The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-28
Admiral 0'Nell Makes Report
 on Need of Armament
ARMoR HAS NOT IMPROVED
Most interesting Event During the Year In Connection With Pro lectiles Is Development of
 New Type of Shell.

O Nell cnleI or the ndYdl puTedu oIu- nance in his annual report made public today, says that the ordnance bureau wants s13.1s2.sO6 next year. of which amount s1oOooOOO is to be devoted to arms and armament for the new warships. Ad- miral ONeil says that for the first time in years the manufacture of armor has progressed in satisfactory manner; 6l2 tons were delivered at the various ship yards during the year. with prospects of largely increasing the deliveries.
 No improvement worth speaking of seems to have been made in the quality of armer of late. Guns, powder and projeetiles have each made a decided ad- vance rendering 1t all the more neees- sary that there should be an improve ment in the quality of armor. but noth- ing seems to be in sight at present.
 With the exception of ignition and shell powder no black or other than smokeless powder has been purchased or manufac- tured 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 old vessels have been thus supplied.
 The manufacture of smokeless powder during the past year has progressed in satisfactory manner so far as quality is concerned, but not so much as to the amount delivered
 New Type of Shell.
 The most interesting event during the year in connection with projectiles, Is the development of new type of shell, combining the advantages of the armor piercing with the common shell that is having the fore-rating power of the regu- lar armor- piercing projectile with the ca pacity for large bursting charge. The requirements for these shells on test are that at a prescribed velocity they shall perforate, unbroken, plate of hard-faced armor a caliber in thick ness and then be In condition for efrec- tive bursting. A number of shells of this description have been ordered and the first three lots have successfully passed the requirements. These shells are fitted with soft caps
 was the tracer" which renders a shell visible during the night to the gunner, but invisible to the persons at the target, this being accomplished by the insertion of burning composition in the base Of the shell
 Artillery.
 Admiral O'Neil finds that the best way to Illustrate the tremendous development of artillery in late years Is to cite two cases, that of the 6-inch gun and the 12-inoh gun. The former used to weigh only 4S tons, was only thirty calibers in, length with a muzzle energy of 2773 foot fnvar a,,H I1fa &a r1F aimed shots per minute The new type Is DOG calibers in length; uses smokeless powder, weighs eight tons, can be fired eight times per minute and has a muzzle energy of 5S36 foot tons. In other words, 1t is too per cent more powerful than the old gun. The 12-inch gun shows an in- creage in energy over the old gun of 351a epr cent. Admiral O'Neil says that no such rate of increase is looked for in the near future.
 There is tu be d general renovation of the batteries Of the older ships.
 Admiral O'Neil has much to say for speedy armament. He argues that ship Is naturally a compromise between vari- ous necessities and says:
 Nations Have Speed Craze.
 "An nations are afflicted with the speed craze at intervals, and this country is no exception, and unless each batch of new vessels can equal or beat the worlds record they are usually characterized as failures and in deference to public senti- ment 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 several countries in producing large and fast ves- sells which have but trifiing value for fighting purposes and today 1t requires no little moral courage on the part of the | designers to subordinate the popular ele- | nent of speed to other qualities, no mat | ter how important the latter may be-"
 Battery Power.
 Admiral ONeil furthef says: "It has 1 always been the policy of the United l States to provide its vessels of sll classes | with battery power; that Is, to so arm | them that they shall be superior to for eign vessels of equal class in that re- spect, and that sentiment still prevails; and while we have, in a few instances, all other clements to speed, 1t is not likely to occur again, and the of opinion at the present time Is in favor of applying large percentages of weight for armor and armament rather than to assigning 1t for the pur- pose of attaining the last possible frao- tion of a knot of speed,
 The bureau is convinced that no nlis. take has been made in the adjustment of speed armor and armament of these ves- TNt.- l..