Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury [Connecticut]) 1900-1903, 1902-10-27
LOTS OF MONEY WANTED.
Thirteen Million Dollars Needed
For Ordnance Bureau.
This Amount is Needed to Buy Arms
and Armament Next Year-Many
Guns Turned Out BY the Bureau

Last 4ear-A new 1uTeG 1ACH Uuh
Is Now in Process of Construction.
Washington, Oct 27.-Rear Admiral
| O'Neill, chief OF Che naval bureau OF
ordnance, i'll his annual report made
public to-day says that the ordnance
| bureau wants SI3, Is, ,SO6 next year,
OF which amount SlO,OOO,00O is to be
devoted to arms and armament for
| new ships The gun shop at the
! Washington navy yard during the
past year turned out 234 new guns,
! prepared sets of forgings for 146 more
and has 90 in course Of manufacture.
The bureau is preparing new type
Of three-inch gun, so calibres in
length, of a semi-automatic character,
| to replace all guns of this size now in
use in the navy. Admiral O'Neill
says that for the first time in years
the manufacture of armor has pro-
gressed IN a satisfactory manner, u
/ 612 tons having been delivered at the
various shipyards during the. year,
with prospects of largely increasing
the deliveries
No Improvement worth speaking of
seems to have been made in the quail
| ity Of armor Of late Guns, powder
and .projectiles have each made de-
c1ded advance, rendering it all the
more necessary that there should be
an improvement in the quality of ar
NOR. but none seems to be in sight at
present
| Recently the armor manufacturers
voluntarily made a reduction of ten
shillings per ton on the royalty for the
Krupp process.
With the exception of ignition and
shell powder, no black or other than
smokeless powder has been purchased
or manufactured for the navy since the
Spanish-American war. All new
ships beginning with the Kearsarge
and Kentucky have been supplied
with outfits of smokeless powder, and
in addition some thirty of the older
vessels have thus been supplied.
The manufacture of smokeless pow
der during the past year has pro-
j gressed in satisfactory manner
so far as quality is concerned,
4 but not so much as to the amount de-
/ livered. So far as the stability of the
smokeless powder is concerned the re
suits of the years work have been Of
the most satisfactory character. "A
novel experiment is now under way
with the purpose Of indicating any in
! furious change that may take place in
smokeless powder by Incorporating in
/ it a fugitive coloring matter, such as
resaniline
/ The most interesting event during
/ the year in connection with projectiles
i is the development of new type Of
shell combining the advantages Of the
armor-piercing with the common shell;
/ that is, having the perforating power
i of the regular armor-piercing projec-
| tile with the capacity for large burst
i ing charge.
The requirements for these shells on
j test are that at a prescribed velocity
they shall completely perforate, un-
| broken. a plate Of hard faced armor
calibre in thickness and then be in con-
dition for effective bursting. A num-
i Der Of shells Of this description have
been ordered, and the first three lots
have successfully passed the require
i ments. These shells are fitted with
soft caps.
A novel device tried during the year
was the tracer" which renders a shell
visible during the night to the gunner,
i but invisible to the persons at the tar
get, this being accomplished by the in
i sertion of a burning composition in
the base of the shell.
The use Of electric power for ham
ding guns and turrets is unequalified-
~ endorsed as better than any other
i system.
Admiral O'Neil finds that the best
way to illustrate the tremendous de-
yelopment of artillery in late years is
to cite two cases, that of the six-inch
! gun and the tWelve-inch gun The
former used to weigh only As tons,
was only 80 calibres in length with a
muzzle energy of 2,773 foot tons and a
practicable rate Of fire of 21s aimed
shots per minute. The new type is so
callbres in length. uses smokeless pow
der, weighs eight tons, can be fired
eight times per minute and has a muz-
zle energy Of 5,S26 foot tons. In other
words, it is 600 per cent more power
ful than the old gun. The twelye-inch
s guns shows an increase in energy over
the old gun at 357s per cent.
There is to be a general renovation
of the batteries of the older ships and
it is said that new batteries will be
placed on the Baltimore, the New
York, the Newark and the Albany. 1T
IS recommended that the Philadelphia
be given a new battery of six-inch
guns, which would make her fit for
many years more of service. The bu-
reau is considering the feasibility of re-
placing the present turrets of the Ore
gOn, Indiana and Massachusetts with
new eliptical balanced turrets. thereby
materially increasing their efficiency.
Admiral O'Neill has much to saw re-
specting speed versus armament. He
argues that ship is not only a com
promise between various necessities
and says: "All nations are afflicted
with the speed craze at intervals, and
this country is no exception, and un-
less each batch of new vessels can
equal or beat the worlds record they
are usually characterized as failures,
and in Difference to this sentiment the
tendency is to design vessels of the
highest possible speed irrespective Of
the uses for which they are intended
and in consequence enormous sums OF
money have been expended by sever
al countries in producing large and
fast vessels which have but trifliDg
value for fighting purposes, and to-
day it requires no little moral courage
on the part of designers to subordinate
the popular element of speed to other