The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-08-01
DISAPPEARING AND BARBETTE
CARRIAGES TRIED.
DEFECTS IN The APPARATUS
Shots Fired Were Accurate Enough
to Hit Vessels at a Distance of
Five Thousand Yards.

Fort Monroe, Va, July 29.-The first
of the series of tests of the disappear
ing and babette types of gun carri-
ages has taken place. At a meeting
OF the board it was decided to fire only
the eight-inch gun on barbette mount
Ten rounds for speed were fired and
as many more to determine the facil-
tiles for handling the gun. The bar
bette mount is stationary and during
the entire progress of the fire the gun
is fully exposed above the emplace-
ments.
The board will test one Of the dis
appearing carriages at Fort Dupont,
Del. Thirty rounds will be fired from
an eight-inch gun and technical COM
parison will be made to determine
the advantages and disadvantages of
the two systems. The board of Of
ficers is composed as follows: Captain
p. H. c. Leutze, U. S. NJ; Mayor B.
]. D. Knight, corps of engineers;
Major Charles Shaler, ordnance de-
partment; Major Albert Cummins,
artillery corps; Major B. H. Randolph,
artillery corps; John R. Freeman, me-
chanical engineer of Providence, R.
l.; Captain R. P. Davis, artillery
corps, recorder of the board.
The first shot fired resulted in a
hitch in the proceedings. The Ian
yard was pulled and the shell rushed
owe the water toward the target, but
the gun stuck and refused to return
to position owing to the defective
working of the recoil chamber. This
was the first of the five shots to be
fired deliberately and Of course the
time necessary to get the gun ready
for operation was of no Importance,
though in actual war the delay would
have been serious. The experts i'm
mediately made an examination.
Captain Wheeler, who represents
the ordnance department at the test,
and Professor Freeman, the civilian
mechanical engineer, ~endeavored to
find the trouble. Some members of
the board were of the opinion that
the packing in the recoil cylinder had
been screwed too tightly, while 9th
ers thought this could not have caus-
ed the trouble, as the gun, failed to re-
turn even when the screws were
loosened. 1t was finally necessary to
take the screws entirely out and part
ly empty one cylinder of oil, while
more oil was poured into the other
cylinder. Even then it was necessary
to force the gun into battery.
After this the test went off perfect
ly. Sand was poured upon the slide,
upon which the gun 10Y in recoil-
ing from firing, but it did 10 damage
to the gun and did not interfere with
were fired, one being at extreme ele-
vaticn, which Iii a severe strain
both to the gun and mount. The shell
was hurled far into the air and hit
the horizon line at a distance of about
eight miles. No special effort was
made to hit the floating targets,
though the gunners were at all times
accurate enough to have easily hit
"a vessel at 5000 yards.
The speed firing was of the greatest
Importance, and in the opinion of
members of. the board this test was
very satisfactory. Ten shots were fir
ed for speed. Two minutes elapsed
between the first and second shots,
but the crew was DON at work and
the official time showed that it took
exastly Is minutes and 81 seconds
from the loading of the first round
to the firing of the tenth round. Full
service charges of u pounds of pow
der were used. The gun tested was
model 1888.