The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-05-12


exhausted. Unlike the Gatling gun
and miltrailleuse, the Maxim gun has
only one barrel making 1t almost as
light and portable as an ordinary mus
ket.
Nothing has done so much for mod
ern guns and high explosives, perhaps,
as has the armor plate. evolved from
the rude plating of railroad rails which
protected the sides of the Confederate
Merrimac in the civil war Steam had
taken the place of sails in the maneuv-
ering of vessels of war, and to protect
this machinery armor plate became
necessity. From the beginning it has
been trial of inventive genius be-
tween the gunmaker and the armor-
platter No sooner has a shellproof ar
NOR been made than an armor-piercing
gun has been built to pierce 1t. Today
it may be questioned If in the evolu
tion of the modern navy there has been
progress giving to the fittest more
chances of survival than obtained at
the beginning of the century. Paul
Jones went into fight a hundred
years ago, confident of keeping afloat
even after the hull of his vessel should
be pierced by shot after shot. Today
| the commander of battle ship knows
that one chance shot from an enemy
may send his gigantic fighting machine
| to the bottom of the ocean.
GUNS AND SMOKELESS POWDER.
With the modern Harveyized plates
and with the increased fighting range
that has come with modern war ves-
sells the growth OF big guns has been
phenomenal. A gun weighing a hun
| YppnA
shell from 1000 pounds of powder is
| common. Around each of these wea-
pons a whole machine-shop must oper-
ate, until the modern battle ship is a
mechanical complication compared to
which the duties of a sailor are as
childs play. With the use Of smoke
| less powder has come the range-finder,
until now the future engagement of
navies is to be one of engineering skill,
not the least important feature of
which will be vessel maneuverings. For
without the possibility of maneuvering
the modern battle ship would stand
small chance against modern guns and
gunnery One of the wonders of the
modern big gun is that 1t is forged
from a single block of crucible cast
Steel and, carrying it's steel missiles
almost in a straight line, the impact Of
one of these shells against a plate OF
nickel steel often fuses the point of the
shell with the plate. Rifling of these
guns and the use of nitro powder have
brought about these phenomena. Gun
cotton and dynamite, both products of
the century, have been the subject of
experiment in gunnery but the dyna-
mite cruiser of which the United States
government expected so much in the
Spanish war has been pronounced a
failure.
THE TORPEDO IN WARFARE.
The torpedo has come to be a factor
in naval battle, and one Of the most
dreaded agencies of war. At the same
time circumstances have not allowed
of n full justification of these fears In
none of the recent naval engagement
of the world has the torpedo boat
seemed to acquit itself as it might
, have been expected to do in view of its
increasing popularity. The torpedo has
; been of slow growth, and seems to
have reached it's limit in the self-prO-
pelling Whitehead pattern. The swift
torpedo boat is designed to hurry with
it in range of a fleet and to discharge
the missile under water at the hulk OF
| ii Ddltlt SHIP NONcI VI lllSlll Nslo "a
) pected to protect the boat. With it
however, has come the" electric search
light and the rapid-fire gun, and these
I with the torpedo netting, have
I almost neutraiZed the new weapon
One of the most picturesque fea
I lures of the battle in Manil;
= Bay was in the attempt o
e two torpedo boats to slip upon tn,
| ,ft la 1lpn1 Of h1a o
5 smoke that hung over the water il
/ front of the American fleet. Once dis
{ covered, however, the quck-firiag gun
= of the fleet riddled them.
e The whitehead torpedo is compi
Gated mechanism in itself, being II fee
long, IS inches in diameter and self
l. propelling by means of compressed all
e Wet gun cotton is the explosive, iron
I 200 to 500 pounds being used. The mis-
$ sile ordinarily is discharged from
e submerged tube, continuing it's cours
e by means of double propellers drive
by compressed air. When the torped
strikes a piston strikes a fulminatin
c cap and eXplodes the wet gun cottor
o TERRIBLE WEAPONS OF DE
, TENSE.
: If the torpedo of offense has bee
;. popular the torpedo of defense ha
e been even more so. Electricity ha
Il come to the aid of naval experts unit
= it may be only a matter of time unit
S the 10O-ton guns and 13-inCh shells @
= the modern fleet will have to be out
= done. one of the necessities for thes
g great cannon has been the laying G
e torpedoes in defense of harbors, max
ing it impossible to reach fortification
II with moderate-range guns. Today, /
: the movement of a fleet against a sea
port. the aggressor has more dread {
the buried mines in the water than {
a score of steel-clad vessels benin
them. The destruction of the Main
in the harbor of Havana is an exam
ple of the terrible efficiency of til
sunken torpedo which needs only III
touch of an electric button to eXplod
It.
The submarine boat is one of I'll
promises of the future in naval wal
fare. The Holland boat in the Unite
States Is considered to be a success
and is fitted with torpedo tubes Simo
Lake has perfected submarine W;
gon," capable of being propelled ov'
the oceans bed at a depth of fifty
100 feet. These boats may be kept III
der the surface for hours, and unle
invention Is to come to the aid of Il
battleship-as It did in the case OF Il
torpedo boat-naval warfare in Il
new century will be under very Sc
ious handicap.
Looking back upon the accomplish
II ments for war as chroncled in the la