Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-12-17
AMERICA OF BAIT ESSNSS JAILED MONDAY WITH
BANDS PLAYING FOR GOLDEN West FOR FEAST. Fight OR FROII
Roads Early Morning Amid laundering Banea
the Ocean Where All Pass Review Heading Southwark Before Starting Commanding Officers Are
Given God Speed Roosevelt Thousands Watch Magnificent Departing

ammunition from the naval arsenals.
Armor- piercing proiectiles filled with /
explosive d, said to be the most pow
erful and effective of all the formulas |
in. the possession of the navy's ex-
perts, have been placed aboard tnej
ships, and the vast supplies of smoke
less powder charges have been stow
ed away under the double protection
of silken bags and copper-lined cylin
drical tanks. Extra gears for the big
guns have also been taken aboard
several of the ships.
One Of the greatest problems which
confronted the ordnance experts had
to do with the storage of the heavy
charges of gun cotton taken along to
load the score Of harbor mines which
each battle ship carries. The solu-3
ton has been found in the distribu-1
ton of the deadly explosive in small
portions throughout the officers
quarters. Little wooden boxes, eight
cen inches long and six inches in
depth and breadth, containing sew.
eral bottles of gun cotton have been
placed about five feet apart in the
ward room and Storage dining
rooms, and even the: officers state
rooms have been invaded. The effort
has been to keep the delicate explo-
siVe as far as possible from the maya
zines and from the shock of the big
guns. At the. same time it is be-
lieved that the system of distribution
adopted is such that, should one por-
ton of the gun cotton accidentally
explode, it would not set off the gen
eral supply: =
New Fire Control System
The fire control which has been in
stalled on the ship is a visual and
audible system of directing the fire of
all guns in the first and secondary
batteries. From the forward fighting
top the ordnance officer of ship, by
squeezing bulb, gives buzzing sig
nal to each gun crew whose piece he
wishes brought into action. The
range of the enemy is also flashed
upon an indicator.
The system was recently tried by
the Maine at target practice, and a
broadside was fired with the roar of
single gun. The weight of metal
thus flung from II, s and inch guns
on a vessel of the Connecticut type,
with all shots striking home, should
decide the fate of any opposing yes
sci afloat. The rapidity of American
gun fire is such that the entire supply
of ammunition carried by the larger
ships would be exhausted in from
twenty to twenty minutes. Fir
ing at a target so by 60 feet and an
chored three miles away, the Maine
recently made nine out of twelve hits
! with her 12inch turret guns.
80 VIZ Southwark Ho -.,., -, .
| Tonight the sixteen ships of the
| massive feet, continuing in single
l file and steaming at uniform speed
lof ten knots per hour according TO
orders, are well down the coast to-
t5ward the treacherous waters Of Hat
teras. a, =. ~. ~ A.. g..
| The first lap of their journey will
| bring them to Trinidad on Christmas
| eve and in the heat of the tropics the
Christmas celebrations will be held
Hundreds of goodbye kilograms
| we're flashed to the ships by wireless
/ telegraph as they left the roadsteat
and had turned down the southern
coast.
The president, after the review q
/ the Horseshoe was completed, return
| ed to washington, the Mayfiowe
i weighing anchor for the trip up tn
i Potomac shortly after noon.
The aeet got under way Just afte
/ ito o'clock in the morning and les
than two hours later had cleared tn
capes and had begun il earnest th
! most notable practice cruise in nava
history. sSSf
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