeter revolving cannon.
and the wonderful machine guns.
which discharge eighty one-inch pro-
1ectiles minute, or 1880 projectiles |
an hour.
Just how many thousands of dollars |
per hour must be added to our esti-
mate for the consumption of these
guns is matter of expert calculation,
but 1t Is evidently well within the
ruth to assume that the Oregon could
ire away $1,000,0OU worth of powder
and projectiles in a single day fight
ng using only the hours of daylight.
And each one Of the other big battle
ships could do the same. And still
we have not taken into account all
The cruisers and other fighting craft.
each one of which would be blazing
away, we may ue sure. and using ND
money according to her best capacity.
Let us now consider the cost of am
used by a regiment of in
.anry in an hours fighting. This is
matter of easy calculation. since if
; known that the Krag-Jorgensen
'arlridges cost SIS a thousand. 1t is
merely necessary to estimate how
many cartridges would be used. AS.
umlng full regiment, of 1000 men,
md allowing each man to shoot once
Ii five seconds, which is slower than
hey often shoot, we will have twelve
thousand shots fired every minute. or
10000 shots in an hour, which num-
'er of cartridges, at the rate lust
mentioned, will cost S12,96O. And
hat is an estimate for single regi-
nent, firing for a single hour. What
would cost for whole army to fire
or whole day and then go on firing
or many days, is again a matter for
Xpert calculation. But il is easy TO
ee how this would eat into the mil
ions of dollars.