The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1902-06-07


projectiIes, which began nearly
fifty years ago. is still going on.
and it it is difficult to say what
viii be the outcome. says the New York
Sun
The first use Of armoT on ships was
that Of the French armored frigatc
GIoirc in 1883, and during the first TWO
decades OF its use only wrought iron was
employed. It is interesting to note that
rif1ed cannon, which are now the great
enemies of armor, were introduced in the
same year
The 41-3-inch plates used on the first
arnored vessels we're sufficient TO resist
/ the shells Of the heaviest smooth-b ores
then il use aboard ship, but when the
rifled guns came into general use. using
chilled cast-iron shells, their caIibers
I gradually increasing up to nearly II
inches. the armor had to be made thicker
and thicker, till at the end of the EOS
/ II reached in the Italian ships DuiIio
and Italia the thickness of nearly %
inches.
The great weight of this armor and of
/ the great guns compelled reduction in
the armor belt, the maximum thickness
being limited to the redoubts of the
guns, and the rest being reduced in
thickness But this thin armor failed to
protect, consequently it became evident
that only improvements in the armor
could help matters. This fact was
known for some time before the i'm
pTovement actually came.
Heretofore it had beer. considered nee
essaTy to destroy the energy Of the pro
jectiIe by means of soft and tough armor
material; but when it was attempted to
give up this principle and adopt a hard
ct material, 1t was found that the brit
tleness also increased as the hardness
increased. and the plate was broken I'D
without being perforated. This appeared
TO exclude steel altogether as armor ma
terial, but the discovery by Wilson that
steel may be cast on a white-hot
wrought iron plate. produced a com
pound plate, the hard face of which could
resist penetration. while the soft and
tough back prevented breaking up. The
first Of these compound plates were used
on the British battleship Infexible.
The principle of the compound plate
still holds in armor manufacture. but
the developments in metallurgy have
greatly changed the mode of preparation.
The compound plates were introduced
in all the great navies, but were never
entirely satisfactory On account Of The
difficulty of obtaining a perfectly weld
ed surface of junction between the two
metals, the slightest defect causing the
steel layer TO peel of when struck bv
projectiIes and thus exposing the
wrought iron Consequently. when about
1885 the French manufacturers as well
as KTuDD produced steel shells which
could perforate the compound plates
without having their forms materially
altered N passing through. the fate Of
the compound plates was quickly sealed.
Again il became necessary to improve
the art Of making armor plate, and to
ward the end Of the SOS Schneider pro-
duced improved armor plates al lie
CTeusot by forging cast steel from the
ter ones by the use Of cast steel with an
addition OF nickel. But the greatest
impetus was given TO this manufacture
by the trials at Annapolis. Nd in 1890.
instituted to determine the best armor
for the new warships. Here Harvey. of
Orange. y. J.. was able to apply the
principle Of compound plates to all steel
plates, especially those 0; nickeI steel,
by giving the face Of the plate to j
depth Of about three inches. by means
Of cementation process. a higher per-
centage Of carbon. which. by quick cool
ing in water. would take high degree
Of hardness. while the back remained
soft and tough
The worlds navies promptly adopted
the new Harvey plates Further i'm
provement was made by cooling in oil.
instead Of water KTupp. who began
manufacturing plates in 1890. followed
the same principle that guided Harvey.
and produced in 1898 and 1894 even bet
ter plates than Harvey. The first
KTuppized plates were nearly twelve
inches in thickness. and in view of the
fact that the greatly increased use of
rapid-frc guns aboard ship demanded
i more extended arnor protection. while /
the desire for increased armament. /
speed. and coal capacity forbade the use
Of very heavy armor, it became neces-
sary TO determine If the same proper /
ties would obtain in thinner plates. IN /
1895. as a result Of experiments on this /
subject, Krupp produced three and four /
inch plates surprising all expectations. !
II the following year England. France, /
Russia, and the United States began /
making armor plates according to the
KTupp process, and the effect of this /
latest improvement is evident in the in
creased area of armor protection on /
modern warships. France went to the /
extreme at once. and in the Dupuy de
Lone covered the entire sides with I
4.3 TO Al inches of Harvey steel: but
this action was not initiated in any
other ship. Nevertheless, the armored |
area is being gradually increased by
all nations. on account OF the increased |
effect of rapid-fre artillery.