The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-28
FIGHTING MAST ALSO
 STANDS TEST OF SHOTS
Hundreds of Navy Officers and Men Witness the Shooting Up of the Monitor Florida in Hamp-
 ton Roads.

and tho highest explosive known, com- bined with close range and dead aim, to- day were allowed to work their full havoc on the turret plates of the monitor Florida. The result is declared to be victory for the turret construction, and this notwithstanding the 11-inch hardened steel plate was blackened, broken, the seams of the turret sprung and the rivels and screws loosened and twisted.
 It was not five minutes after the terri- ble impact that the finely balanced mechanism of the turret was being worked with perfect ease and the 12-nch gun on the left side was trained at will. Inside the turret where stand the gum ners and gun crew, the havoc was much less apparent than from the outside. Ex- aminations showed that of the many del- icately adjusted instruments for fire con- trol, sighting and operating the turret, few if any were out of working order.
 If this had happened in battle. the Florida would be fighting yet" said one of the rear admirals with enthusiasm.
 Then followed an attempt to destroy the newly designed fighting mast erected on the stern of the Florida. After five shots from the Arkansas guns had gone ripping through it, the mast still stood firm.
 Forty shots would not bring it down, and no enemy would waste ammunition and time shooting at it. was the expert comment It was predicted that all new battleships will be equipped with battle masts of this design.
 Story of the Shooting.
 The story of the shooting up of the Florida by the Arkansas, however, is not contained in this technical statement of results. It was an event upon which the keen edge of expectation was dulled by realization. Rear admrals and brigadlei' generals, with their juniors, scurried un- der protected decks and then popped up again as quickly to look for the dam- age done by the boom and roar they had felt ana heard. Every naval bureau was represented, likewise the ordnance and artillery of the army.
 The scene of the real war demonstra- ton was Hampton Roads, already made famous by naval events, the latest being the spectacular departure of the Atlantic battleship fleet on it's journey around the world, which was reviewed by President Roosevelt. The Florida, which has been n the hands of experts for some time,
 
 l.artyr She lay with her nose pointing cut through the Virginia capes, near Thimble Shoal lighthouse and about four r1les from Old Point Comfort. She had steam up and large American flag float ed astern.
 Back of the bridges on the upper struc tiire there hung the weekly wash of sev eral jackies. But most striking in her arpearance was the leaning tower'' on her stern, the woven pipe mast resembling huge waste paper basket. On top of its 125 feet of height was a broad plat form wlere two dummy sailors fashioned from boards stood bravely looking down on two more dummies of the same pat tern on the turret forward. One of toe two big guns which protrude from this tIrret had been removed and cripple gun occupied it's place. Just 342 yards off the Florida lay her sister ship, the Arkan sas. The distance looked cruelty close.
 More Than a Test.
 ."This is such test as would never oc- cur in actual warfare" remarked a rear admiral, as the big party of officers boarded the Arkansas. The aim will perfect; the distance is so close that the impact will be at its full velocity, and the part of the Florida to be hit is the weakest"
 A fleet of naval tugs from the Norfolk yard, the army torpedo destroyer with the army officers from Washington aboard and the tender at Fort Monroe with 70 officers from the artillery school and post, besides the little torpedo boat Morris, constituted the fleet which hov- cred around the Arkansas and Florida. Everybody went aboard the Arkansas, and attention was directed to a strip of canvas held up between two staffs on the tiiriet of the Florida.
 We are going to shoot 12-inch projec- tile through that target to get the range" was the announcement.
 There was just the suggestion of ground swell coming in through the capes, and 1t was an hour and quarter before Lieut.. William M. Falcomer, in charge of the big guns, got his aim. There was a crash, roar, the monitor kicked back into the water and sprang up Tn a minute, and when the canvas target came into view it had hole through its lower half.
 Target Is Hit.
 Then the turret of the Florida was slowly swung around so that her guns and those of the Arkansas looked square, ly at each other. At 10:42 the "big noise'' came two crashes so close together that 1t sounded like one. The 12-inch projec file had hit It's target. It was a crash. flash, and cloud of yellow smoke quietly drifting away over the top of the Florida What was left was a black wound Just to the right of the right hand gun there was what looked like d hole The officers went to the Florida at once. but before they got there her crew of 20 or 30 "jackies, detailed from the receiving ship Franklin, and officered by Commander John G. Quimby, commanding, Lieut. Joseph K. Taussig and a gunner, had come up from the hold and were looking over the damage.
 The plate had been broken through from the gun post to the edge just above and just below where the shell struck. The broken piece had been driven into the turret s>yeral inches but not the thickness of the plate, so that no hoie was actually made. The detonation was somewhat imperfect, as was evidenced by the quantity of snlphur-liks powder which covered the deck and mast This failure