Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1907-06-10
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ARMO2 AND SHELL.
The Two Are In a Constant ConfIi ct
For Supremacy.


For Supremacy.
For half Il century this game has
gone on. since the old British Warrior
was beltcd with four and half inches
OF plate secured to eighteen inches OF
teak. TO this the gunmakcr responded
with palliscr pointed chilled iron shot.
which easily pierced this novel protec-
ton In 1879 came the .'compound'
plate with wrought iron back and Il
separate hard steel face welded to
gether. This last broke up the Palliser
rroiectilcs on impact, while the
wrought iron lacking lent roughncss
and support to the mass. The solid
all steel plate came next, but it was
beaten in the race by Il certain pointed
shot made of high carbon forged steel
before whose impact even the all steer
plate gave way. Clearly there was II
limit to the thickness of armor which Il
ship could carry.
When twenty-five inches was reach
ell Il halt was called The gunmakers
had won. for even this was pierced by
shot from the 10 ton monster firing
a shell of 1873 pounds. propelled by
060 pounds Of powder. But. though this
gun vanquished. its first terrific roar
proclaimed its own doom, ana in spite
of its enormous cost the monster was
found to be practically dead or at least
dangerous to its friends after eighty
rounds had been fired.
The gun man had Il chance once
more however. for in 1850 Lord Arm
strOng-of the famous British works in
Newcastle, employing nearly 10000
hands-decidcd to follow natures meth
cd of growing onions, layer over layer.
and clOthe his gun tubes with skins Of
steel. which, shrinking rs they cooled,
impaired Just that amount of tenacity
whose absence had made the old mon
sters so dangerous.
Thus we arrive at the most terrific
naval gun of today-the twelve inch
rifle-wound round with 113 miles of
steel wire. This throws 10 pound
shell at the incOnceivahle speed of
1.I51 miles an hour. Against this ter
rife weapon the armor people brought
the Cammcll-ITarvey plate of heated
steel suddenly chilled with sprays of
cold water.
The next stage of the game shifts to
krupp's titanic works at Essen. in
Prussia. Here we have the kingdom
Of the cannon" presided over by Il girl
of twenty. who is absolute mistress of
10000 men and Il revenue of tens of
millions Il year. Bertha Krupp's Nul-
cans produced Il plate which made it's
Harvey forerunucr little better than
cheesecloth.
Each thickness of armor plate must
resist IL certain number of rounds of
armor piercing projectiles with intense
ly hardened noses. There must be no
perforation, AMI no portion Of the pro-
jectile must fail behind the platcs. nor
must there be any serious cracking,
The very best modern hard faced ar
NOR for warshps of today is made up
to thirteen inches in thickness. At
this three $50 pound shells will be
fired from twelve inch gun, with a
striking velocity of 1916 feet per sec
ond.
1t seems inconceivable that any sub
stance on this earth could withstand
such Il stroke. yet there must not be
so much as crack, for in such event
a second shot striking the ships side
would undoubtedly shatter the plate
and leave large gap. To put it in an
other way, the total striking energy of
the three shots on the plate under test
equals 5O.OGG foot tons, and yet that
plate must remain in Il condition tc
stand for still further attack And SC
for the moment the victory lies with
the armOr.-AppletOn's.