New-York tribune., 1906-05-20

tests at Guantanamo and Captain PendIeton OF
the Missouri is well pleased with the showing
made by his men,
This dummy loader is the latest invention Of
the ordnance department, and the American
navy is the only one TO adopt and put it into use.
The machine is a facsimile Of the breech and
powder chamber OF a big gun. UP to where the
rifing begins Loading il requires the identi-
cal motions that are employed in the actual
loading and firing Of the real weapon One man
opens and closes the breech. the shell man grasps
the projectile and quickly rams it inside, and
the "take-ofF'' man catches the shell as il falls
out at the end and shOves il again to the loader
at the front The whole makes a continuous
operation for the loader. By the tine he has
put in the last shell and the breech is closed and
locked il is ready % be swung open again by
the plug man. and in goes an additional she'll
A marked economic Improvement is the saving of
the life Of expensive guns. The breechbIock Of
these would soon be worn by the constant slam
ming and the denting Of the quickly thrown
shells. In the drill every man Of the gun crew
of twenty has 70 load twenty shells AS ten
crews is the average. the mechanism is oper-
ated about four thousand times a day. This
tremendous wear would be disastrous to the
life OF the costly guns.
The new device is manufactured entirely in
the Brooklyn Navy Yard. under the supervision
Of Captain ROhFeF. inspector OF ordnance and
Superintendent McCluskey. in charge Of the
ordnance machine snOp- Il is made mostly Of
steel. although there are a few parts of brass,
| and these are supported by a framework Of steel
Each weighs about fifteen hundred pounds and
| is six TO eight feet in length. The one shown
in the accompanying illustration is intended for
the Connecticut. In the future all new ships are
TO have at least two Of these gun drilling ma
lead all others in rapid and accurate loading.
| In the handling Of a 6-inch gun in action
there is much more to be allowed for than the
time consumed by the shell man between the
order to load and the order 10 fire. In the first
place, there is the breech to be thrown open, the
shell to be inserted ard pushed home, the
S6-pOund powder charge to be rammed in be-
hind it. the breech block to be closed and locked.
the primer TO be adjusted and the gun sighted,
all before the order 20 fire can be given All
these operations require time. and 10 reduce
them to the lowest possible minimum of time it
is essential that each man behind the gun 90
| exactly what he is assigned to do. and get out
: of the way Of the other members of the crew
without the loss of the fraction Of a second
! There are records aboard the Missouri showing
that in the recent trials off Guantanamo the
G-inch guns averaged 10 shots to a gun a
minute, and 5.465 hits to a gun minute. With
the big 12-inch guns the average was lob
shots to a gun a m1rute and 1-49 hits TO a gun
a minute The 3-inch guns, which are much
easier to handle averaged S-2S5 hits to n gun
a minute In one test the AIisSOUrIs gunners
planted ten shells from the big l2-inch guns
| of the after turret in a 12x1G foot canvas tar
get in three minutes al distance OF 1.GoO yards
I while the ship was moving at 10-knot speed
The targets used in the recent tests had at both