Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-03-23

light win be let into such gloomy
minds by the Ordnance exhibit Oh
the War Department at the ran
American Exposition. When inc
ryposltion opens for its six months
season at Buffalo on May Of this year
the early visitor will find the largest
and moet powerful guardians OF our
seaoonsts ever exhibited by the unlted
states Government Even the smaller
of the two great new guns IN the uOV,
eminent exhibit at the Exposition WIN
be larger than any ever before display
cd by our Uncle Samuel
CAPTAIN Peter c. Harris, who repre-
sents the War Department IN charge
OF the entire war exhibit has been en-
gagged actively for months upon MS
great work Of collecting the newest
display OF the kind ever made IN lhls
country. 1t was an absurd question
perbaps that | asked when ! inquired
n his exhibits would be ready on May
1. as though there were any other az
tentative for soldier. The captain
looked reproylngly at me.
But OF the ns--great guns, indeed;
big around as a locomotive boiler thlr-
~ odd feet long, with more savage
muzzle than ever coughed destruction
upon any hostile fleet; built with the
accuracy Of a watch; 40 delicate In ad-
mstment that a little finger may traV-
erse the gun, thus moving weight OF
nearly half a million pounds. yet ma
chine TO spout volcanic blast and to
create an earthquake at the VIII OF
mani
The big gun Of which ! speak Is a
United States Army twelye-nch breech'I
loading rife, model Of 1895, mounted up
on disappearing carriage, It's weight
stripped of everything, even the breech
block, Is 10000 pounds. Its total length
Is 20 100 feet. The maximum dame
ter at the breech Is AS inches 1t
throws an armor piercing shot weigh
ing 1000 pounds the length Of which IS
three and one half feet, 1t also throws
q projectlle, an armor piercing shell
Weighing 1000 pounds, four feet Iona,
carrying bursting charge OF Ss'i
pounds OF gun cotton. The charge of
powder is 2IO pounds OF smokeless or
400 pounds Of brown prismatic powder
The muzzle velocity Of the projeotiles
under the above conditions Is $500 feet
per second. with a maximum pressure
per square inch of $1,000 pounds. The
muzzle energy Is 1851 foot tons. The
power of penetration in steel at the
muzsle is S0.9 inches, at 1000 yards 2S.5
inches, at $500 yards 26.6 inches and ut
$500 yards 235 inches, The total weight
OF the gun and carriage Is 4l7s5s
pounds. The carriage Is twenty-five
feet in diameter at the base, and the
gun when In firing position Is seventeen
feet above the base OF the carriage
When the shot Is fired, the recoil causes
the mechanism to lower the gun seven
and one-half feet, behind the parapet
The gun has an accuracy Of aim for
about eight miles, and the extreme
range ia about double that distance.
As | have said, guns Of this type have
never before been exhibited by the
United States Government. and they
are designed for use in secret fortlfoa-
ted under any circumstances The gun
was manufactured at Watervllet Ar
senal, near Troy, N, Y. The carriage
was made at the Watertown Arsenal,
near Boston The disappearing car
riage was designed several years ago
by Captain Burlington, now Brlgadler
General and Chief Of Ordnance and im-
nj ,Io 40, at ri.
iles by Captain William Crozler. ord
nance Corps. United States Army. II is
known as the Burlington Crozier car
rlage The mounting OF these nam
moth pieces OF ordnance has been In
the immediate charge of Lieutenant r.
II. C. Kelton and small detail of ar.
tlllerymen,
To enable the observer readily TO
make an intelligent comparison of the
mounts OF our seacoast guns Captain
Harris has caused to be placed by the
side OF the great twelve-Inch gun ten
inch rifle on a barbette carriage. In
barbette carriage the rifle Is at all
times exposed above the parapet. The
reader may remember the discussion on
the subject between General Miles
and the Ordnance Board, the general
not favorIng the disappearing device,
chiefly on account OF It's complicated
mechanism and It's liability TO get out
Of order. Each carriage appears to
have its particular use, on elevated
sites the parapet furnishes all the pro-
lection required, but on u fiat coast the
a a,st., mia
possess very great advantage. 1t is
thought that on low sites the rifle must
be mounted either on a disappearing
carriage or in turret, The expense
Of turret il estimated at about four
and half times the cost Of the disap-
pearlng carriage. The Endlcott Board
on Ordnance and Fortihcations a num-
Der Of years ago decided in favor OF the
disappearing carriage, and the depart
ment has been laboring to obtain
satisfactory one. The one shown at the
ap-American Exposition Is considered
the most perfect In the world.
The ten-Inch breechloading rife is
from the model of 1895 and weighs &C, 700
pounds. It's total length Is 1915 feet,
and the diameter of the breech Is thir-
ty-seven inches. The projectile is an
armor piercing shot or shell The shell
carries bursting charge Of 22.4 pounds
OF gun cotton and weighs 515 pounds.
having length Of four feet. The solid
shot is three and one-half feet long.
The powder charge is 40 pounds OF
smokeless powder, and the muzzle We
looity Of the proJectile is $500 feet in
q second. The maximum pressure per
square inch is $1,000 pounds. The muz-
zle energy with the charge OF smokeless
powder Is nose foot tons The gun has
a penetrating power OF twenty inches
In steel al $500 yards
At the right OF the ten-lnch gun a
twelve-ineh mortar has been mounted.
and II is no small affair Farther TO
the right is a hve-lnch rapid fire gun.
All are mounted behind sections OF a
parapet, and the four pieces represent
one gun Of each type used in seacoast
Notifications
To the left Of the great twelve !rch
disappearing gun will be exhibited the
old seacoast ordnance OF the United
States, arranged In historical series.