The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-19
BIGGEST NAVAL GUN
 IN WHOLE WORLD
fourteen-Inch Breechloader for
 the United States
HAS RANGE OF 25 MILES
This Is Its Extreme Range-ln Battle Five Miles Would Be the Dis tance-Can Pierce Armor at
 Nine Thousand Yards.

From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
 The largest and most powerful naval weapon in the world, 14-inch breechload- ing gun. is being built by the Midvale Steel company, and will be delivered to the navy department in Washington the latter part of this month If the deliv- cry is prompt the official tests of the gun will be made at the naval proving grounds at Indian Head. Md. some time in oc- tober or November.
 The contract for the gun was awarded to the Midvale company last January. It requires delivery within 42 weeks, or by November 8. Rapid headway has been made. The gun will weigh eS.s tons. or 10 tons more than the 12-inch guns of .45 calibre. which have been built for the oattleships North Dakota and Delaware. The gun will be about six tons heavier than the latest type of .5o-calibre 12-inch guns intended for the Arkansas and Wyoming. Its total length will be 5Sla feet. The capacity of the chamber of the new gun will be 15s4S cubis inches, this being the compartment in which will be placed the charge of Ss5 pounds of . the powerful projectne, weighing 14oo pounds, which the gun will fire. After the shell is fired 1t will travel distance of 542 inches within the bore of the gun. There the grooved rifiing of the gun will impart a rotary motion. which will pre- vent the huge projectile from turning on end and losing its force.
 Rance of 25 Miles.
 This gun will have an extreme range of more than 25 miles, although the range at which 1t would be fired in actual battle would be about 5000 yards, or miles. The range of naval battles has more than trebled since the Spanish-American war. Then 1t was thought that battles on the sea would be fought at 5000 yards range Guns were built accordingly. All heavy American naval guns are now built to engage the enemy at a distance of 5 miles.
 The 1.400-pound shell from this new gun will leave the muzzle of the weapon at the rate of 1000 feet per second, and it's muzzle energy will be 65,606 foot tons This is about 13000 more foot tons of muzzle energy than that designed for the latest 12-inch guns, and about 22, 900 foot tons more. than that of the .45-caliber 12- inch guns now in service on the target grounds. So great is the penetrative power of this new gun that when fired with full charge of 365 pounds of pow der the projectile will penetrate 22.7 inches of the latest Krupp steel armor at the muzzle.
 Can Pierce Armor at 5000 Yards.
 This does not measure the full power of the gun for naval purposes, the muzzle penetration being merely proving ground factor for after the shot hurled from the 14-inch gun has travelled dis tance of 5000 yards 1t will still have remaining velocity of 2,234 feet a second, which would enable 1t to pierce at that distance a thickness of 18.7 inches of Krupp steel armor After 1t has travelled 5000 yards, or 5000 yards distant the shell will have remaining velocity of l, ,629 feet a second, enabling it to pene- trate 121a inches of the latest Krupp steel armor plating. These penetrations would be made at normal impact at actual ser vice velocities. and the projectiles used would be an armor-piercfng shell ot standard naval form although or l,400 pounds weight.
 The penetration of the new 12-inch guns of .5O-caliber to be installed on the new 26,OOO-ton battleships of the Arkansas class is given at Il inches of Krupp steel at the extreme battle range of 5000 yards The thickness of the armor on the Brit ish battleship Dreadnought and her suc- cessors in the British navy, as well as of the main armor belting of the latest American battleships under construction Is Il inches
 Most Powerful Gun in World.
 The new American 12-inch gun with its penetration of Il inches of Krupp steel at 300 yards, makes it the most powerful gun in the world. It is capable of more than that; but the n-inch pene- tration at 5000 yards would be obtained through the use of normal pressure in the powder chamber and not through the use of an excessive pressure that would soon cause the gun to waste away. The pressure would be about 171z tons to the square inch, at the maximum, in the firing of the latest 12-inch gun, and this Is the pressure that would be used in actual service, enabling it to penetrate Il inches at 5000 yards. The shot from the proposed 14-inch gun would be even more powerful than that of the 12-inch, and would penetrate two more inches of Krupp armor at 5000 yards than the latest R-inch weapon.