The Washington times., 1901-07-21
PLEA FOR DOUBLE TURRETS
Rear Admiral Bradford Advocate $
Their Superiority.
Minority Report of the Board on
Construction FavOring Superposed
Structures for Bntteries-Commea eat
on Rear ADMIRAL o,NciI's Position.

Rear Admiral R B. Bradford Chief of
the Bureau of Equipment. yesterday sub
mitted to the Secretary of the Navy
minority report of the Naval Board on
Construction, advocating a battery which
shall contain superposed turrets on the
two battleships for which plans are to be
submitted to Congress at its next session.
He treats at considerable length Of the
superiority of this class of construction.
and asserts that the Alabama and Maine.
which have armament similar to the ma
| jority OF ships, have weak batteries. AS
for the finch gun advocated by the ma
| jority and embraced in it's battery plan
/ in place of the S-inch gan. he says there
/ is no such gun in existence and the cal
culations as to its power are merely theo-
retical
Admiral Bradford calls attention to the
fact that Rear Admiral Melville, Engi-
neer-in-Chef of the Navy, who voted
with the majority of the board against
I the superpOsed turret had heretofore
been warm advocate of that turret. He
also quotes a letter written a little more
than year ago by Rear Admiral o. Nell.
Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance and
President of the Board on Construction,
who voted with the ajority for the use
inch, and who prepared the board s report
strongly advocating the weapon Of small
er calibre, in which Admiral O'Neil says
that the S-inch is preferable to the 7-inch
for battleships and the latter would be a
more suitable weapon for the superstruct-
urc guns of the armored cruisers.
If It was unwise to assign finch guns
to battleships enc year ago" says Adrni-
raj Bradford. in commenting on Admiral
O Neirs letter, lit is unwise TO do SO.
now"
As to Rear Admiral Bowies, the Chief
Naval Constructor, the third member of
the board who voted against the supper
posed turret end favored finch guns for
auxilaries. Admiral Bradford suggests
that a corps policy of prejudice against
the superposed turret exists in the con-
struction corps. Attention is called to the
fact that all of Admiral O'Neifs prede
cessors in the Bureau of Ordnance for the
past sixteen years-Admirals Sicard and
Sampson and Captain Folger-were in ia
vor of the superposed turret. In conclud-
ing Admiral Bradford sounds note of
concern over the majority's blow to the
superposed turret after it had been adopt
ed by a special board acting in conjunc-
tion with the Board on Construction. He
says that he is afraid that the effect of
the ma jority's action will be loss of con-
fidence in the boards knowledge as to the
type of battleship best suited for naval
purposes.
The battery advocated by Admiral
Bradford was designed by Captain Sigs-
bee. the Junior member of the board who
was too i'll, however, to sign the minori-
ty report. This battery consists of the
usual two 12-inch turrets with two S-inch
turrets superposed on them. and four
additional S-inch turrets arranged in the
form of quadrilateral. There are In ad-
dition on the main deck, twelve 6-inch
rapid-fire guns The entire battery con-
sists of twenty-eight guns divided as fol-
lows: Four twelves. twelve eights, and
twelve skies. The battery of the majori-
ty Gsear Admirais O'Neil, Melville, and
Bowies). has no s-inch guns and no su-
perposed turrets.-. 1t consists of four
twelves in two turrets and twenty sevens |
(none protected by turretsl. the latter be- |
ing located, as described by Admiral |
Bradford, as follows: Sixteen on the |
main deck behind casemate- -armor'S ar
ranged largely in accordance with the |
battery on an old frigate's gun deck; on |
the deck above, at the corners of the su- |
perstructure. are installed four more L |
inch guns for the purpose of increasing |
the fire ahead and astern.
To demonstrate the claimed superiority |
ct the battery arrangement OF captain |
Sigsbee and himself Admiral Bradford |
submits with his report photographic il |
lustration OF the batteries of five differ |
ent types of battleshIps. and devotes |
much space to an explanation OF them
One Arrangement illustrated was that |
adopted by board of thirteen officers, |
including the members OF the Board on
Construction, after majority OF the /
Board on Construction had adopted an
other arrangement. This design included
turrets. the ma Jority of the
Board on Construction having voted
against them. Twelve of the thirteen
officers signed a report recommending
that three ships with superposed turrets
and two ships with ordinary turrets be
built Another design in the illustrate tion
was that referred to a committee consist
ing of the five members of the Board on
and seven other members.
This committee by vote OF 10 TO : re-
endorsed the superposed turret snip pre-
viously recommended by the board OF thir-
teen The committee, Admiral Bradford |
says, strongly favored the S-inch gun,
and would not submit to reduction in |
calibre- |
In presenting the majority plan and
that of Captain Sigsbee and himself to
Secretary Longs attention. Admiral
Bradford says that the absence of turret
and the reduction in calibre
are marked features of the majority de-
sign, to which officers have heretofore
shown a marked disapproval. The Illus
trations submitted are intended To show |
by means of pink shading that, to quote
Admiral Bradford, the maximum broad
side fire of the finch battery lin the ma
jority design extends over an are OF only
s. degrees. with an average muzzle ener-
gy of go $50 foot tons over that are. while
in the minoritys type it extends over an
arc Of 80 degrees, with an average muZZle
energy of 253 Ia foot tons, both vessels |
a ssumed to be engaged on one side only
Admiral Bradford admits that the ma
jortys battery is able to deliver at the
same time the same energy OF fire on both
sides, while his battery can deliver on
both sides at the same time but 2053O
foot tons which is little less than in
he case OF type 4 tthe ma jority 81 He |
claims for his battery, however, great
advantage over the maJoritys, in that ii |
delivers maximum fire over l00 degrees
Of arc, while the latter delivers il over
only 81 degrees
1T will thus be seen" he adds, that
type 3 (minoTityS) will still have the
advantage, even while engaged on both
sides"
Figures are produced by Admiral Brad
ford to show the compartive rapidity of
fire muZzle energy, and weight of metal
thrown Of s, I. and 6-inch guns, but he
says that the fire of the finch gun.
which Is superior to that of the S-inch |
lis assumed by the Chief of the Bureau of
Ordnance admiral ONeiD for the rea- |
son that no 7-inch gun exists. The fig
ures show that the S-inch gun can fire
IL rounds minute and the Finch 2.5 |
the S-inch gun has a muzzle en- |
ergy per minute OF l5 322 foot tons and the |
finch 1882 foot tons; the S-iuch throws |
per minute 800 pounds of metal and the |
7-inch 4l25 pounds The 6-inch gun which
terry fires 80 rounds. has "A nuZzle energy
Of 20. iB foot TONS and throws $50 pounds
Of metal in one minute"
Attention is called to the greatly su-
Derior tactical advantages Of the min
ority's battery. the Illustration clearly {
showing that this type Of ship can be