The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-23
STEEL PLATES
TORN TO BITS
Explosive Invented by Major
Dunn, u. S. A., of Greater
Power Than Shim0Se.
STOUTEST ARM0R SMASHED
RECENT EXPERIMENT WITH
DUNNITE.


the Sandy Hook proving grounds with
Dunnite, the high explosive invented by
Major Dunn of the ordnance corps, U.
S. A, have proved that the United States
possesses in Dunnite the secret of an
explosive perhaps more powerful and de-
structive than any other explosive ever
invented.
Dunnite, army officers say, is more
powerful than Shimose, the explosive
with which the japanese did such ter
rifle execution in the naval battles off
Port Arthur and VladivOstok and in the
sea of Japan. ShimOse ordnance officers
say the explosive is a compound of picrlc
acid, the secret of which is known to
the ordnance officers of all the first-class
powers. On the other hand, the secret
of Dunnite is in the exclusive possession
of the United States government.
In the recent tests of Dunnite at Sandy
Hook it is said that the very best five
and siX-inch armOr plates that could be
obtained were used as targets. The re-
suit of every shot was the same. The
armOr plate was smashed into thousands
OF small pieces, it is said, by the impact.
The impact of the Dunnite is also all that
is necessary to accomplish the destruc-
ton of the target Penetration is not
necessary, the impact being such that the
armOr is shattered into countless pieces.
The dropping of a Dunnite shell on the
deck of q battleship, it is said by many
ordnance officers, would mean the i'm
mediate sinking of that ship, not by
penetration Of its vital parts, but simply
by racking the vessel until her seams
opened and the thrush of water sent her
to the bottom. This, it is said by some
ordnance officers, was the way that the
japanese put the Russian ships out OF
commission. They would drop the Sh-
NOSE shells on the decks. and the de-
structive Shimose did the rest
In a recent issue the Army and Navy
Journal editorially speaking of Dunnite.
says that with a detOnator you can
send it five miles and sink the biggest
DreadnaUght without a hairs breadth of
penetration" Colonel Medorem Crawford
was asked about this statement yester-
day afternoon, apd said that it was true.
Colonel Crawford, who is commanding
officer at Fort Wadsworth, when seen
yesterday. said.
''Dunnite when It explodes against the
side of a ship racks the armor so that
the seams open up, letting the water in
and sinking the ship. The japanese did
not sink the Russian ships by shooting
holes into them, but by racking them with
ShimOse. As for Shimose, which is
compound Of picric acid, x is so violent
that it blows the shell into thousands of
small pieces. As for Dunnite, that is
the secret of the American United States
and we hope that it is superior to Shi-
NOSE"
The Army and Navy Journal editorial
that has brought Dunnite into the public
eye again, declares that the last tests
of Dunnite have given naval officers,
who witnessed the tests at Sandy Hook,
a great deal OF food for deep thought.
The smashing of the best aTmOr plate,
such as used in the construction of pro-
tected decks Of battleships and armored
cruisers, makes it necessary now for some
body to get busy and think up some
new policy as to aTm0r plate up top"
The tests at Sandy HOOK the Army
and Navy Journal says, were made
~E-e- 20 r4rarw
shots Plates were inclined top forward
and bottom forward, and set up at side
wise angles to the line of fire, But in
every case the result was the same. Pic
ric in no respecter of angles 1t smaSheS
on impact in every direction. The old
idea that the impact explosion defeats
itself fueutralizes the force of the eX-
plosive, has itself been exploded
Ever since the beginning of the war
between Russia and Japan this theory of
the impact explosion has been merely
paper theory. Practically, it was refuted
by the japanese every day they We're at
work on the Notifications of Port Arthur.
Few men of experience have had the
hardihood openly to hold to it-as did, for
instance, a noted navy officer at the close
of a hearing before a congressional COM
mittee last winter, when he informed the
committee seriously that the japanese
had found ShimOse so dangerous to ham
die that they had decided to abandon
carrying Shimose shells afloat
line instrumentation EOupdCleu lulO
such a statement would be realized if
once we were at war with Japan. The
fact is that Japan won the war with
picric, and it must be reckoned with Its
instability when kept for any length of
time is known. But it is to be doubted
if the Japanese lost as many men in the
late war from casualties with exploding
Shimose as we have with flarebacks. de-
layed or otherwise. The instability of an
explosive is TO argument against it's use.
or we would not be using smokelesS pow
der.
.sATl nitro-explosives are more or less
unstable That is a part of the problem.
The greater effectiveness of one explosive
over another is also a part of the prob
lem from which progressive ordnance eX-
perts must not turn. You can fire a peck
of Dunnite five miles and through any
thickness of armor that can be pene-
trated without exploding it. With a de-
tonatOr you can send it five miles and
sink the biggest Dreadnaught without a
hairs breadth of penetration. The high
est credit belongs to the officers of the
army who have persisted in the demon
strations at Sandy Hook