Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-13
ARTILLERY AND TURRETS.
Interior Of Sultan's Turret Uninjured
in Recent French Test at Brest.

Paris Correspondence of New York Courier des
Etats- Un5.
Complete reports of the result of the ex-
pertinent recently made upon the forward
turret Of the battleship Suffren are now to
hand The cable has already informed US
that the startling test was made for the
purpose of discovering the effect of the
shock from a heavy projectile upon the in
terror installations Of the turret as well as
upon the organs which connect 1t with the
hull of the vessel. =.
In the case of the Suffren the pieces train
ed upon her were 3Oo millimeters and PA
miIlimeters caliber. The thickness Of the
armor of the turret protects 1t from perfor-
alton, but the effect of tie shock upon its
interior arrangements remained to be ascer-
tanned. Would it put the thing out of order
by damaging the mechanism of it's rotation,
weakening it's connections with the hull or
running the pointing and charging contri-
vances? If so, the result would be to de-
stroy the offensive force of the ship, proba-
bly, at the very beginning of a fight.
The forward turret of the Suffren. chosen
for the target, shelters two pieces of 305
millimeters, the heaviest caliber Of the
French navy. 1t is protected by steel ar
NOR 26 centimeters in thickness To save
this armor from injury it was covered on
the starboard side by a steel plate destined
to receive the shock On top. for the pur-
pose of facilitating the fire. broad strip
Of sailcloth was placed; and on each side of
the turret par-eclats, or tenders, were set
I'D to catch the flying fragments which
might cause accidents. TIE entire crew Of
the Suffren remained on board.
The Massena. which carries two guns of
3OS millimeters fired at the turret with one
Of them The normal weight of the charge
Of powder was reduced in order to give to
the shell at the instant 1t struck the turret
OF the Suffren a velocity equal to that which
It would have with the primal charge. II
the two ships were at the average fighting
distance.
The result OF the experiment showed that,
after the shocks Of two powerful projectilea
the turrets Of French battleships can be
worked easily and rapidly. Moreover. we
may almost say that in future naval bat
ties a protectile will never strike turret at
right angles to its axis as was the case the
other day OF BreSt.
The firing test which the Suffren stood
was of the highest importance. different
result from the one obtained might have
caused q complete revolution In the con-
Gus conditions in which the experiment was
made the fire Of the Massena had put the
inside machinery Of the turret out OF order
t1,rrets would be condemned and naval con-
structiOn would have to be transformed.
But happily, no damage was done, and the
people who watched with intense interest
the result Of this sensational experiment
the battleships are excellent from every
point Of view.
Here are a few details obtained by the
Matin from high official authorities:
After the firing of few blank cartridges
the first real shot was fired at 1890 in the
morning with q velocity at the striking
point Of 500 meters The turret stood the