Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-13
GEN. CROZIER'S REPORT
SATISFACTORY TESTS OF THE
NEW MAGAZINE RIFLES.
Successful Experiments With the Six
teen-Inch Gun-Defense of Insular
Possessions-Pieces Issued.

Brig. Gen. William CroZier, chief of ord
rance, has submitted his annual report to
the chief of staff. 1t is a complete resume
of the work of his bureau during the past
year and deals minutely with many expert
ments conducted along the lines of improv-
ing the military armament. On the sub
ject of the United States magazine
rifle General Crozier states that the re-
suits obtained from the few which We're
made by hand were so satisfactory as to
secure the approval of the Secretary for
the adoption of this pattern. The reduc-
ton in length of the barrel from thirty to
twentyfour inches, General Crozier states,
met with unanimous approval in all arms
of the service. The general design and bal
lstic qualities of this rifle. the report says,
are markedly superior to those of the pres
ent service arm. General Crozier speaks of
the experiments with automatic muskets,
and says that muSket of satisfactory
mechanical action has yet been presented
Nor does he think that the experiments
with automatic pistols warrant the aban-
donment of the present service revolver for
any of the types tried.
The Sixteen-Inch Gun.
Experiments conducted with the sixteen
inch gun called for in the report of the
Notifications board in 1885 We're attended
with entire success, the report says. At
the fourth round. with a charge of $40
pounds of a special smokeless powder and
a 2,400-pound projectile, velocity of 2311
feet a second, with pressure of 5000
pounds a square inch, was attained.
"That the design and construction of such
a huge weapon" General Crozie~ says
SHOULD be successfully accomplished with
out mishap of any kind, and hat the cal
culated ballistic results should be so ac-
curately verified. subjects of congratu-
lation.
He adds that the use of smokeIes pow
der In such large charges was beyond the
experience of the world and the demon
straton that it would. when so used. fol-
low the same law of burning with
charges of the size previously employed is
a service to the art of the construction of
ordnance. Whether this gun will be repro
duced for use in seacOaSt Notifications
General CroZier states, is a matter still to
be determined but he says it is SatiSfac-
tory to know from the results of actual
trial that in considering at any time the
desirability of employing guns of greater
power than those of the twelve-inch cali
Der now constituting most powerful
weapons the subject need not be compli-
Gated by the question of practica bility.
The heavy armament of the seacoast de-
lenses Gen. Crozier reports in a very salts
factory state of advancement. but he says
that the practice which produces skill in the
use of the armament has impor-
tance greater than that of new installation
Defense of Insular Possessions
General Crozier dwells on the Importance
of proper defense of our insular possessions
He says:
ct may be, and probably is, true that
permanent possession of the islands could
rot be maintained continuously against an
enemy commanding the sea approaches
thereto but in the vicisstudeS of war the
contingency must be contemplated of tenn
porary loss of sea power in particular wa
tiers and the necessity recognized for pro-
viding against the occurrence of complete
disaster during such interval. Political as
well as military considerations, or even ir-
resistible popular interference, might so
control the motion of fleets as to disarrange
the best laid plans for naval supremacy in
given portions of the world; and in order
to provide against the disastrous results
from such very foreseeable accidents it
would seem the part of common prudence
to provide works which should perform the
MISUNDERSTOOD office of Notifications
ma nelly to enable a smaller force to hold
out against larger one for time
He says that territory as large as that
comprised in the Philippine archipelago
might, with the assistance of proper de-
lenses for its important harbors, be able to
maintain itself even, although cut off by
sea, during the continuance of short war
Without fixed defenses, he adds it would
be possible for a fleet to occupy eharbor
and hold at its mercy city, did the
American fleet with Manila in 1898 Con-
corning the extent to which the Philippine
Islands themselves may be required to en-
dure the expense necessary for the mainte-
nance of peace and security and civil order