The National tribune., 1906-11-15
OUR DIG GUNS.

OOh bA1 GUNS.
Last week Gen. Crozier. the Chief oil
the Ordance Bureau. startled the coun-
try with the statement that none Of
our coast guns would stand thru two
hour engagement with a hostile fleet.
He said that a 12-inch gun will last at
most but for 60 rounds. and as it is
capable of only firing 45 shots per hour
it would be useless before a two hours
battle was ended. 1t is the old trouble
The immense pressure upon the cham
Der of the gun and the inconceivable
force with which the inertia of the ball
is overcome and is started upon its
swift flight destroys the tissue Of !he
gun and particularly erodes the riiIing
SO that the flight of the proiectile be-
comes more and more uncertain aSd
uncomfortable. Scientists have been
busy exploiting theories as to the cause
of this rapid deterioration of the in
terror of the pieces. with the prevail
ing opinion being that the hot gases
under such enormous pressure force
themselves around the packing of the
shot and score out the rIfiing in the
same way that dash of water wears
away the earth. Therefore, attention
has been strongly directed to making
the packing on the ball closer fitting
and more effective. To The National
Tribune tho theories 1pfpptiva
There is in matter certain force which
holds it together in Il peculiar way and
which, for want of a better name is
called force of aggregation. This means
nothing except to indicate some law of
union OF particles which is perceptibly
different in the different metals, in
clay. wood and all other materials That
is. assuming that there are molecules
of matter. these are possibly somewhat
alike for all substances, possibly very
much alike for the different metals
These are held together by some force
and in a different way in piece OF
iron from one of zinc or copper. This
force of aggregation is different in
strength for the different metals, but it
'hiSto III an vi tilsHl. w iitli d piece VI
metal is broken the molecules remain
the same, but they cannot be made to
adhere as they did before. 1t seems
likely, therefore. that the immense
force generated by the explosion of a
cartridge in the breach of a big gun
destroys this force of aggregation, and
does in an instant what grinding does
in long continued operation, in which
probably the same amount of force is
expended over many hours.
Gen Croziers proposition is to
lengthen the life of the gun by reduc-
ing the pressure. He would have IA
inch gun. with 2,150 feet per second
velocity of proiectile, instead of the
I2-inch gun, with $500 feet per second
In this way the life of the gun would
be increased 200 shots. but 1t would be
at the expense of armor-penetrating
power. This would render obsolete and
valueless most, If not all, of the 12inch
guns which have been manufactured at
great cost for our seabOard fo~tifica-
tions
1t seems to us that there is one rad
icai defect in the Generals reasoning.
and that is that the critical time of a
seacoast action is not likely to be more
than few minutes. 1t is not often, if
ever, that large gun is required to
fire as many as 45 shots. If, for ex-
ample, it is intended to prevent the
passage of hostile fleet, the fleet will
either pass or be driven back inside of
Is or 90 minutes, during which time
the big guns can have fired only five or
six shots. Is 1t not best, therefore, to
keep the big guns with their high
piercing power for such emer-
gencies and expect them to be ruined
when they reach their 45th shot? II
they have fired one-quarter of these
shots to good advantage. they will have
repaid far more than their cost of con-
struction.