Arizona republican., 1903-07-18
GUNS ON wARSHIPS
The Scheme For Working Them Ex-
 act and Practical.

average citizen who never saw a war ship. There is nothing haphazard about operating the big guns and as the American navy is the most efficient in the world for its size. the scheme for working the ponderous engines of death is the most exact and most practical
 in the world.
 On each of the big battleships there are two low lying cylinders, one placed on the forward of the bridge and the other abaft the superstructure. These are the "twelve-inch" turrets and con tain the heaviest guns of the main bat
 tery. They are stationed in pairs, but are operated singly by separate gun
 crews. The big guns are astoundingly
 heavy and ponderous and theIr value
 in action has not been proved to the
 extent of smaller weapons. The super
 structure surrounding the tunnels and
 built along the midships section of the
 battleship is something like heavily armored fortress and in most Of the yes sels contains at least four "eight-inch"
 turrets, situated at the corners of the
 barbette. as the fort is called.
 It was these savage eight-inch guns
 that proved to be the most efficient
 weapons during the Spanish American
 war, as they had been previously in the battle of the Yalu river and in the Pc Tuvian-Chilean imbroglio. The eIIect of the projectile of this type of cannon is extremely destructive and at the same time the gun can be
 handled with more facility than the big fellows and has all the accuracy of q Krag- -Jorgensen. They are mounted on a higher gun platform than the twelve inchers and consequently can be used when the heavier ordinance is awash.
 The shell weighs 25O pounds and is built of steel. It carries a heavy ex- plosive charge in its interior and tears to pieces either by impact which dis charges a percussion cap in the fore part of the shell. or by time fuse, which
 may be pinched off so that the explo- sion of the shell can be anticipated to a nicety.
 Behind this immense shot is placed
 charge of powder weighing about eighty pounds. The powder charge is divided into two sections or bags and 1 is inclosed in sacks of serge The DOW der used in the navy is of two kind First. large octagonal grains of a deep brown color about the size of hickory
 nuts. This kind of powder was in use throughout the navy until after the iACSNAiiNitS OA Ant AIlleTlCdn war had commenced. but now the brown powder has been discarded in largs
 measure and the second variety refer
 red to-smokeless powder-has been substituted
 1 The smokeless powder is innnocuous looking stuff, resembling opaque gela- tin in texture and shaped like sticks
 of maccaroni.
 The powder charge is fired by a full
 minate cap. which is discharged either by percussion or by electricity
 The guns are served as follows: When a battleship of the United
 States in wartime is placed upon a cer- tain station the names of the ships of
 the enemy that she is likely to meet are furnished to her officers and their | peculiarities are made matter of earnest study by the men in command. The height of the truck of any of these ships above the superstructure is one point that is deeply impressed upon their minds. for In the event of the ap- proach of one of the suspected ships.
 the height of her truck is sometimes
 made the basis of calculations to deter
 mine the distance she is from our bat
 tleship.
 When the enemy is sighted general quarters" is sounded, and the men take
 their stations at the guns. On the
 bridge an officer armed with a stadi- 1 meter coolly scans the ship in the dis
 tance and another watches ner narrow ly through powerful marine glasses. When the officer with the glass identi- iies the ship of the enemy he informs | the officer with the stadimeter. some what as follows: "Armored cSuiser Santa Maria.
 Then the lieutenant with the stadi
 meter turns to his memoranda, if he
 does not remember how high the mast
 of the Santa Maria might be, and finds
 the exact height. Then he observes the
 finding instrument. and by discovering tile angle at the truck Of the enemy's ship. and figuring the line from his eye to the base of the mast as the long ieg
 of a rightangled triangle and already
 Knowing the length of the mast, which | IS the short leg of the calculation he is | able to discover very exactly the dis
 tance of the ship. by simply complet-
 ing the triangle.
 When the range has thus been found | the officer in supreme colnmari ii- | forms the executive officers that he is | ready for business and the word is passed along to the officers who com
 mand the guns.
 i Each of the young ensigns or lieuten-
 ants then gets busy and the ship goes into strenuous action
 Take the starboard forward eight
 Inch turret. for instance. The range is
 announced as 1000 yeards, and the en-
 emy's ship moving in on the starboard | bow.
 The commander says to his executive
 officer: Let him have one with No. 1, eight-inch."
 The lieutenant in the designated tur- rte sings out: "Silence!"
 The men stand fast at quarters. Cast loose and provide" commands the officer.
 The gunner's mate turns on the elec- tric currents to all the auxiliaries that
 are operated by electricity, unlocks the | catches that hold the turret stationary
 and sees that the locks of the guns are
 in place. The tompions that are lodged
 in the muzzles of the guns are pulled
 out and the various shields of canvas
 and brass are taken from the steel bar l rel of the gun and slowed away The hand rammer used in punchinp the