The Washington bee., 1899-02-25
WAR rs EXPENSIVE.
WHAT IT COSTS ToFlRe THE BIG GUNS
OF WAR VESSELS

Thirteen Inch Guns on the Oregon Require
Over a 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
ernment has been spending 81, ,O00, 600
a day, or thereabouts, during all the
weeks of fighting and preparation for
fighting. Thousands of tons of gun
powder, for instance, have been bought
at prices ranging from 81 a pound
downward. A ton of gunpowder
seems goodly quantity until one
learns that it 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
$4,000 an hour, If the powder cost
81 a pound-and some of the bonn
bardments have lasted many hours.
L 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
1,100-p0und prOjectiles costs $500,
which gives $4,000 every time the four
guns go off, or $72, 1000 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 eight-inch guns costs
$20U, and there are eight Of these, so
that a single round from them costs
81 800. 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 $4,000 for an hours
firing by them all, assuming it be kept
up continuously.
Then there are five five-inch guns.
and a round from the five costs about
5000. But again the fire increases
very much in rapidity, so that we
may count 240 rounds an hour, or a
cost of $4,000.
Thus, for these three classes Of
guns alone, we have an expense per
hour during continuous firing of $780,
600, or more than the PRESIDENT s
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
cai of hn nf
caliber 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
fifty-seven millimeter rifles, the thirty
seven millimeter revolving cannon,
and the wonderful machine guns,
which discharge eighty one-inch pro-
jectiles a 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 a matter of expert calculation
but it is evidently well within the
truth TO assume tnat the Oregon could
fire away S1.000.00U worth of powder
and prOjectiles in single day fight
tHt HOulS vi
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 up
money according TO her best capacity
Let us now consider the cost of am
munition used by a regiment of in
fantry in an hour fighting. This is
a matter of easy calculation. since it
is known that the Krag- Jorgensen
cartridges cost SIS a thousand. 1t is
merely necessary to estimate how
many cartridges would be used. AS
Suming a full regiment, of 1000 men,
and allowing each man to shoot once
in five seconds, %hich is slower than
they often shoot, we will have twelve
thousand shots fired every minute. or
10000 shots in an hour. which num-
ber of cartridges, at the rate just
mentioned, will cost S12.960. And
that is an estimate for a single regi-
ment, firing for a single hour. What
it would cost for a whole army to fire
for whole day and then go on firing
for many days, is again a matter for
expert calculation. But it is easy to
see how this would eat into the mil
lions of dollars.