Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-28

powerful gun in the British navy. Further,
| .hey nred about one hundred rounds of
6,i a. iyddite 10e rounds of 6-inch powder
$50 rounds of three jpSanders and an indefi.
| mite number OF Maxim. Full charges were
| used throughout fof all guns. consecu-
tive fire lasted in all nine minutes.
The whole total Of shot and shells fired
at the Be.leisle. behagabout forty-fve thou
| sand pounds. Only about 20 per cent of the
and 40 per cent of the shells fired were af-
receive; that Is, theSshft the target and ex-
ploded promptly. Many of the shells went
ciear through the lighter or upper structure
OF the snip without exploding on account of
imperfect ruse. The srange was only from
l,.N0 to LOO yards. therefore there was
such large percentage of hits. Beside
mere We're no gdnHers to return the fire
from the opponent ship; that is, this expert
ment lacked the excitement of actual war.
Inc opinions of officers and experts differ
experiment While the English admiralty
seems to be well pleased with the efficiency
OF tnefr modernu guns the best posted men
IN this country are of that opinion. that
| there is still a great deal to learn. and that
there Is great deal of room for improve
ment, as great as ever
The Belleisle was after all, not out of
ACTON or defenSeless, the admiralty
seems to have considered her, the ma
cbinery below the water line was stil in
tact and running. Therefore she would yet
i'tiNS UGH dDIC 10 ram, OF at lease torpedo
an opponent.
This Illustrates that IL mechanical en-
gineers of the capacity of John Ericsson
We're given free hand in construction of the
Belle1sie, somewhat on the plans of the
frlcsons destroyers, the Majestic would
nave mad a poor show in the duel, the
destroyer type could easily be constructed
with a superior sneed than tho LATEST 10
class.
However. more can be learned from this
experiment. which corroborates the state
ment made years ago, that the primary
batteries OF the present battle ship are not
adequate.
Had the Majestic been equipped with guns
OF the aerial torpedo type, as completed at
South Bethlehem for our War Department.
IT would have taken less than nine seconds
instead OF nine minutes to destroy or disable
the Beileise. One round would completely
wreck that battle ship. However, If such
guns were mounted on the Belleise she
could destroy the Majestic long before that
pattie snip got to such a close range as
100 yards
Nevertheless, the advancement in naval
ana military science during the last thirty
years mas been considerable. One modern
battle ship of today, could it have come
upon the scene then. thirty years ago,
might easily have destroyed the combined
navies of the world.
Yet in the officers and experts opinions
or the time naval and military armaments
RAD reached such a high state of pcrfec-
ton as to leave but little room for Improve
ment.
History has repeated Itself 80 often that
1t is but reasonable to expect that in this
age of invention and mechanical revolutions
our most modern engines of war will again
De opsolete a few years hence and more
modern one will take its place.
England also has some far-seeing men,
Lieutenant G. E. Armstrong. royal navy.
says in ''Torpedoes and Vessels" in a series
OF royal handbooks edited by c. N. Robi-
son, commander. royal navy: 1.-THE power
OF gun cotton we have overwhelming proof
OF. What all the guns of the japanese
heet failed to bring in four hours the power
second"
II. w. Wilson, in "Ironclads in Action"
says: The perfection of an aerial tor
pedo. with great range and accuracy, would
be the deathknell to the present form of
battle ship. and IT is hard to see what pro
lection could be devised against it,