The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-04-22
SCOUT CRUISERS
 BUILT FOR SPEED Largest Guns Carried to be
 3-Inch NOT FIGHTING MACHINES 1t Is Calculated, However, That They Can Defend Themselves Against
 Any Vessel That Can
 Catch Them.
NOT FIGHTING MACHINES

Washington, April 21.-(Special. 1.-The three scout cruisers" for which the navy department recently opened bids are in- tended to be among the swiftest vessels in the world, and their batteries will be only sufficiently heavy to meet foe fast enough to overtake them. For this reason the main armament of each will consist of twelve of the three-inch guns for which the contract was recently awarded to the British and American Manufacturing company at Bridgeport, Conn, formerly the American Ordnance company, and subsidiary concern of the International Power company These cruisers, as their names indicate will not be aggressive fighting machines. They are to be the messengers of the fleets, and everything possible is sacrificed to secure speed. Yet. as the only ships that would probably overtake them are "destroyers, agains tthese three-inch guns are suf- ficiently powerful.
 Contract for 3-inch Guns.
 The department has been experimenting for some time to get satisfactory three inch gun to take the place of the pres ent gun of that calibre and supercede the six pounders. All the essentials of a per- feet gun are found in those now being | manufactured. The contract awarded to the British and American company pro- vides for eighty-six three-inch guns, and l is. with a single exception, the largest contract of this character ever awarded. l These guns cost, in round numbers, 5000 each. They are marvels of power and ef- l fectiveness. The projectile carried weighs fourteen pounds, and the range of l the gun is four miles. These fourteen pound projectiles are explosive In charac- ter, and can be fired at the rate of fifteen | a minute, although at the Indian Head proving grounds the remarkable record of | twenty per minute was made. It will thus | be seen that one of these little guns will | throw 210 pounds of explosive shells per minute, and the entire equipment of the
 scout cruiser, 12,600 pounds in an engage ment of five minutes, not taking into con | sideration the assistance of the many smaller guns that will complete the arm- ament of these cruisers Able, by reason | of their great speed, to keep out of the
 way of larger vessels, this armament is
 considered amply sufficient to cope with any destroyer or torpedo boat.
 Effectiveness Greatly Increased.
 l. These new three-inch guns, improved in
 many ways, have their effectiveness ma
 terially increased by lengthening and giv-
 ing them weight. Each gun is 154 inches
 long and weighs, mounted, about two | tons Some idea of the force of the impact | from one of these small guns may be | had when it is known that they are fired
 with velocity of 29Oo feet per second.
 The three-inch gun Is an important fac | tor in the secondary batteries of all the battleships and armored and protected
 cruisers. It will require almost 300 ad-
 ditional guns of this class to equip the
 ships now under construction or author
 ized, and later on the department will call | for bids for an additional one hundred