The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-03-03
Contest of Armor
and Proiectiies.

The modern contest began with the intro
duction of horizontal shell fire in the third
decade of the century. This term must be
explained. 1t has been said that all ships
guns up to 1916 threw nonexplosive projec-
tiles. In practice this Is true; although Nell
son alludes to certain shell supplied to him
for trial, which he was unwilling to use
because he wished not to burn his prizes.
but to take them alive. A shell is a hollow
projectile filled with powder, the idea of
which Is that, upon reaching the enemy. 1t
will burst into several pieces, each capable
Of killing u man, and the flame not i'm
possibly setting the woodwork on fire. II
was necessary that the powder within
should not explode from the combustion OF
the cartridge of the gun, for if 1t did Its
force, combined with that of the cartridge,
might burst the gum; yet the process that
should result in bursting must begin at
that moment or else 1t would not take
place at all. This difficulty was met by n
short column of hard. compressed powder
called the fuse. which extended from the
outside to the inside of the shell. The outer
end was infiamed by the charge OF the
gun, but from its density it burned slowly,
SO that the charge of the shell was not en-
kindled for five, ten or more seconds. rms
expedient was in use over a century ago.
but. owing to imperfections of mahuiac-
ture, no certainty was attained that the
fuse might not be driven in or broken by
the force of the discharge. or the shell
itself be cracked, and SO explode prema-
turely.
The destructiveness Of shell from ordinary
guns was so obvious. especially for forts to
use against wooden ships. that the difficult
ties were gradually overcome. and horizon
=, ~ d. roc ,rs INrRD cnn after fha
cessation of wars allowed men time for
thought and change. But although the idea
was accepted and the fact realized. prac-
tice changed slowly. as it tends to do In tho
absence of emergency. In the attack on
Vera Cruz in 1888 Farragut was present
and was greatly impressed. as with a nov
city, by the effect Of what he called the
"shell shot'-a hybrid term. which aptly
expresses the transition state of mind NJ
the time. l remember an officer who en-
tered the navy in 1910 telling me the re-
spectful ave and distruSt with which his
superiors then regarded the new weapon,
q very few Of which for each gun were
supplied tentatively. Ten years more. how
ever, saw a great change. and In 1853 the
attack of the Russian squadron of wooden
sailing ships upon the Turkish vessels in
the Bay Of Sinope gave an object lesson
that aroused the naval world to what wood
en- ships must expect from horizontal Shell
ire. In u lew minutes lliIee ouI VI SGsSh
Turkish frigates were in flames, while OF
nine sailing ships and two steamers only
one of the latter escaped.
The Crimean War followed quickly. and
in 1854 the wooden steamships of the line
of the allies-vessels identical in fighting
characteristics with those of Trafalgar-at-
tempted to Silence masonry works at Sebas-
topol. Though the disaster was not SO
great, the lesson of Sinope was r~eafirmed.
Louis Napoleon, a thoughtful man, though
scarcely a man Of action, had foreseen the
difficulty and had already directed the con-
struction of five floating batteries which
were to carry armor. Before the war ended
these vessels attacked the forts at Kin
burn, which they compelled to surrender.
losing themselves no men except by shells
that entered the gunports. Their armor
was not pierced.
Horizontal fire had called for iron armor
and the two, as opposing factors. were now
established in the recognition OF men. The
contest between the two sums up the pro-
erosion and the fluctuations Of military
ideas which nave resulted in the battleship
of to-day, which, as the feet ship, remains
the .dominc(st factor in naval warfare. nof