St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1908-05-02
MAKING HEAVY GUNS
THE WASHINGTON NAVY YARD IS
KEPT BUSY.
Forgings Are Brought from Various
Steel Works and Assembled
Exact Designs and Measure
ments for Weapons.

All the big guns for the navy are
now made at the Washington navy
yard. The forgings come from Beth
lehem. Midva1e (near Philadelphia)
and the Carnegie steel works at Pitts
burg, being supplied under contract
sion Of naval officers, who are as
signed to each furnace and whose
duty it is to see that the steel is
pure and perfect and that it CORE
spends to the specifications. The gov
eminent spends about $3,000,000 a
year for materials of this kind, and
there are about 100000 worth Of
guns partially finished at the navy
yard in Washington all the time. The
forgings come in the rough, but have
been hammered into the shapes and
sizes desired, according to drawings
furnished by the ordnance bureau of
the navy department.
Every IL and 13-inch gun is COM
posed of nine separate pieces. Each
piece is so exact in it's measurements
that they will fit together like the
works of a watch. Each gun is man.
ufactured after a design and measure
mSQts that are sketched upon a blue
print, such as an architect furnishes
to the builder of a house. Battle
ships are constructed the same may.
Every plate of steel, every rivet, every
bit OF machinery, every wire and
steam pipe, every electric light on
man-of-war has it's picture made be-
fore 1t comes into existence and is
shaped exactly on the lines and the
size indicated by the measurements
that are marked upon the blue print
The forgings for 13-inch gun-the
largest that is now made, which will
throw 2,40O pounds of steel IL or IS
miles and hit target five or six
miles distant with as much accuracy
az revolver in shooting gallery
vary in weight from Is pounds to rs
tons, and are brought by rail over
the Pennsylvania tracks into the gun
factory, where they are picked up and
carried to the places assigned them by
travelling cranes that don't, make half
as much noise as a sewing machine
The biggest one can handle 10 tons,
another so and another 40 tons as
gently and as easily as mother will
raise her child from the cradle. The
cranes pick up 13-inch guns and carry
them the whole length of the factory,
which is longer than the capitol build
ing-a thousand feet from end to end
and lay them down in parallel rows
like knives or spoons in silver chest
Every kind of gun and ordnance ma
terTal is made at the navy yard-tor-
pedo tubes, cartridge cases, sWabs,
hammers, canvas covers, rope for the
gun carriers and sights which the
gunners use to find the range and tell
them when to shoot. They make all
sizes of guns there, also, varying from
the one-pounder, which is four feet
long and about one-inch bore, to the
hig 13-incE thundefer, which Is IS feet
long and made of metal that is four
inches thick at the muzzle and IT
inches thick at the breech. The six
FOUNDER is six feet long and has a
bore of 2.24 inches. The 13-inch gun
of the latest type costs $500 Every
thing that belongs to a gun is made
at the navy yard except powder and
projectiles. The powder is made at
Indian Head and the projectiles at
Giesboro, On the Potomac, four miles
south of Washington. A factory was
recently erected there by the Fort
Sterling Company, a private corpora
ton, which has contract for furnish
ing 100000 worth Of projectiles for
the navy.