The Colfax chronicle., 1904-06-11
UNCLE SANS BIG GUNS.
Casualties in the Navy the Cause Of
Recent Order to Reduce
Powder Charge.

ITO say that the navy is in state OF
mind approaching CONSERVATION fairly
describes the result of Admiral ONeil's
recent order, the effect of which is to re-
duce the striking power of our navy
guns by amounts ranging between and
"a per cent" says Park Benjamin,
in the New York Independent. THE
greatest reduction-15 to "a per cent
is in the capacities of the older guns,
built prior to 1899, which now constitute
the majority of all. The situation is
extraordinary, and appeals to congress
for prompt consideration and relief.
"The trouble has been suddenly pre-
cipitated by the failure of the Iowa's
guns. About year ago one of 12-inches
caliber blew off its own muzzle, killing
three men. A few weeks since two of the
eight-inch guns destroyed themselves,
providentially without loss of life, in
the same way. There was nothing alb
normal in the conditions of firing. The
first accident was officially explained by
the chief of the bureau of ordnance as a
mystery The second one has directly
occasiOned the present order, which is
nothing else than an official admission
that for the last four years or SO we have
been imperiling the lives of our seamen,
and, what is even worse, risking public
safety, by guns too weak to stand the
strains imposed upon them.
THE lowa's guns, in common with all
those designed prior to the adoption of
smokeless powder, were constructed to
meet pressure of different and less
powerful kind of explosives. Neverthe-
less, they have been used with the
stronger kind and for that reason ap-
parently have failed. We have been
Obliged to use the stronger explosive in
order to give the projectiles adequate
striking power, thus to meet the great
improvements in armor, and latterIy, as
has been stated, we have designed guns
supposedly adapted thereto. But, despite
the change in explosives used in them,
the old guns themselves have not been
changed so that, even now, instead of
rejecting them. We retain them, but cut
down the powder charges-and that
means direct reduction of their efficien-
cy. Furthermore, so great is the official
apprehension of further disaster that
even In the newest and best guns and
apparently without cause, for none of
them have burst, substantial reduction
in their power also has been made. The
effect is to diminish the power of the
whole navy. Warships are not cargo
carriers, but gun platforms. They are
offensive weapons, effective to the ex-
tent that their guns are effective.
Reduction in gun powder, extending
practically to all the large guns of the
navy, means adding to the thickness of
the armor of every possible enemy;
means a reduction in naval strength
which is serious and to some extent
comparable to the loss which the Japan
ese have inflicted upon the Russian fleet.
IF we had been driving our guns up
to a power beyond that of the guns of
other nations. and had now retrograded
to the general level, the situation would
still be unfortunate, owing to the admit
ted check to progress. But, on the con-
trary, it is well known that foreign ma
tions have guns which far exceed ours
in power and continue safely to use
them. 1t is also a somewhat significant
fact that upon two of the ships of our
navy. which we purchased at the time OF
the Spanish war, there are high-power
foreign guns, and that Admiral O'Neil's
order does not direct any reduction ir
their powder charges"