Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1902-02-06
RANGE SEA FIGHTS
EFFECTIVE DISTANCE IS UNDER A
MILE AS OF OLD.

and Armor = Naval Architect Says the
Fighting Distance of Wooden Vessels
NJ ust Come Back In Modern Combat.
naval progress OF the last ten years
y summarized by ]. +. Meigs, Of the
american Society Of Naval Architects
ana Marine Engineers, as follows:
10 summarize results it may be
SAID that in the past ten years by the
use OF better mixtures, by improved
neat treatment and by very marked
Improvement in face hardening, the
power Of armor of a fixed thickness
to resist penetration has been Increased
about forty per cent, while it's power
to resist cracking has been increased
In even greater degree. This has been
taken advantage of in large measure
In a reduction Of the thickness of ar
NOR plate on a ships side. The total
weight of armor carried is not less
than formerly, and, indeed, it is per-
haps greater than it was, but it is
more spread out, and, while the pro-
lection on the vital parts is as good
and perhaps better than it was, there
is now some weight in armor left to
cover parts that formerly were with
out protection.
Gun steel also-and In speaking of
gun steel we may include the steel for
shafting as well-has been materially
improved in the period under review.
The shafting steel now going into
ships is very much stronger than that
which was used ten years ago. It is,
indeed, perhaps quite seventy or eighty
per cent. stronger than the former
material. The advance in gun steel
has not been so marked, because ten
years ago the purchasers Of gun steel
wanted an elastic strength of about
10000 pounds, whereas only $4,000 or
$4,000 pounds was asked for in shaft
ing. Now they both run $4,000 pounds
or even more. The noted advance in
the strength of gun steel has not been
followed by a reduction in the thick
ness of guns walls Indeed, the guns
thickness is rather greater perhaps
than it was, and the increased
strength serves only as an additional
guarantee against disaster.
When we come to what may be
called the tactical aspects of guns and
armor, we find also material changes.
9hh 9hhe ar6i arraYa as ef IS th 5etsa g ab5e bts las a
vanced by perhaps forty per cent, and
full advantage has been taken Of this
in design. The notifications in de-
sign which have come about have
been numerous. The armor is more
distributed. It has come to be recog-
nized that unprotected guns have no
chance, and that 6-inch and 12-inch
guns should be protected respectively,
by 6-inch and 12-inch armor.
1t should be noted that this means,
If battle ships are to penetrate each
other, that ships must approach with
in 1000 yards range in combat.
This brings us back to the fighting
range of old wooden ships very near
ly, for they had to approach within
about 600 or 100 yards; and, when you
consider that a battle ships 6-inch
guns must have normal impact to
perforate the armor protecting the t.
inch guns of their opponents at 500 OF
1000 yards, it may be said that the
fighting range Of ships has not SO
very materially altered in the past
hundred years. What is here said
| may perhaps be combated, but, as
22OO feet velocity in a 6-inch projec-
tile will not, even with normal I'M
pact, carry it through 6-inch armor,
nor will 1000 feet carry 12-inch pro
iectile through 12-inch armor under
ike circumstances, it follows, when
the vast preponderance of obllque i'm
pacts is considered, that ships must
fight within 1000 yards.
Finally. in closing, want to bring
forward, in order to more definitely
! determine the coming range of nava
| combat, the fact that there is one OF
/ it's ruling factors which remains con
slant for all time. THIS is the ac
curacy and delicacy of the firer's eye:
! and nerves. If a man can appreciate
four intervals in a second, and II tht
firing apparatus put into his hands i
instantaneous in action, he can hit
ship fifteen feet high, at range o
about 1000 yards, when his own gun i
swinging, in rolling, at an anguia
rate Of one degree per second. Thl
consideration, of course, remains l2e'
for all time. Another important con
sideration is what is usually called tn
danger space. With medium calibres
with 1000 feet velocity, the DANCE
space is 100 yards. That is to say
the gun is independent of the range
as the trajectory is so nearly fat a
that distance. The new guns now com
ing along, having 5000 feet velocity
have a greater danger space with ez
listing targets, and are therefore II
dependent Of the range up to 1900 Q
400 yards.
Whether it is better to use zinc
or 7.5-inch gun on the same weight
the 5O-calibre 6-inch gun, that Il
about $4,000 pounds, in the secondar
battery OF battleships. is one of I'd