Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-05-28

lIOiil tHt ICSCiNlhSo SllAP >--~-
differed by Commander John G. Quinn
by commanding and a gunner had
come up from the hold and were look
ing over the damage.
The plate had been broken through
from the gun port to the edge Just
above and just below where the shell
struck The broken piece had peen
driven into the turret several inches,
but not through the plate, so that no
hole was actually made The detona-
ton was somewhat imperfect. as was
evidenced by the quantity of sulphur
like powder which covered the break
and mast This failure to realize the
full strength of the powder is regard
ed as injecting the only uncertain ele-
ment into the test.
Officers entered the turret at once
and it's mechanism was operated, the
turret being swung completely around
each way and the left hand gun train
ed. The right gun, the crippled gun
in place of the regular one, which had
been removed for the test, Of course
could not be trained, besides the brok-
en- plate had wedged against 1t. This,
the officers said, would not have pre-
vented the gun being fired, although it
would have interfered with the sight
ing.
But the turret bore the evidences of
a fight The paint along the seams
had disappeared, many of the seams
were sprung, bolts We're loosened,. ana
slivers lay around. A board dummy
inside was intact and the opinion OF
officers was that even with the terflhc
Il
impact the gunners in the turret would
not have been injured:
The first shot at the fighting mast
was fired from one of the 4-lnch guns
of the Arkansas and besides piercing
an iron plate target at it's base cut one
of the supporting pipes and injured
others.
The second shot from the gun cut
two tubes 4 little higher up on the
other side Of the mast. The third shot
missed and then a 4-inch explosive
shell exploding high up near the Top
of the mast shook the structure anu
tore asunder q number OF the tuDes,
but the mast seemed as stable as ever.
The fifth and last was a SOLID shot
from the big 12-inch gun aimed so as
to hit the mast on its outer rim on the
side leaning towards the water, the
structure having purposely been tilted
at an angle of 10 degrees to make it
easier still. This terrific shot tore
holes through many of the supporting
tubes but the mast still stood firm.
This ended the test. The Arkansas
WAS ordered back to the Norfolk yard
and the Florida was taken to be fitted
with a specially built bulkhead into
which Whitehead torpedo is to be
fired within 10 days to demonstrate
whether or not bulllheads of the new
type may not prehtably be used to
protect the hulls of the ships.
Tho Florida is one q class Of four
monitors built in 1909 for coast de-
fence work. Naval officers say that
none of the vessels of this class has
ever done anything since they were
commissioned, except show their utter
worthlessness.
The startling experiment conducted
a year or two ago at Sandy Hook by
the army ordnance officers really made
this test of today necessary. On that
occasion high explosive shells ripped
armor plate of various thicknesses in
to fragments. AS these plates fairly
represented the arnI0r of a protected
deck, the naval officers saw that if
these shells would do the same work
upon floating ship, not vessel in
the navy could be regarded as safely
armored.
This explosive was the discovery of
a West Point graduate in the ordnance
corps, who periodically made it over
to the United States government, but
there was no telling when some for
eign government might evolve anoth-
err explosive of equal or greater pow
er, SO it behooved our naval construc-
tors to seek some means of increasing
the armor protection to match its
splendid development in the gun and
its projectile.
First it became necessary to ascer-
tain whether the shells would func-
ton when fired at vessel as they had
when directed against the armor plates
on shore. Nothing would do but an ac-
tual firing test. And this could not be
conducted with any profit on some old
hulk but exact battle conditions must
he reproduced. That is why the Pres
ident and the secretary of the navy
gave their sanction to this remarka-
bic test of placing a s1,5O0,00o monitor
at short range before the muzZle of IL
modern 12-inch naval rifle.