The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-17

when thirty officers and men were killed
and fatally injured. The interposition
Of a shutter is now said to prevent fare
backs, and various other devices lately
invented are supposed to add TO the pro-
lection of the turret crews. The explo-
sion on the battleship Georgia which has
deprived the navy of the services OF
Lieutenant CAsPAR GOODRICH, Mid
shipman FAULKNER GoLDTHwAITE and
six seamen therefore comes as a shock
to the Department, and the country is
painfully impressed by an explanation
offered that the cause of the disaster
was a spark from a funnel of the battle
ship which fell into the turret through
a ventilator. This seems to be only n
lecture, and the true cause may never be
known.
When the muzzle Of a IL inch gun blew
of during target practice on the Iowa,
April Q, 1909, killing five men. the acct
dent was attributed to abnormal action
Of smokeless powder" II was a charge
of smokeless powder that filed the turret
Of the Georgia with dead and dying men,
and since the calamity on the lena the
French have wondered whether they
really understood this powerful explo-
sive. In a note on the lena affair in
Proceedings of the Ndpdl Institute Pro-
lessor PHILIP r. ALGER says it seems
highly probable that the explosion was
due ito the spontaneous explosion in
the after magazine OF what is known as
r powder, a circumstance known TO have
been responsible for more than one dis
aster, including the explosions on board
the battleship Admiral Duperre and the
Forbin.' B is a smokeless powder Of the
ether-alcohol guncotton type, and in
the lena disaster the combustion of this
explosive was communicated to a black
powder magazine which blew up and
caused the greater havoc. An investiga-
ting commission Of course recommended
that in future black powder be not stored
with smokeless powder, but the latter
explosive remained about a. much of a
mystery as ever. II was the judgment
of the experts that at the & Of six
years il began to decompoee and become
dangerous to handle, and that at all
times it must be kept at a low tempera-
ture to prevent rapid decomposition.
In chemical treatment the smokeless
powders used in the American navy differ
from the French powders. The b powder
referred to in connection with the lena
disaster consists Of guncotton mixed
with barium nitrate, potassium nitrate
and sodium carbonate, and is treated
with ether-alcohol ethyl acetate or
acetone. The American Du Pont powder
I consists of nitrocellulose brought into
the colloid condition by nitro-benzine or
other soluble solvent; while the Ameri-
can indurite is produced by treating
highly nitrated ~celluloee with mono
n~itro-benzine. In due time there will
be, let us hope, a thorough investigation
Of the Georgia disaster. In view Of the
fact that the abnormal action OF smoke
less powder" is supposed to have caused
one fatal explosion on an American
battleship, and that the French authori-
ties are inclined to believe that the same
high power explosive ignited a black
powder magazine on the lena, the in
vestigation Of u latest calamity Of
peace should not be allowed TO pass
without a thorough inquiry into the
keeping and using qualities of the Ameri-
can brands of smokeless powder.