Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-03
- GUNS OF LONG RANGE.
Shells Could Be Fired From Dover to
Calais, Across the Channel.


There are on British warships scores Of
guns each of which could, if need be, fire a
shell weighing a third of ton from the
cliffs of Dover and land 1t on French soil
we'll on the other side of Calais. Such is
the wonderful development in naval ord
nance within less than forty years.
A much more useful and practicable
weapon Is the Pinch Vickers- Maxim gun
which is now the heaviest and most pow
erful mounted on British battle ship. This
marvellous gun weighs fifty tons, of which
fourteen tons are represented by 100 miles
of wire wound round and round 1t, and is
forty-one feet long. 1t dispatches a projec-
tile Weighing $50 pounds-the weight of halt
dozen men-with such terrific force that
it will pierce thirty-eight inches of wrought
iron at 1000 yards and only four inches
less at twice that distance. This projectile
leaves the muzzle with velocity of over
1,61O miles an hour-twenty times the speed
of an express train at it's fastest-and with
an energy equal to 1920 tons.
More astonishing still is the flight of this
projectile, weighing more than a third of a
ton, since with the gun at a proper eleva-
ton it would be quite possible to send the
shell over the top of the highest mountain
in the world coming to earth again twen-
ty-five miles away from the starting point.
d
bard Calais from the cliffs of Dover, while
twenty-fOur of such shots would cover the
extreme length Of Scotland and England in
something like half an hour
Some years ago an interesting experiment
was made at Shoeburyness with a 92-inch
gun in order to ascertain exactly how far 1t
would send its projectile of $50 pounds. 1t
was found that the shell before coming to
earth travelled shade over twelve and one
half miles In 69.6 seconds, and that it rose
at the highest point of its flight 1000 feet
higher than the summit of Mont Blanc
From comparison it will be seen how vastly
superior to this gun is the 5O-ton Vickers-
Maxim with which British battle ships are
armed today.
1t compares, indeed, more than favorably
with the leviathan 16-inch gun mounted on
Romer Shoals to defend New York harbor.
This gun Is but a few inches under fifty
feet long; 1t weighs 100 tons, and fires a
projectile weighing as nearly as possible a
hundredweight over a ton, with a charge of
900 pounds of powder. 1t cost $500. 600 to
make and mount, and each firing means an
expenditure of $1,000; but Its maximum
of the British 5O-ton guns. 1t can be fired
once In two minutes, SO that an hours
continuous firing would cost $4,000 in
shells and powder alone.
To test the penetrating power of these
mammoth weapons an interesting expert
ment was made some time ago with 49,
inch caliber gun firing projectile weighing
L, 500 pounds. The target was a composite one
OF steel, iron, timber, granite and concrete
and it was found that the shell fired al
close range passed through a compound
plate of steel and iron twenty inches thick
second plate of iron eight inches thick
twenty feet of squared oak timber. five feet
of granite and eleven feet of concrete. and
was only brought to a full stop after pierre
ing six feet of brick behind them all.