The sun., 1909-05-22
WEST POINTERS AT Big GUNS
CONGRESSMEE SEE EXPERi-
MENTS on SANDY HOOK.


Howtt1ers. Field Guns, Siege Guns, Nor.
tars ana Mines Used In Final Instruc-
tIon to 90 Fourth Year Gassmen
Tho Gathman Gun Not Success.
West Pointets on the eve OF graduation
came down the river yesterday to got q
little final instruction IN firing big guns.
They won't to tho Sandy Hook proving
grounds. There were ninety -nine cadets
In the party. under tho command OF eight
officers. Nine more officers came along
In an unofficial capacity, to watch the
experiments. Major Golden Ruggles,
Who is stationed at West Point as tho In
structor In ordnance. was in charge OF
the party. Col. Scott, the superintendent.
was with tho unofficial body Of officers.
The cadets did not touch at Manhattan
Island.
The visit to tho proving grounds was
OF the sort that tho last year men at the
Academy always make. They have q
chance to SEQ what guns are the best
for specific purposes and TO try out
different kinds OF explosives. Col. Birnie.
tho commandant OF the Sandy Hook
proving grounds, always saves up all the
interesting experiments which he would
ordinarily have In the week or two pre-
ceding the visit OF the cadets so he can
run them Of all together for their benefit
He says that that saves money for the
Government
Yesterday Brig. Gen. william Crozier
Chief >of Ordnance. brought up from
Washington a dozen Congressmen so
that they could have some Of the fun OF
Watching the big guns 60 OF too. Cen
Crozier's party got TO Fort Hancock on
the Government boat Ordnance few
minutes before the arrival Of the men
from West Point and the gunners gave the
General q salute.
In a few minutes the cadets arrived
from Weehawken. They came by the Cen,
Meigs. They all shook hands with Gen.
eral Crosier and the Congressman and
with Col. Harris the commandant OF
Fort Hancock, and Col. Birnie.
Then they got to work with the big
guns. They took the Government train
q mile and half up the Hook TO the prov
ing grounds. They saw a big 10 inch gun
Aired five timee and took the velocity
OF the projectie and estimated the gas
pressure In the powder chamber
The big .Gathman gun. the const!uo-
1901. happened to be near at hand. and 1t
was discharged for the benefit OF the
cadets. Major Rusgles says that the gun
hasn't been sucoeee and that yesterday 9
experiment showed 1t.
On the way back to the coast batteries
the cadets looked at the targets which
were made out OF steel. the counterpart
~ knlf~ tknn fhv,oA haffl0ohtnl
Iowa, Tennessee and Connecticut, which
were used some time ago In experiments
to show how much pounding the ships
could stand at the hands Of high power
guns Then they went on making ex-
periments themselves. -
First. q ground mine made out OF two
II inch sha!s charged with the Govern
position OF which has been kept secret,
was fired. 1t dug q hole In the earth
which showed that the stun can't be
played with.
Then all sorts OF new guns which Major
Ruggles says are the best on earth were
some high powered and some merely
black powder. The cadets had q chance
to see how they acted under the varying
charges. There were howitzers OF many
calibres, field guns and siege guns. NOR
tars and rapid fire guns.
A string OF rnortars was fired from
Fort Hancock by an electric spark. There
werc four Of them In the string. but only
three went on. The officers didn't know
exactly what was the matter. The NOR
tars were loaded with high explosive
shells, and when they dropped down At
the end OF their long arcs they shot the
sand high into the air.
They shot q round or two from one Of
the II inch guns mounted on dis
appearing carriage which makes 1t look
when they sent It OF like large and
vicious grasshopper rising on it's long legs
and then sinking back into its place again
The cadets and the Congressman had
lunch at the Brick House, and all the time
they were eating the artillery band played
for them.
Just as the cadets were leaving by the
General Meigs to 10 back to Weehawken
a water mine deep in the sea outside the
fort was touched Oh. II went of with q
reverberant p6ung-g! aud column OF
white water shot high above the waves.
That was the last thing that Col. Harris
did for them.