The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-08-01
NAVAL EXPERTS DISAGREE.
\ supplemental Report rs to Alleged
Dnnger in Inrrets.

supplemental Report rs to Alleged
Danger in Turrets.
Exceptions are taken by the majority
membership Of the Naval Construction
Board 10 structures of the minority on the
tuTrot system proposed for the new bat
leships and other features of the design
agreed upon for submission TO Congress.
A supplemental report has been filed IN
which the majority. consisting OF Admiral
. O'Neil Chief Of Ordnance; Admiral Mel
vile. Chief Of Engineers. and Admiral
BoWles. Chief Constructor, discusses with
warmth and vigor the contentious Of the
minority. who favor the Sampson super
posed turret class of battIeship. The ma
Jorlty takes exception to such parts of the
minority report as call in question the
motives e- judgments Of any member Of
the board
The point objected to by the minority.
. that there was no finch gun i'm the navy
and that IL does not seem wise TO adopt
on the battleships guns Of an Untried
type. is answered by the majority that
such line of argument might with
equal propriety be applied 70 the proposed
vessels themselves" There is no qUes-
ton. thu majority contends, as 10 the
hallistic and other properties Of the finch
degree Of accuracy as could the smaller
calibres, al of which have fulfilled in the
highest degree the requirements designat-
ed for them. and the finch gun. one OF
which is now ready for the proving
ground. says the mag 7r.ty. viii without
doubt fulfill all that is expected Of it. on
this point the report says:
1T may be remarked that the new type
Of S-inch guns. which is 10 form part Of
the battery % the five battleships and six
armOred cruisers nov building, and which
the minority proposes Tor its plan, have
never vet been tried. the type Of gun be
ing not vet completed. Hence. If there is
any doubt as TO the efficiency Of the new
finch gun there IS an eq1ed doubt as TO
the new S-inch gun IN point OF fact
however, there Is no doubt in either
case"
Another point made by the minority was
that the unfortunate criticisms Of the
superposed turret are thus far purely the
oreticaL" In answer q this the majority
SAYS that the advantages claimed for
them are also Theoretical The majority
lays great stress on the fact that with the
vessels now building there will be, when
they are completed. seven b2ttieships
having superposed turrets, which. to the
majority. seems as great a NUMBER as is
warranted in default Of any but theoret-
icaI reasons for them Other objections
20 the superp0sed turrets are presented by
the majority as follows:
When four guns are mounted I'm one
turrc; which Is the practical result Of the
double turret now IN use. the efficiency
per gun is further reduced: and suppos-
ing for the moment that the four guns
are OF the same calIbrc. the efficiency per
gun must be less than . per cent, and
fair assignment would be % per cent
Therefore the total gun efficiency Of the
double turret would be 2o9 or equivalent
TO two guns mounted singly- \ plain com
paris0u of the gun mounted singly and IN
the f0Ur-gun turret like what would b. oh
tanned by one sportsman shooting birds
with a four barrel gun ard four men
shooting with singie-barrel guns
These considerations relate 20 the sub
jet from the point Of offence but when
the subject is considered from the view OF
defence the four-guu turret provides O
considerable economy Of weight and space
yet exposes more than one-third OF the
total battery Of the ship 70 disablement.
either from one shot OF the enemy OF from
some slight arrangement of the mechaui-
cal device for working It. There can De no
question that the placing OF an S-inch
turret on enc top OF the 13-inch turret
considerably Increases the danger of dis
ablement Of the i3-inch turret and also Of
the S-iuch."
Appended 20 the report is summary
Of the remarkable rezults obtained al tar
get practice by the British shin Terrible
az target no larger than would be rep
resented by the sIperposed turrets Of a
I. battleshe& The shots striking this tar
get would have ended probably in its com
piete destruction. Those hitting the top
tUTret II containing lyddite. would have
resulted in the top OF the I3-inch turret
being blown IN. the destruction OF the
crew and the disahlemeut OF both heavy
guns. The target as shown in the report
represents the first OF four 5-iuch guns
during -four minutes The Terrible's rec
ord showed 100 shots and so hits with the
I-luCl guns SeVcUty-ufle of the 81 hiss
would have struck the sUYerpOsed turret
of the Kentucky. IWcut --siE and six
t-uths per cent are on the .-iuch turret.
As these shots would have passed over "a
single tuUet and been wasted. IL IS clear.
the report says that the S-I0Ch tuTret in
shots going too high and that consa-
gIeutly IT'S chances ~ being hit are much
greater than If it stood uv itself
The ma -0TIfy zUEg- SIS that final tests TO
determine the vaHle Of jhe system on the
kearSaTge and Kentucky should be- held
m once