Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-07

Cost More to Make and to Fire. But
Last Longer.
MUZZLE TO BE SHORTENED
Delay in Making Caused by Neces-
sary Changes in Machinery at
Washington Navy Yard.

The navy has decided TO adopt the "a
inch gun as the type for heavy ordnance
aboard battlestips and big cruisers.
About the details of the big gun there
is good deal of mystery. 1t is 10 be
built at the Washington navy yard.
Owing to changes in the apparatus for
manufacture, it will be a year and a
half or longer before il is completed.
Ii Will throw a projec;iie Weighing / 400
pounds and will be about - per cent
more efficient than the present Finch
gun. the standard main battery gun.
Ii used 10 be that the navy used tie
13-inch gun The last of these was
manufactured at the navy yard about
1894 Since then there has been nothing
heavier than the Finch piece.
Just why the officials reverted to a
larger type they now refuse to state
Chances are that it was from motives
OF economy.
Seeing that the gun will cost about
S1co.oGp to make and a third more tC
| fire than the older gun. it would seem or
I first sight that motives of economy Woulo
! not apply. But il has been figured out
by the army. and the same thing prob
ably holds good with the navy, that the
| life of a 14-inch gun will be almost in
definite. while that of the present 12-incl
gun is limited to about 100 rounds. This
| hardly gets ships crew proficient II
| target practice before the gun has 10 g
to the scrap heap
Due to Smokeless Powder.
Tie reason for the difference in the
| life of the gun, as figured out by the
army, is that with modern smokeless
powder so much heat is generated and
| there is so much friction that the bore
| of the gun is practically melted out after
il has been fired 100 times. Now the
smashing effect Of large calber pro
iectile travelling at slower rate Is Just
as great as a smaller shot travelling at a
/ higher rate.
The army has figured out the effective
ness of a 14-inch projectile travelling al
| the comparatively low speed OF ,4W
! feet second and finds that it is greater
| than the highspeed Finch proJectile
! The latter weighs only $50 pounds ano
| the former AGO.
The new gun will he much stubbiel
| looking affair than the present nav!
! rifle 1t will be only 40 or 10 calIber:
! long. That is, the gun will be only tina
many times as long as the diameter of 1t:
/ bore. 1t also will he reinforced more
| heavily clear to the muZZle.
! 1t has been found by experiment tina
| there Is a great difference in the actlo!
of the old black or brown powder ant
the new smokeless nitro powders Th'
| former exploded altogether in the breeci
! of the gun and the expansion Of th'
gases that kicked the pro5ectlle out o
| the bore was diminished rapidly as tn
muzzle of the gun was reached. Ihere
| fore the muZzle OF the old gun could b'
| safely made much thinner than the breech.
| With the rev powder. however, thu
| explosion takes a much longer time. Th'
gases continue to be formed as the sho
| is travelling the length OF the bore
Pressure is almost as great at the muzzl'
| as at the breech.
Shorter and Thicker.
| Some older guns, designed for blaci
| povder had their muzzles blown off whe.
smokeless powder was fired in them. 81
the new gun will be shorter and thicker
than the old. This will reduce anothe
danger that was present with the olde
and longer guns.
There are number of instances in mod
| ern warfare where the ;nuzzle of IN
! long gun was shot away or punctured b,
ma chine gun fire. This, of course, pu
the gun out of action. With the shor
gun more of it will be inside the turre
and less exposed to the enemyS fire, am
what there is exposed will be heavier ant
| harder to injure.
! 1t may be that the shortening of the
| heavy gun will be followed by d change
in the form of the turret. At present Ihe
turret is chiefly designed 10 protect the
gun crew. In warfare this is really
secondary consideration. With the shorter
gun it may be possible to protect nearly
all OF il, a return to the old type OF
monitor in which the gun was altogether
inside the turret and was run out TO be
fired These are details, however. that The
Navy Department does not care TO discuss
| just now.
If there is any decided shortening OF
the CUR it's range will be reduced. Even
at that the gun probably will shoot as
far one can see on the water. rms
is factor that enters into the carrying
capacity of big gun.
1t is true that coast defense guns are
laid without the gunners ever seeing then
mark But the officers on the lookout
have to see it. and there is no use in hay
ing a gun that will shoot twenty miles
if the mark to be shot at is hull down at
eighteen miles.
Big Gun at New York.
There is only one bigger gun than the
14-inch in the service. That is the Is
inch gun built some years ago for the
coast defense and mounted on RonleY
Snoal, in New York harbor This mon
ster gun was tested at the Sandy Hook
proving grounds, but there is no record of
its ever having been fired since it was
mounted.
There has been some subcaliber practice
with it, but the general public, "a a rule,
has forgotten that the gun was in exist
ence. The only people who doubtless
know all about il. except the men who
man it, are the foreign powers who know
they would have it to reckon with il they
undertook to invade New York.
One of the things that will delay the
finishing of the big gun is the fact that
the apparatus at the navy yard as at
present constructed is not big enough to
handle "a I4-inch gun The jacket and
hoops of the new gun will be proportion
ately much longer than the difference in
caliber would seem to indicate. There
will have to be q new crane put in over
| head, and a number of other changes
| will have to be made.
The jacketing of big gun is sight
worth seeing. The immense steel jacket
and the gun tube itself are finished to
The one-thousandth part of an inch-that
! is TO say. just the thickness of a stand
ard cigarette paper. The jacket is act,l-
ally made smaller than the tube it is to
cover.
Then it is expanded by heat. and, hoist
ed high i'm the air. is dropped over the
gun tube When il cools it shrinks into