The semi-weekly messenger., 1907-11-29
NECESSITIES OF THE NAVY
Home Manufacturers Cannot Supply
Deniand-Adniral Mason Wants
Authority Ia Ruy Abroad-Guns
Out of Date-Experinenti With
Powder.

Naval uoceSSlLleS are SQen LndL Ins
doanestic manufacturers are unable te
surNy Hrhin reasonable time ordn.
ance, pe4ecIiles, powder and torpe-
does for the navy, and Rear Admiral
Mason, chief OF the bureau of ordin-
ance, in his annual report, strongly
urges legislation that will authorize
IL 49, .,arCment TO purchase such ma
terial abroad when 1T is to the mani
fest interest of the United States He
says that the torpedo situation is such
that 100 Of these weapons should be
bought abroad while American manu-
facturers are completing their present
contracts and the government factory
is being put in running order. There
is also urgent need, he says, for going
abroad to obtain armor-piercing pro-
iectiles and range finders, which
American manufacturers are unable
to produce.
Admiral Mason finds it necessary
to replace all the present eight and
twelve bch guns by others of later
and s5Iuger design to admit of the
use of smokeless instead of brown
powder. An appropriation is asked
for. withdrawing these old guns and
st0 tightening them with hoops at tie
muZzle, which is a weak point in the
present gun.
Increased rapidity of fire has rem
dered unsatisfactory the present met
hods of handling ammunition in the
turrets, and it is considered necessary
to replace the ammunition hOists on
all of the older type of battleships.
Steady progress has been made in
the development of naval powder,
but even the best is not indefinitely
stable, though careful tests have re-
moved the danger Of defective powder
escaping detection. A process has
been developed for reworking old and
good as new, at about one-quarter Of
original cost. Admiral Mason express
ess the opinion that the department
is in no danger Of being oppressed by
the powder trust and says he has ef-
fected a system for regulating the
pl lCC ~ DC pau ~ IuC pl dIS
faCturer for powder on the basis of
the cost Of production at the govern
inert powder works at Indian Head.
A considerable increase of the capac-
ity of that government plant is con-
temp1Hd
Ad Ea Mason makes a strong plea
for an appropriation to defray the cost
of manufacturing and assembling at
two points, one on the Atlantic and
the othe4 on the Pacific, a supply of
guns, ammunition and such material
as nay be needed by the navy to rap
idly fortify strategic points that may
be seized in time of war, as advance
bases of operations against an enemy,
pointing to the lessons of the Spanish
war and the successful operations Of
the Japanese as proof Of the wisdom
of establishing such depots.
An item of 100000 is included il,
the estimates for experimental work,
and Admiral Mason points out the
necessity of inquiry into the chemis-
try of powder the best means of pre-
venting the erosion of guns, the i'm
provement in shape of the projectiles
and finally the testing Of the resist
ing power Of armor plate by actual
firing at long range with heavy guns
at tfiAk plate. At present penetrations
of sffOt under such conditions are
purely matters of theory.-Washing-
ton Star.