The Topeka state journal., 1901-04-10

lEnL VIII De let into 64CA zAoD-A-
minds by the Ordnance exhibit OF
the War Department at the Pan
American Exposition. When the
Exposition opens for its six months
season at Buffalo on May ] of this year
the early visitor will find the largest
and most powerful guardians OF our
seacoasts ever exhibited by the United
States Government Even the smaller
OF the two great new guns in the Gov
eminent exhibit at the Exposition VIII
be larger than any ever before display
ed 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 his
great work of collecting the newest
display OF the kind ever made in this
country. 1t was an absurd question
perhaps that / asked when I inquired
If his exhibits would be ready on May
!, as though there were any other al
tentative for a soldier. The Captain
looked reprovingly at me.
But of the guns-great guns, indeed; f;
big around as a locomotive boiler, thir-
ty odd feet long. with a more savage
rnuzzIe than ever coughed destruction
upon any hostile feet; built with the
accuracy of a watch; so delicate in ad-
justment that little finger may trav-
erse the gun, thus moving weight OF
nearly half a million pounds, yet ma
chine to spout a volcanic blast and to
create an earthquake at the Will or
mani
The big gun of which I speak is a
United States Army twelve-inch breech-
loading rifle, model of 1895, mounted up
on a disappearing carriage It's weight
stripped of everything, even the breech
block. is lis, 900 pounds Its total length
Tu f1aav v7nl a ClAT1G-
ter at the breech is 44.5 inches 1t
throws an armor piercing shot weigh
ing 1000 pounds. the length of which is
three and one half feet. 1t also throws
a projectile. an armor piercing shell
Weighing 1000 pounds, four feet long,
carrying a bursting charge Of Ss-4
pounds of gun cotton. The charge of
powder is 24O pounds of smOkeless or
$50 pounds of brown prismatic powder
The muzzle velocity of the proJectlles
under the above conditions is 2,30O feet
per second with a maximum pressure
per square inch of 81 900 pounds The
muzzle energy is 36.671 foot tons The
power OF penetration in steel at the
muzzle is 500 inches, at 1000 yards 2S-5
inches. at $500 yards 25-5 inches and at
$500 yards 23.5 inches. The total weight
of the gun and carriage is 471,959
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-h half feet. behind the parapet-
The gun has an accuracy of aim for
about eight miles, and the extreme
range is about double that distance.
As have said. guns of this type have
never before been exhibited by the
United States Government, and they
tions to which no visitors are admit
ted under any circumstances. The gun
was manufactured at Watervliet 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 Brigadier
General and Chief Of Ordnance, and i'm
proved and adapted to modern steel ri
fies by Captain William Crozier, Ord
nance Corps. United States Army 1t is
known as the Burlington Crozier car
riage. The mounting of these NAM
moth pieces Of ordnance has been in
the immediate charge of Lieutenant r.
H. c. KeltOn and a small detail of ar
tillerymen.
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 a ten
inch rifle on a barbette carriage In a
barbette carriage the rife 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 its complicated
mechanism and its 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 a fat coast the
disappearing carriage would seem to
possess very great advantage. 1t is
thought that on low sites the rife must
be mounted either on a disappearing
carriage or in a turret. The expense
of a turret Is estimated at about four
and half times the cost Of the disap-
pearing carriage The Endicott Board
on Ordnance and Fortifications num-
Der Of years ago decided in favor of the
disappearing carriage. and the depart
ment has been laboring to obtain a
satisfactory one The one shown at the
Pan American Exposition Is considered
the most perfect in the world.
The ten-inch breechloading rifle is
from the model of 1895 and weighs &c, ZOO
pounds Its total length is S0.76 feet
and the diameter of the breech is thir-
ty-saven inches. The projectile is an
armor piercing shot or shell. The shell
carries bursting charge Of 22.4 pounds
OF gun cotton and weighs 575 pounds,
having a length of four feet. The solid
shot is three and one-half feet long
The powder charge is 14o pounds OF
smokeless powder. and the muzzle We
locity OF the pro5ectile is $500 feet in
a second. The maximum pressure per
square inch is 200 pounds. The muz-
zle energy with the charge OF smokeIess
powder is 21.0s6 foot tons. The gun has
a penetrating power Of twenty inches
in steel at $500 yards.
At the right OF the ten-inch gun
twelve-inch mortar has been mounted,
and 1t Is no small aEair. Farther 10
the right Is a fve-inch rapid FIRE gun.
All are mounted behind sections OF a
parapet. and the four pieces represent
one gun OF each type used IN seacoast
fortifcations.