Evening star., 1902-02-22
The Army Gun.

The results of the attack of the army 12-
inch rifle were as follows: The first shot
was loaded with 20 pounds of 'Dunnite'-
it exploded when half through the plate,
made a clean frontal perforation, and sent
a conical section of the rear half of the
plate way into the sand butt after cutting
through the 15-inch wooden struts and
damaging the supporting structure of steel
OutwardlyShat Is. to the front-the target
was absolutely undisturbed, save for the
clean-cut hole in the center. The second
shot was loaded with % pounds of Maxi
mite" 1t burst while in the plate, wrecked
the backing still more. and cracked the ar
NOR from top to bottom as well as hori-
Zontally. The general position of the tar
get undisturbed. The third shot was
loaded with 65 pounds of "Dunnite"-the
explosive developed by Capt b. w. Dunn
of the United States army-and, contrary
to the agreement, was not fired at the CEN
ter line but at the weakened lower left
hand corner. It exploded upon contact,
and swept a fragment of 11h tons weight
through the sand butt and 40 feet to the
rear. All these shots were absolutely nor
ma1-a feature vital to their success.
The advocates of the Gathmann system
contend that a shell would be halted long
enough, at a range of $500 yards, to cause
explosion Immediately to the rear of a L
inch plate; it would go through and
through two obstructing walls, each 6-inch
thick, separated the width of a battle ship,
and explode on the further side of the sec
O0d. Inc 1rS1 impact would cOnIrOl the
time of explosion, and the second one would
not hasten it. Only normal impact would
insure penetration to such a she'll The
safety Of this particular fuse. even though
it functioned with reasonable uniformity
al Sandy Hook. is not a certainty by very
wide margin. But a short while ago one
Of the shell controlled exploded in the
gun and wiped away the whole fore part
of the piece and a little later another shell
exploded just after clearing the muzzle.
cofo%1, r1o;,,od
The Gathmann SHE'LL it is claimed has
been proved to be absolutely safe, and that
after some very exacting experiments. In
the first, the shell with the fuse in the
safety position was exploded in a gun, and
the great mass Of wet gun cotton was un-
affected while the bore of the piece was
only slightly scratched. In the second test
a Gathmann shell was attacked at a range
Of seventy-tve feet by a One-pounder rapid
fire gun Again the fuse was in the safety
position. The fuse, as was intended, was
pierced and detonated while the blocks of
wet gun cotton were only scattered. The
Gathmann shell, To matter what the thick
ness or thinness Of the obstructing steel or
the angle of impact, exploded Immediately
upon contact. Now, as naval men all know
a battle ship presents but a very small tar
get at modern battle ranges, and the no
tion of picking out particular parts for at
tack is a fancy that would never be relied
upon to win in the hour of strife. Strike
where you may, would be the prime prn-
ciple in the case of the heaviest gun and
armor-piercing projecties, with fair as
surance of damaging the enemy's heaviest
defenses. while with the lighter calibers !.
confidence of anything short of seven inches
would have to buckle under the attack. The
SUCCESS of a shell with time fuse control
would be most uncertain, its chances of
landing at just the right place would
be about one In hundred. while
with the Gathmann gun every blow would
tell; the heaviest armor would be rack ed
if not ruined, while the broadside batteries
would be crushed beyond usefulness, and
the soft" ends reduced to tangled mass
dangerously imperiling the stability of the
ship even In modest seaway. 1t is impos-
| sible to reckon the effect upon the person.
mel, but after the first eXplosion-that of
| the incompletely detOnated shell-fra gments
were scattered miles seaward, and more
| than half minute later pieces We're COM
| ing down. The shrapnel effect Of such an
explosion woulA necessarily prove very dis
aStrous TO life so exposed