The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-04-17
MUST SOLVE THE
SAFETY PROBLEM
BattleShlp Missouri Disaster
furnishes New Task for
Naval Experts.
Globe Special Washington Service,

Globe Special Washington Service,
1417 G Street.
WASHINGTON, D. c., April To-
Naval officers on duty in Washington
have been doing a good deal of serious
thinking since the appalling disaster on
the battleship Missouri. In one sense
this was the worst catastrophe that has
ever overtaken an American naval
ship in time of peace. The Maine was
utterly destroyed with nearly every
body on board; and ships have been
lost in storms. But it has always been
believed that the accident to the Maine
was caused by an enemy; and the nat
-uraI elements are, of course, peril
which man cannot control. On the
other hand, the Missouri horror was
one which no enemy had anything to
do, and for which the state of the
weather was not, to any extent, re-
spOnsible
The question is: What can be done
to minimize the dangers of manipulate
ing our modern naval guns? Another
QuestiOn-which is really part of the
first query-is this: Has the limit Of
safety been passed in rapid firing?
These questions will give the ordnance
about for a long time to come Indeed,
they have been thinking about 1t. The
question of rapid firing was being seri-
ously considered at the very time the
Missouri disaster occurred, and 1t is
significant to learn that the Missourfs
officers had been warned against too
rapid firing of her large caliber guns.
Most people learned when they were
- 1t
tory of the Revolution and of the war
of 1912, how the artillery gunners load
ed their cannon while the iron was still
hot from the last discharge, and how
10 prevent a premature explosion of
the powder, a mans thumb was held
over the printing hole of the gun in
order to keep the air from the explo-
sive material. The same danger of
premature explosion exists in modern
guns today, but the means Of prevent
ing 1t are not as simple. In target prac-
tice recently on the battleship Alabama,
when phenomenally rapid firing was
done, it was realized that the heating
OF the breech of the gun was an eX-
ceedingly dangerous factor.
Danger Is Perpetual.
The smokeless powder is loaded into
the gun in canvas sacks. 1t has some
times been found that, in cases Of rap
i'd firing, the breech block has been
thrown back before all Of the remnants
OF canvas from the charge were con-
sumed. There is always danger that
some of these burning pieces of cloth
will fall among the sacks of powder
which are lying near by in the gun tur-
ret, ready for the next charge.
1t was only last month that a gun
turret crew on the Alabama establish
ed a new record in rapid firing with
thirteen-inch guns. Thirty seconds be-,
tween shots was the record for drill,
and thirty eight seconds for firing in
actual target practice. Ever since that
performance there has been serious dis
cussion among the officers of the ord
nance bureau as to the danger of rap
Id firing, and some of the officers be-
neved, even before the Missouri dis
aSter, that the limit of safety had been
reached. AS the navy department gives
medals for Swiftness and accuracy in
firing, officers are beginning to fear
that an unsafe incentive is being Of
fered.
On the other hand despite the world
famed accuracy and general expert
ness of American gunners, the naval
authorities in this country feel con-
stantly the spur of foreign naval COM
petition. 1t is admitted that in some
respects our gunnery is inferior to
that Of one or two other nations, and
it is an open secret that the AT inch
guns of the British navy are superior
to our corresponding 5-inch pieces.
At the time of the Alabamas re-
markable performance, a high officer
in the ordnance department said to
the writer that he did not believe it
was possible to fire the large guns more
rapidly without great hazard to the
gun crews.
The question of naval ordnance, in
all its various phases, is the great
problem with which naval experts in
this country have to do today, and the
disaster to the Missouri, following in
about year, as it did, the fatal catas-
trOphe on the battleship Massachusetts.
has caused the deepest concern among
officers of the department.
Walter E. Clark.