The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-05-17

BOSTON, May 16.-It is an old COM
plant against American men-of-war
that they are overloaded with more
guns and heavier guns than they ought
10 carry. This was the criticism launch
ed by British officers against the wooden
frigate Constitution in the years be-
fore the war of 1872 Now it is heard
again against the steel ships of our bat
tie line, and the recent development Of
some weakness in the gun deck of the
Maine Is eagerly hailed as proof that
this criticism is just one-that the
bulls of our warships are not strong
enough for the weight and stress which
they must bear
AS a matter of fact such mishaps as
that to the Maine are extremely rare in
the United States naval serviee-more
rare, perhaps, in that service than in
any other in the world. The fleet which
boasts the Oregon has not been plagued
by weaklings.
Since the battle of Santiago Won
derfuI advance has been wrought in the
power of American naval guns. Take
the Pinch forty-fve-ton rife, for in
stance Five years ago this weapon,
with the powder then in use, sent its
projectile rushing out of the grim muz-
zle at velocity equal to 2,100 feet a
second, and with a muzzle energy to
equal to $4,000 foot tons-that is, the
energy developed by dropping $4,000
tons one foot. But the improved r.
inch rife, like that with which our lat
est battIeships are armed, gives it's pro-
jectile a velocity of $500 foot seconds
at the muzzle of the gun, and develops
the enormous muzzle energy of $4,000.
This new weapon is longer and heavier.
Instead of forty-fve, it weighs fifty-two
tons.
OF course this increased weight and
power mean an increased strsih upon
the steel hull that must bear such
titanic artillery. The "stress" due to
a ships battery is now about one-quar-
ter greater than It was in the Spanish
war But. on the other hand. of course
these newly armed ships can work Just
so much more destruction to an enemy
What IS true OF the great twelve-inch
rifle Is true OF the smaller but efficient
six-inch guns which make up the broad
side battery Of the latest battieShips
which we have commissioned. A six
inch rife, which in 1898 weighed about
FIVE tons, now weighs eight tons Such
q weapon was then about sixteen feet
IN length It is now twenty FIVE feet.
The muzzIe velocity OF the 100 pound
projectile of a six-inch rife in 1893 was
equal TO 1000 feet a second, ami it's
muzzle energy TO 200 foot tons The
muzzle velocity of the new 6-inch rife,
like that carried by the Maine and to be
carried by the New Jersey and Rhode
Island, aow building at Fore River here
in Boston Harbor. is no less than $500
AtId a 9tbNlAhs anu It's luuLLlC EhtI Ky uO
less than $500 foot tons.
This immensely enlarged power is due
not only 10 longer and better rifles but 20
smokeless powder of new composition
and of greater strength. Of course, the
naval designers and the shiFbuilders of
the country know that they are dealing
with a tremendous power in this new
artillery. The twin battIeships Rhode
Island and New Jersey will carry arma-
ments even heavier than that of the
Maine-indeed. the very heaviest arma-
ments ever launched upon the ocean. The
Maine has four 12-inch tur-et rifles and
sixteen 6-ineh in broadside. The New
Jersey and Rhode Island will have the
four 12-inch and twelve of the 6-inch
rifles Of the earlier ship. and then in