The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-12-20

n!troglycerin. but It is even lower than
that OF ordinary gunpowder. and. accord
ingly, experience shows that our guns
are actually less eroded by repeated fir
charges than they used to be with brown
SOME SEVERE TESTS
Only recently a six-inch gun which came
from the proving ground al Indian Head
with record OF LOST rounds Of smoke
less powder fired from It was found upon
careful examination to he practically es
good os new. and the same was true of
a five-inch gun which had fired over four
teen hundred rounds With the larger
guns. such as the twelve and thirteen
inch. the erosion is more rapid than this,
but even with them II Is now beyond doubt
that many hundred rounds can be fred
from each one before 1t will be necessary
to replace Ii.
At The present moment we have afloat
a number of ten, twelve and thirteen
inch guns. which have fired from 100 to
80 rounds apiece
We have eigbt-inch guns which have
fired over 3o rounds and We have four.
five and az Inch guns which haze fired
40 rounds and more. but none Of them are
as vet anywhere near being worn out.
nor, in fact. do they show any signs of
heirg less efficient than when they were
first installed on board ship.
1t may we'll lie objected to this optimistic
view that these guns of ours are OF Older
types. firing comparatively small charges.
that most OF their filing has been with
brown powder. often with reduced charges.
and. inost important of all. that as rule
they have been fired slowly. not a: the
rapid fire which must occur IN battle.
Ali this Is true. and II has weight.
We are only now getting the new really
hfgh-power guns into service. and we are
only now beginning to conduct target
full Charges Of srnokeless powder and fr-
ing each gun Is rapidly as possible.
it may be that the wear and tear OF the
next ten wears Will he greater. even much
Undoubtedly with the small guns. such
as the three-inch and six-pounder. the
heating OF the gun in rapid firing greatly
increases the wear caused by given
number OF rounds.
Thus not long ago. at Indian Head. a
three-inch gun which had already fired
come 40 rounds and was then in good
stroyed by the wearing away OF its riding
as result OF firing it something over
an hour at the rate OF about two shots a
minute.
MAY HAVE TO BE REPLACED.
It IL perfectly possible. then. that SIN
gle battle may ruin the small rapid-ire
guns OF ship. even II they be in pe,-
feet condition at its outset. and we must
be prepared to replace such guns fire.
quently in case OF war.
With the main battery guns however.
which are the real fighting force Of bat
happening. Their mass Is too great and
their fire, even at round a minute, too
slow to heat them to such a point that
CELEBRATED. In the accompanying illustra-
ton Is shown the latest pattern Of United
States naval Finch gun. such as are
mounted on the United States steamer
Maine and will form the principal arma-
ment of other battleships now building.
Its high powder charge, made Of pure
gincotton, II also shown.
These guns, under the new allowance for
target practice. will be fired about
eighteen rounds apiece each year. but 1t
may be safely predicted that should war
come within the next ten or even fifteen
years they will be as ready to deal death
and destruction to our enemies as they are
to-day.